DISCOVER THE JOY OF STARGAZING

We look into the stress-relieving qualities of simply gazing up at the night sky

One clear evening during lockdown, I received an unexpected visitor. I was putting my young son and daughter to bed when I glanced out of our south London window and saw a sparkling diamond, hovering low above the rooftops. It flickered red, blue and green and was so dazzling the children thought it was a slow-moving plane. In fact, we were looking at Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.

We turned off the lights and huddled by the window to enjoy a view that has captivated people for millennia. For the ancient Egyptians, Sirius announced the annual life-giving floods. To the Polynesians, it formed the body of Manu, the ‘Great Bird’, which guided sailors across the Pacific Ocean. The Scandinavians worshipped it as Loki’s torch. And now, this distant star gifted a moment of stillness and beauty amid a global pandemic as it shone for us, too, flashing its rainbow hues, with the chaos of the day quietening for just a few moments as the three of us knelt by the glass.

Modern life leaves little room for stargazing. Busy lifestyles and urban lighting conspire to keep our attention focused down rather than up at the wheeling night sky. But one of the unexpected effects of the lockdown, alongside a general desire to reconnect with nature, has been a surge of interest in the stars. Astronomy societies received a spike in inquiries; neighbourhood Whatsapp groups were used not just to volunteer to buy groceries, but to share astronomical tips; sales of home telescopes peaked. When we were confined to our homes and the world fell apart, the sky

offered many a precious escape.

FINDING AWE

Experiencing the night sky can help boost creativity and relieve stress

The effects of turning our gaze upwards may be profound. In my book, The Human Cosmos, I tell how the stars have guided our species since prehistoric times, shaping practical concerns from agriculture to navigation and inspiring ideas in politics, religion, science and art. But we’re only now realising the importance of this direct link with the cosmos for our minds and bodies, and perhaps even the Earth itself. Experiencing the night sky, it turns out, triggers a host of physical and psychological benefits, from boosting creativity and lowering stress to making us care more about the planet.

These insights come from scientists studying the emotion of awe, which they define as that jaw-dropping feeling we get when confronted with something so impressive or vast that we struggle to comprehend it. To investigate its

effects, they induce awe in experiments by asking volunteers to gaze at tall trees, for example, or a dinosaur skeleton in a museum. But most often, they show people the stars. There’s nothing more vast than the universe, after all.

The results have been surprising. First, viewing awe-inspiring objects or images makes us more curious and creative. After experiencing awe, people were better able to remember details of a short story; instead of relying on prior biases and assumptions, they focused on what actually happened. They also came up with more original examples in tests, showed greater interest in abstract paintings, and persisted longer on difficult puzzles. It seems that the struggle to take in something that’s beyond our everyday experience helps us to break out of habitual patterns of thinking about the world.

LASTING BENEFITS

Studies have also shown awe’s lasting impact on health and quality of life; a dose of awe makes people happier and less stressed, even weeks later. Awe seems to calm the nervous system and dampen signs of stress in the body. US psychologist Dacher Keltner, one of the pioneers of awe research, explains that it focuses our attention away from ourselves and on to a bigger picture. ‘The voice in your head – self-interest, self-consciousness – disappears,’ he says. We can get awe from lots of sources: nature, music or architecture, for example, all help us transcend our immediate surroundings. The stars, though, may be the most potent source of all.

Naturally dark skies seem to trigger the most intense psychological effects. In his 2007 book The Wild Places, nature writer Robert Macfarlane described looking up on a clear night in Cumbria and experiencing ‘a sudden flipped vertigo, the sensation that your feet might latch off from the Earth and that you might plummet upwards into space’. This feeling of falling into the stars is known as ‘celestial vaulting’. Such dramatic experiences, in which the self temporarily dissolves, have been associated with benefits including increased wellbeing, optimism and finding meaning in life.

But we can still connect with the cosmos in brightly lit towns and cities. Studies show that even mild awe – induced by photos and videos – improves mood and behaviour. In urban skies, on a clear night, there’s more to see than you might think. Astronomer Maggie Aderin-pocock recommends star hopping – jumping from constellation to constellation to find our way and get to know new stars. Or we can track the planets, once known as the wanderers because of their errant motion across the sky. Try finding reddish Mars, or brilliant-white Venus hanging low in the sky just before dawn or after dusk.

And no matter how small our patch of sky, we can always watch the moon to mark time, just as the ancients did, by following the lunar phases.

A PLACE IN THE UNIVERSE

Ultimately, viewing the night sky widens our horizons and lifts us out of ourselves. ‘It’s a way to connect with the wider world and universe,’ says Robert Massey of the Royal Astronomical Society. ‘We’re part of something larger.’ This ties in well with the most fascinating thing of all about the research on awe. As well as the personal benefits it brings, this emotion also seems to make us nicer people. After feeling awe, volunteers become less worried about personal concerns and goals. Instead, they describe themselves as feeling more connected, both to other people and to the planet. Awe, it seems, gives us a place in the universe. It deepens our sense of self, so we appreciate ourselves as a crucial part of a greater whole.

Researchers including Keltner have warned of an ‘awe deficit’ in modern society, caused by our disconnection from nature, in which we become increasingly materialistic, selfish and isolated. Perhaps the lockdown, despite its many hardships, also offered the breathing space we needed to glimpse something bigger. When life returns to bustling normality, I hope we’ll still take moments to connect with the eternal stars.

• The Human Cosmos (Canongate) by Jo Marchant is out 1 September

A dose of awe makes people feel happier and less stressed, even weeks later