The Hubble Achievement

[Guest guest]

A few weeks ago, our Goddess of the Week was "Maya" -- and we

illustrated Her with the famous "Deep Field" shot taken by the Hubble

Space Telescope in 1996. For that photograph, astronomers selected an

apparently "empty" slice of sky, no wider than a grain of rice held at

arm's length. Having focused the all of the Hubble's lens upon that

tiny patch of space, the photos began pouring in. Within hours,

thousands of previously unsuspected galaxies had been revealed.

 

This week, the newly upgraded space telescope tried out its new camera

systems, and -- with its first few shots -- has already begun blowing

our minds once again with the depth, vastness, diversity and beauty of

this Universe which Shaktas consider the body of the Goddess. Here is

a column on the Hubble from today's New York Times (Friday, May 3,

2002) that captures something of the wonder and awe that many of us

are feeling. If you'd like to see the photographs discussed here,

I've provided a link at the end of this post:

 

"It seems hard to believe that we have already grown used to seeing

images from the Hubble Space Telescope in the dozen years since it was

first launched. But the startling pictures released this week from a

newly restored Hubble are a reminder that we had, in fact, begun to

take for granted our ability to peer into deep space, an ability no

generation of humans has ever possessed before. In a sense, these new

images, produced with cameras and power sources that were added or

rejuvenated during a space shuttle flight in March, feel something

like learning to see all over again. They remind us what an

astonishing chapter of astronomical understanding, for scientists and

laymen alike, the Hubble Space Telescope has opened.

 

"The latest photographs were taken by the Hubble's new Advanced Camera

for Surveys, which began operating a month ago. Looking at them is

like looking at a fundamental principle of physics. You see both

energy and matter, revealed with a vibrancy that is simply

overpowering. As forms, as colors, these objects are entrancing. But

it's only when you begin to realize what these forms are that the real

wonder appears. Beyond the uniformity of the naked-eye universe, there

is this other universe, the one Hubble discovers with astonishing

clarity. This is a place full of discordant objects, of cataclysmic

disturbances. Galaxies devour each other. Stars form in infernos of

gas and dust and light. And they do so against the backdrop of a sky

that is almost unimaginably deep.

 

"For what the Hubble cameras show us, especially in their new

incarnation, is time itself. The distance of the distant objects in

these images is measured as much by their relative youth, by how far

back in time we must peer to see them, as by their distance measured

in a spatial dimension. By now it sounds almost natural to say that

among the objects revealed in these new images are galaxies that were

formed when the universe was only a billion years old. It sounds

natural until you really think about it, and then, swiftly, the scale

of the Hubble revolution becomes apparent. It has taught us to see

the properties of a universe humans have been able, for most of their

history, to probe only with their thoughts."

 

The New Hubble Photos: http://sites.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pr/2002/11/

 

Other Amazing Hubble Photos:

http://oposite.stsci.edu/pubinfo/pictures.html

 

The original version of the article cited above:

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/03/opinion/_03FRI4.html

 

Aum Maatangyai Namahe

[Guest guest]

Following up on my post about the astonishing new Hubble Space

telescope photographs (Post #1831), I just had to share a quote from

Woodroffe's classic "Shakti and Shakta: Essays and Addresses," which

I've been rereading these past few weeks. I came across this passage

last night, and could only think of the Hubble photograhs:

 

"For [the Shakta] who sees the Mother in all things, all scientific

research is wonder and worship. The seeker looks upon not mere

mechanical movements of so-called "lifeless" matter, but upon the

wondrous play of Her Whose form all matter is. As She thus reveals

Herself, She induces in [the Shakta] a passionate exultation, and that

sense of security which is only gained as approach is made to the

Central Heart of things [i.e., Brahman]. For, as the Upanishad says,

'He only fears, who sees duality.' ...

 

"All things exist in the Supreme who in Itself infinitely transcends

all finite forms. It is the worship of God as Mother-Creatress, who

manifests in the form of all things -- which are, as it were, but an

atom of dust on the Feet of Her who is Sat [infinite Being], Chit

[infinite Consciousness], Ananda [infinite Love], and Shakti [infinite

Power]: 'La vie d'un naturaliste est, je L'ose dire, une adoration

presque perpetualle.'"

 

Aum Maatangyai Namahe