Gaze Upon The Heavens |
Twinkle twinkle little star How I wonder what you are Up above the sky so high Like a diamond in the night Twinkle twinkle little star How I wonder what you are |
It is nothing more than a child's nursey rhyme and most of us would leave it at that:; never realizing that for all its |
simplicity, it is profound in its query. What is that star in the sky? How did it come to be? Having asked these questions, it is natural to take it a step further and ask, how did we come to be? What is our place in the universe? Philosophers and theologians throughtout the ages have contemplated these questions. The Catholic Church has suggested that it is simply the hand of God at work and that is all that needs to be said. Others suggest the the heavens above are guiding oue lives to an inevitable conclusion. Everyone believes they have the answers, but everyone has their own answers based on their own beliefs. So is everyone right? As the saying goes "only God knows." |
Today's philosophers of the heavens are not so much philosophers as they are mathematicians, astronomers, cosmologists and astro-physicists. Gentlemen like the late Carl Sagan and Eugene Shoemaker, Stephen Hawking and of course we can't talk about modren science without mentioning Albert Einstein. All these men dedicated their lives to understanding the universe and in doing so enriched our lives. Never before in the history of man have we been able to view and understand the awe inspiring majesty of the universe as we can today. It is amazing and humbling to think that we can see 3/4 of the way back to the beginning of the universe. Amazing, because less then 70 years ago we didn't even know that Pluto exsisted and now we know there are millions of galaxies all around us. Humbling, because we can now see just how small we are in the cosmic scheme of things. |
The first image on this page was taken by the Hubble Space telescope in geo-synchronous orbit above the earth. It was processed by the Space Telescope Institute and was taken between December 18 and 28, 1995. Dr. Robert Williams and Ray Villard were the team responsible for selecting and photographing the image. What you see here is a picture from deep space near the handle of the Big Dipper. The field of view is less then 1 degree and there are some 1,500 galaxies visible. (NASA) Think of it , in a region of space on bigger than the Diameter of the Moon we can see this many galaxies. Not only that, but the light from these galaxies has taken nearly 10 billion years to get to earth. (NASA) To get a better understanding of how far their light has traveled we must first know the distance light travels in a year. This is known as a light year and is equivalent to 6 trillion miles. (Sagan 5) So if these galaxies are 10 billion light years away and a light year is 6 trillion miles, then that's 6x10 to the 22 power miles and I don't know if they have a name for a number that big, but it's a 6 with 22 zeros after it. |
It's hard to imagine in light of the enormity of space that we could have ever considered our tiny world to be the center of the Universe. Yet for centuries we did with the Catholic Church's sanction. It was not until the 18th century that the Church aquiesced to the Copernican theory of a sun centered solar system supported by the observations of Galileo. (Hawking 4) With that single moment in history, the entire cosmos was laid open before us to ponder and explore. We were no longer bound by the Church to see it their way. The field was open to a variety of beliefs and theories and thus began the age of scientific reasoning |
" The surface of the earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean." (Sagan 5) And we have only just begun to sail through that vastness. We are finally beginning to realize the dream we've had for centuries; to touch the face of God. With our primitive telescopes and spacecraft we search the heavens for any signs of life. To date, the closest we have gotten is maybe a piece of meteorite that may have come from Mars. Some scientists believe that it contains microscopic fossils of primitive life on Mars. But since itis the only sample, we can not say conclusively that these are Martian fossils. There are also those who believe that Jupiter's moon Europa may contain liquid water under its thick icy shell. If this should prove to be true, then there is a very good chance for some form of aquatic life similar to the life that exsists in our oceans around Black Smokers ( funnels of super heated gas and minerals). |
SETI the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence has had its ears open for some time now; listening to the radio waves the universe emits; hoping that some day a unique signal amongst the constant buzz of the cosmos will create a signal spike in their machines and we might be able to communicate with an entirely new life form. It's hard to imagine that God or what ever else you believe in would have created the universe for only us to travel its cosmic ocean.If we look through the eyes of the Hubble Space Telescope, in a small corner of our galaxy, there exsists a nebula referred to as M-16. To most of us it is the Eagle Nebula with its brilliantly colored spires of gas peppered with the faint glow of new born stars. How many of these baby stars will grow up to have planets orbiting them? And on how many of those planets will life arise, grow, and flourish? If only one planet brings forth life, then we are not alone. |
Maybe we won't have to travel the cosmic ocean to find life forms, maybe they'll wash up on our earthly shores. Some people think they have already been here. Look at the number of UFO sightings reported around the world every year. Though most of them are explainable phenomenon, there are a few that defy explaination. It would be nice to have them come to us, but the chances of that actually happening are as good as the earth being swallowed up by a black hole tomorrow. So we must continue our search for ourselves, out there somewhere in the darkness of space. |
With every part of our being we want to travel to distant worlds like the characters from the Star Trek series. That's one of the main reasons the show has run so long in different forms. We do want to, "Go where no one has gone before" despite the tremendous risks involved. Do we have some ancient homing device in us that beckons us to return to the stars? As Carl Sagan put it in his book Cosmos we are all made of "Star stuff" and maybe because of that, we are just naturally attracted to outer space as metal is to a magnet. I have had the desire to go into space for as long as I can remember; the more I think about why I want to go, the harder it is to come up with one definitive answer. The universe does call to me deep inside my heart; it is the strongest urge I have ever felt. I would be more then willing to go into space even if I knew it was a one way trip. |
Look at all the astronauts that have gone into space knowing full well that n a split second they could be dead. But still they go with all the enthusiasm of a child learning to ride a bike. I watched the Apollo 11 the night of July 20, 1969 live on TV, I was only 10 years old at the time, but I can still see it as if it were yesterday. How I thought, I wish I could be there with them when I heard the words, " Houston, Tranquillity base here. The Eagle has landed." At that moment the collective spirit of the entire world was there with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldirn on the moon. " For one priceless moment, in the history of man, all the people of earth were one." ( Aldrin 242) That evening was the closest I have ever been to a spiritual experience. The closest I've ever been to being in outer space. |
Look at the next image. Buzz Aldrin said, " Of all the jobs I had to do on the Moon, the one I wanted to go the smoothest was the flag raising." Here for the first time man has set his standard upon another world. We have left the cradle now and can never go back. "So long as the universe had a beginning, we could suppose it had a creator, But if the universe is really completely self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would have niether beginning nor end: it would be simple. What place than for a creator?" (Hawking 140-141) Current evidence suggests that we live in an open universe, but there are still some scientists believe we live in a closed universe; Something like living in a balloon that expands to near its breaking point and then collapses in on its self and starts the whole process over again. |
In the process, all we know is crushed into a singularity. This should not be disheartening to us as all things must come to an end. It is the process in between that matters.We must continue to gaze into the heavens and allow our reach to extend our grasp. I will leave you with this last image to show you that there is always hope. This last image is TMR-1C a protoplanet somewhere in the constellation of Taurus some 450 light years from earth. This was the first time we had ever seen another planet in another solar system. Though it is a baby planet thrown out of its system by a pair of orbiting stars, it is still 4 times larger than our own Jupiter. (NASA) Because TMR-1C is such a large gas planet it may have a chance at survivial if it can become captured in another solar system before it freezes. Along the way it may even collect enough mass to become a star. So the next time you look up into the night sky and wonder about the origins of a star don't forget TMR-1C. |
Work Cited Aldrin, Buzz and McConnel, Malcolm. Men From Earth. Ny, Ny: Bantam, 1989 Hawking, Stephen. A Brief History of Time. Ny, Ny: Bantam, 1988 NASA. Hubble's Deepest View of the Universe Unveils Bewildering Galaxies Across Billions of Year May 28, 1998. < http:// www.stsci.edu> July 6,1998 NASA. Hubble's First Look at a Possible Planet Around Another Star. May 28,1998. <http://www.stci.edu> June 21, 1998 Sagan, Carl. Cosmos. Ny, Ny: Random House,1980 Photos Aldrin and Flag. May 18,1998. < http://www.nix.nasa.gov/nix.cgi> July 21 1998 M-16. March 24, 1998. < http://wwwoposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/jpeg/M-16Full.jpg > May 17, 1998 Tel 2. June7,1998. <http:// www.stsci.edu> June 7,1998 TMR-1C. May 30, 1998 <http:// www.stsci.edu> July 7, 1998 |
