For majority of my life I have had a complex relationship with astronomy. In fact, I still do. 

The presence of meteors and comets, supernovas, ginormous black holes just waiting to consume everything in its vicinity terrified me, and the thought of there being massive spaces of nothing but pitch darkness was chilling to the bone. 

Every single discovery that had anything to do with space only seemed to confirm my idea that we were only getting closer to the inevitable, that we were all going to die in some horrific event caused by some celestial body that was headed straight for the earth, or a black hole that was going to tear everything and everyone I loved apart. I avoided reading any articles about space and I hated hearing about what lay beyond the familiar and comforting place we call Earth. 

So why did I pick to study astronomy?

Well, apart from the side of astronomy that I found absolutely horrifying, there was the part of it I couldn't help but feel drawn to. I'm convinced we've all seen pictures of galaxies, giant stars, nebulas, auroras, exoplants, white dwarf stars, constellations and the pillars of creation. Those pictures mesmerised me, made me want nothing more than to uncover the mysteries that still surround them to this day, despite the mountains of research done on them, by muggles, wizard and witches alike. Those pictures made me want to learn more about what exists outside of the atmosphere which protects us. They made me want to experience the full potential of our universe, despite all the daunting things I grew up hearing about it. 

And besides, ''Sometimes what you're most afraid of doing is the very thing that will set you free.'' (Robert Tew, author)