Pairings: Toby Henley Smith

Toby Henley Smith

Natural Sciences Student

As a child I loved learning about the cosmos, the planets, and the machines we’ve made to explore them. It’s a passion that was reignited by my A-level physics teacher, and that’s when I realised that astrophysics was what I wanted to do.

Spending entire winter nights with only a telescope (and warm clothes) really gives you a lot of time to think. It’s impossible not to feel overwhelmed by the scale and ‘out-of-reach-ness’ of almost everything that exists. At the same time, the fact that hundreds of generations have looked at (almost) the same night sky helps me feel connected to the past.

Photographing the night sky is something I’ve loved since I first owned a camera. Bringing my telescope to University was a bit impractical, but my camera comes with me everywhere I go. There may be darker skies at home, but the interaction of the stars and the town is fun to capture.

This photograph, taken from outside my New Court window, is of Orion passing over Trinity Hall and King’s. Out of view is the street lamp on Garret Hostel Lane which is illuminating the tree and chimney stacks. Thinking about the age of objects in the night sky makes the founding of the colleges feel recent and new, and helps me feel a lot closer to past Trinity scholars who have looked at the same stars.