Discovering a Comet & What If Your Gift Is Curiosity?
Honoring the seekers, the learners, the ones who never stop asking questuons.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve dreamed of discovering a comet. Not just witnessing one streak across the sky, but finding it, naming it, sharing it. There’s something sacred about the idea: a celestial traveler, ancient and mysterious, suddenly revealed to human eyes. It feels like a gift so unique that only God could give it.
The last few weeks, I’ve taken a fun and also sometimes very frustrating step toward that dream with a new project I've been working on called “Our Night Sky SOHO Comet Hunter,” aka ONSSOHO (it’s a play on some Star Wars humor and my favorite character). I will let you think about that for a bit.
This new section of space on this website I’ve been quietly building, part tool, part prayer, part invitation. It’s designed to help me (and maybe others) track, analyze, and visualize comet candidates using astrophotography and scientific data pulled from SOHO images of the sun that get published daily. It’s still evolving, but it’s already become a kind of digital observatory for my heart and desire to discover something that only God knows about, and then I get to share it.
Comets have always felt like messengers to me. They arrive unannounced, trailing light and mystery, reminding us that the universe is alive with motion and meaning. In scripture, in science, in story, they’re signs of change, of revelation, of divine timing. I’ve come to see my longing to discover one not just as a technical goal, but as a spiritual calling.
We all have spiritual gifts. Some are loud and public. teaching, leading, healing. Others are quiet and strange, discernment, craftsmanship, curiosity. Mine have always been tied to creation: the desire to learn, to build, to see beauty in data and design. I’m a photographer, a developer, an artist. I write code and poetry. I chase nebulae with a telescope and sketch drawings for notes with the same reverence. These gifts don’t always fit into neat categories, but they’ve led me here.
The project at comets.ournightsky.us is more than a technical experiment. It’s a reflection of how I experience God’s universe, modular, mysterious, and full of grace. I’ve built it with the same tools I use for apps and websites, but the heartbeat is different. It’s not just about functionality; it’s about faith. About finding new ways to do new things. About letting wonder drive the architecture.
I don’t know if I’ll ever discover a comet. But I do know this: the pursuit is holy. It’s teaching me to look deeper, to build with intention, to trust the gifts I’ve been given. And maybe, just maybe, it’s preparing me to receive something unexpected, a flash of light in the darkness, a name written in the stars.
If you’re curious, come explore the project. It’s still growing, still rough around the edges, but it’s real. A comet of my own, even if it hasn’t arrived yet.
Until next time, keep looking up!
-g
I love the mix of technical curiosity and spiritual longing—it's rare to see someone lay out the raw creative process like this, especially when it doesn't fit neatly into a box. The idea of curiosity itself as a gift hits home. There's something so quietly powerful about being the person who keeps asking questions and seeing patterns others miss.
Your approach to the project—building a tool that's also an invitation, a prayer, and a playground for possibility, speaks to the heart of what it means to create. Even if the comet never turns up, the search feels like its own kind of discovery.
Love this!