Monday, May 28, 2012

Space, the Hubble Telescope, and Eternity

Today a friend sent me an amazing video of images taken by the Hubble Telescope. The scientists deliberately pointed the telescope at a part of the sky that was completely black, hoping it wasn't a waste of time and money to do so, but curious nonetheless to discover what—if anything—might be there. The results were profound.

I have seen images like this before, and they never fail to affect me. In fact, in an early scene of my novel Reality Check, the main character Lucy describes her own reaction to Hubble images and how they impacted her views about eternity and the idea of "forever." (Page 84 if you're curious . . .) 

The image you see posted here is titled "Close-Up of Galaxies from the Hubble Ultra Deep Field Image" and is from that "empty black space." Not so empty, after all.

"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour."         Psalm 8:3–5

Makes you think.

I've also included the link to the video, describing what the Hubble team found and what it means. Enjoy!
http://www.flixxy.com/hubble-ultra-deep-field-3d.htm

Image courtesy NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team

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