Coming soon in 2025
Karl, an Austrian astronomer, professor, and museum consultant, is at a crossroads in life and work. At 70, he finds his jobs are at risk and his physicist wife distancing. Along with a colleague, Sarah, he also finds himself struggling with environmental crises reshaping their fields. Sarah, who specializes in “citizen-science,” has begun seeing Mateo, a young Ecuadorian astronomer who brings her to an old telescope in New Jersey, the site of an astonishing discovery about the origin of the universe. Karl revisits the Rosetta Mission, which landed a probe on a very distant comet. His wife, Eleanor, reflects on her attempt to witness a total eclipse in the American South and its unexpected political implications. As the historical touchstones of astronomy, his grandson’s future, and his own role as a dark sky advocate begin to spin above Karl’s head, he finds himself increasingly unmoored. After a conference in Greece, he decides not to return home and heads for a small island in hopes of finding a dark enough sky to reconnect with the stars. Abandoned at a remote mountain trail, he ascends and waits for darkness to fall.
Jem Cohen
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