THE CELESTIAL SEEKER

As I watched the Lovejoy comet through my telescope, I felt a little gloomy and miserable to be alone in a room. I was sitting on the black swivel chair with two computers and a laptop on the desk. I have searched and collected Satellite Galaxy data for more than 8 hours. Then I looked outside through a small window and I saw many astronomers who were concentrating on their work. They were looking at the sky with an enormous telescope and searching for the Satellite Galaxy which I had reported to them. We are observatory astronomers, the celestial seekers.

We are living in Gemini Observatory University, in a huge white inverted teacup - the cupola, on the mountains in Hawaii and Chile, a perfect spot for watching stars above the dark sky. I usually wear a thick brown coat, a long pair of trousers and a pair of fluffy socks to keep my feet warm because of the weather up in the mountain is very cold. I am May, a 30 years old woman comes from Vietnam was working for the science.

It has been 6 years since I started working on the mountain, I miss my family so much. I remember when I was a 12-year-old girl visiting my grandmother's farmhouse in the summer. Every night, I went outside the yard with grandma. We both laid down on the green grass and looked up at the dark sky filled with lots of shining stars. It was beautiful and magnificent. Grandma taught about the constellations by using my imagination and memory while I tried to line the stars. My grandmother told me all about space, the universe, the BigBang, planets, comets and other celestial objects. She said that she would like to have been an astronomer when she was little. She would like to discover and explore the objects outside the Earth. She said there are so many things in space that humans didn't know or still don't know at all. Every story that she told me made me want to be a next-generation astronomer. Her dream is my inspiration and my passion. I dreamt about stars, about myself in the future, flying in the air without gravity and I will be a gorgeous astronomer who has to succeed in space investigation.

In the high school, I focused on physics, math, biology, and chemistry. I joined many science clubs and made lots of friends. A year later, I studied aboard in Switzerland. Fortunately, I've learned English so I can be communicated with people easily. Then I went to a Bachelor of Science University near my host's house. I've studied for 4 years, then I jumped to the next level, the Doctoral Degree which is the highest academic degree.

But during the 7 years of studying the cosmic astronomy. I thought I have lost my hope and dream. I felt heavy and discouraged. I was thinking about to going back to my home country to stay with my family. But think again about my tuition fee that I have given all my best to get the scholarship. My parents believed in me.

Dreams and hopes are just like stars. You're just looking at it and wish it was yours. If you want it so bad, you are going to find a way to get it, you' ll run and catch it. Unfortunately, the star is too far and it gets you easily to give up. However, once you tried to catch and have it in your hands, you'll feel so joyful and more grateful than ever.

Yes, I've caught my star which means I've got my Ph.D. degree

After analyzing the Satellite Galaxy, the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet was glancing past over our heads. Duncan, my mate asked me to join outside, I went out with all other astronomers, we were standing on the mountain and looking up into the sky. I tilted my head skywards and I could see clearly millions of bright stars dotted on the black canvas of night. I felt happy and relaxed that I am not alone anymore.