The Night Behind the Telescope

Huda joined the telescope club only because her best friend did not want to go alone. The club met on the school roof every Thursday, where the city lights were weakest. Mr. Salem, the physics teacher, had built the telescope himself from old parts and patience. For the first two weeks, clouds covered the sky and the students saw nothing. Huda was thinking about quitting when Mr. Salem announced a special observation night. A comet, which appears near Earth only once every forty years, was passing that week. On the roof, Huda looked through the telescope while her classmates were checking the star maps. At first she saw only darkness, and then a pale light with a long silver tail. Her hands were shaking, but she carefully wrote the time and position in the club notebook. Mr. Salem sent her measurements to a university group that collects reports from young observers. Two weeks later, a real astronomer wrote back and thanked Huda for her accurate notes. "If one night can change how I see the sky, imagine what years of study could do," she said. Since that evening, Huda has read every astronomy book in the school library. She has decided to study physics at university, although the path will not be easy. Now she is the student who arrives first and leaves last every Thursday night.