This morning I raise the question, "What world view do you hold?" "How to you see and think about this world you live in, in this new year, 2023? Now, consider that in a time of mounting storm warnings in the East, more drama in Congress, and continued reports of violence, this week also brought an astounding announcement in the realm of astrophysics. The National Science Foundation's NOIRLab released the results of one of the largest surveys of our night sky in history, revealing the "Gargantuan Astronomical Data Tapestry of the Milky Way."
This translates to a two year process of filming the night sky with a dark-energy telescopic camera in a mountainous area in Chile. The first part of the project, released in 2017, revealed 2 billion objects--mainly stars, but the most recent filming was able to capture the stars and other contents in unprecedented detail. The 2 data sets combined reveal around 3.2 billion objects (again, mostly stars) in a view that covers 6.5% of the night sky in an area 13,000 times the angular area of a full moon. So we have pictures of 3.2 billion objects filling only 6.5 % of the night sky. Astounding. What might the other 95.3% hold? As Andrew Saydari, the lead researcher, put it: "Despite many hours of staring at images containing tens of thousands of stars, I am not sure my mind has wrapped around the magnitude of these numbers."
To remind you, the Milky Way is Earth's home, a spiral galaxy formed approximately 14 billion years ago with a diameter spanning 100,000 light-years. Our solar system is 26,000 light years from the center, All objects in the Galaxy revolve around the Galaxy's center. It takes 250 million years for our Sun (and the Earth with it) to make one trip around the Black Hole center of the Milky Way.
As a younger poet, Walt Whitman wrote "The earth, that is sufficient, I do not want the constellations any nearer, I know they are very well where they are, I know they suffice for those who belong to them." (Song of the Open Road,1855). But as he grew older, he had a profound experience that inspired a new vow:
"Now while the great thoughts of space and eternity fill me I will measure myself by them. And now touch'd with the lives of other globes arrived as far long as those of the earth or waiting to arrive, or pass'd on farther than those of the earth, I henceforth no more ignore them than I ignore my own life." (Night on the Prairies, 1879.)
Perhaps today is ripe for a larger world view, that expands beyond the troubles of our times, and in expanding, gives room for our own astounding solutions. As many spiritual teachings remind us, not only are we living in the world, the world lives in us, and so does the cosmos. (Susan Nettleton)
For the 2 poems quoted here, follow the links: https://poets.org/poem/song-open-road-1 and https://allpoetry.com/Night-On-The-Prairies And a link to Larry Morris' poetic view: https://hillsidesource.com/shopping-at-cosco