Tag: nasa

The Hubble Palette and Biblical Commentators

IC 1848, the Soul Nebula (nebula – Latin for cloud or fog), is an emission nebula in the constellation Cassiopeia at about 6,500 light  years from us. According to wiki, “An emission nebula is a nebula formed of ionized gases that emit light of various wavelengths. The most common source of ionization is high-energy ultraviolet photons emitted from a nearby hot star.” The other type of nebula is a planetary nebula which “consist[s] of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives.” Planetary nebula are so named because their round shaped reminded early astronomers of planets.

I made this photo from over 200 photos taken with my astronomy equipment in my back yard in Dallas, TX. The photos were done with filters in front of the camera that captured the photos from the Sulphur, Oxygen, and Hydrogen wavelengths. I could have taken regular Red, Green, and Blue photos to produce a more natural appearance, which shows up using full color cameras as almost entirely red.

I used the camera and filters that I did because at the time there was a full moon in the sky close enough to the nebula that it would have washed out any effort from using a full spectrum camera. Fortunately the filters that I used are unaffected by the moonlight (and city light for that matter) and so I could still produce a picture albeit in the false colors that you see.

The colors you do see are in what is known as the Hubble Pallet where the Sulphur takes the Red place, Hydrogen the Blue, and Oxygen the Green. Though the colors are false, they do make for stunning images! And, most importantly, they make images available when routine and regular techniques will not work for one reason or another.

As I have noted before, the LORD’s two great works for humanity to observe and “read” are his Word and his Universe.

Both have to be read. And there of various ways of reading and interpreting his books. To read the universe the ideal is to find yourself in a very dark area of the planet and see what rotates about you and above you. What you see is screaming “the LORD! The LORD!!” “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, . . .” (Ex 34.6, Romans 1.20). We can peer even closer to that great witness through our telescopes and by using cameras to make the faint images more visible. Direct observation is best, full color spectrum is better, Hubble Palate will suffice to make specifics clearer.

So too with his Word. The best is a direct communication with the LORD himself but that is few and not very likely for us. But, he did give us the Bible, which we can read ourselves. Ideally, if you have been graced with the opportunity, reading his Word in the orginal languages, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greeks is the best. For most folks, a translation in our native language is the closest we can get, and that is better.

The next level involves us reading what others have written about what they see God’s Word means. This is at the Hubble palette level – it will suffice but is not the ideal, which is actually reading the text for ourselves.

The truth of the matter is that those church writers and commentators present various degrees of false color, some closer than others. On this subject, some have argued that the closer a writer or commentator gets to proximity with the apostles the more their comments are to be accepted and taken as closer than other writers. But, this is a false dichotomy; the argument that proximity necessarily conveys authority. This is easily shown by the fact that each of the letters of the NT are written to communities founded and known directly by the apostles, including Paul. And the letters written are for the most part written as a correction to something someone who knew the apostles got wrong. If they can err, so can anyone who writes anywhere in church history afterwards, even those who many claim are direct students of the apostles.

The truth of the matter is that any writer, even the apostolic writers, are just commentators, no more inspired or insightful than commentators today. They have their strengths and their weaknesses. Modern commentators have the advantage of having all previous writers at their disposal. And, this is very often forgotten, they didn’t all address every subject and they did not all agree. Scripture is the only body of writings that are inspired. None of the church writers are. They may have good (and erroneous) things to say but they all have to be evaluated for veracity or error.

To make the astrophotography connection, the earliest observations made with the telescope did not have a camera to record what was seen. The observers made drawings of what they saw. Galileo’s drawings of Jupiter and its moons, and the mountains of the moon and spots on the sun are some of the earliest and best known. But they are beginning steps to greater understanding. After the telescope the camera became the greatest aid to gaining greater insight into God’s great and vast creation. It was only in the 1930s with the aid of cameras on telescopes was Edwin Hubble (very much aided by Henrietta Leavitt’s work on the Cepheid variable stars) able to determine and make known that our universe extended far past our own Milky Way Galaxy.

All of this to say, what we observe in his books is aided by, not only the earliest observers and commentators but also, and just as importantly, by those whose observations are more recent and who have read what others have written before them.

It is staggering to me all that the LORD has presented to you and I concerning himself, in his word written in the heavens and in his word written that I hold in my hand!
And, both are written to all of humanity . . .

And to me! The God of the Universe knows my name!

Are You Strong Enough?

Are you strong enough to bind the chains of Pleiades? Or the Belt of Orion to loosen? Job 38.31

Are you strong enough to bind the chains of Pleiades?Or the Belt of Orion to loosen? Job 38.31

As I have gotten into the hobby and art of astrophotography, it was very  interesting to me when I recognized that some of the constellations and figures of the night sky are mentioned in Scripture. In our English translations we find mention in the book of Job the Bear, Orion, and Pleiades. So too in the book of Amos. Here are the verses –

Job 9.9 [Job speaking] He who makes the Bear, Orion, and Pleiades and the chambers of the south Job 38.31 [the LORD speaking] Can you bind the chains of Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion?

Amos 5.8 He who makes the Pleiades and Orion, turns the darkness to morning

In Hebrew, the word used to refer to the constellation we know as Pleiades is kiymah (כִימָה) and we get our English word from the Greek word pleiados (Πλειάδος).

The Hebrew the word used to refer to the constellation we know as Orion is kǝsiyl (כְסִיל) and we get our English word from the Greek word ōriōnos (Ὠρίωνος).

A former student of mine asked how Scripture came to name heavenly structures that bear Greek names. My brief research (Wikipedia) indicates that the Scriptural references are among the oldest, if not the oldest, in ancient literature. What is found in the Hebrew writings predates the writings of the Greeks. Knowing this and knowing also, that beginning at about 250 B.C. the Hebrew Scriptures were begun to be translated into Greek to help with the collection of books in the ancient library at Alexandria, it was easy for me to imagine the translation process. When the Jewish elder got to these passages, I imagine that he queried his Greek assistant and, pointing to the night sky asked, “See that group of stars there? What do you call them in Greek?” So, from the Hebrew word to the Greek word and then on to English which has since, the time of the Greeks, retained the Greek names.

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The Orion constellation is visible in the southern sky in the northern hemisphere in the winter months at night. As I write this from Dallas, Texas, in mid March it is moving closer to the sunset earlier and earlier each night so as to disappear from viewing in late April. It will reappear in the eastern night sky at the end of December. It is one of the most easily recognized constellations because the three most prominent stars that make up the belt of Orion – Alnitak (Arabicالنطاق  an-niṭāq, the girdle 1,200 light years distance), Alnilam (Arabic النظام  al-niẓām  the arrangement/string, 2,000 light years distance), and Mintaka (Arabic term for ‘belt’: منطقة manṭaqa – 1200 light years distance). Below the belt or to the right of it, depending on the time of the night, can be found one of the prominent structures, the Orion Nebulas (M-42 in the Messier Catalog). It is perhaps the most popular structure in the night sky to view and to photograph. This post has at its head my most recent photo of it. It is really stunning the first time you see it and photograph it through a telescope.

Pleiades is not so much a constellation as a star cluster. It appears at about the same time as Orion. Wikipedia notes this about the Greek name, “The name of the Pleiades comes from Ancient Greek: Πλειάδες. It probably derives from plein (“to sail”) because of the cluster’s importance in delimiting the sailing season in the Mediterranean Sea: “the season of navigation began with their heliacal rising”. However, in mythology the name was used for the Pleiades, seven divine sisters, the name supposedly deriving from that of their mother Pleione and effectively meaning “daughters of Pleione”. In reality, the name of the star cluster almost certainly came first, and Pleione was invented to explain it.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleiades). The most prominent stars that make up the cluster are about 350 to 450 light years distance.

As noted in the text, the incomprehensible power and majesty of the LORD God that the writers of Job and Amos recognized was illustrated by their references to the fabulous constellations and star clusters that they mentioned. So does Paul to the Romans in chapter 1 of his letter to the Romans. Their point is a contrast to the absolute feebleness of man and his inability to answer or stand in judgement of the words or actions of the LORD.

Interestingly enough, the narrative in Job concerns this. Unknown to Job or his friends what was happening to Job was beyond their knowledge or understanding. Job’s friends put forth the charge that Job must have done something wrong for such calamities and evils to befall him and each of them in their turn tried to convince him of that. But Job knew that he had done nothing that would be considered a violation of God’s ways or justice. He felt that he was righteous in his living. Indeed, in Ezekiel 14.14 and 14.20, Job is named as one of the three righteous men in the earth, Noah and Daniel, Ezekiel’s contemporary, being the other two.

And, in a way, this addresses the great question of theodicy that has been debated for millennia – how to reconcile a good God with the presence of evil. In the case of Job, the answer is that God permits evil things for his own purposes, reasons of which we have no real idea, and, more importantly, no real right or power to question. Our response should ever be a recognition that we are creatures and not the creator and completely unable to comprehend the ways and purposes of God, but, at the same time, recognize the we are his creation and what happens to us at his hands he is in total control and has our best interest in mind when things happen to us. Will we know that in this lifetime? The answer from Job is “probably not,” but I am convinced that as we cross the river into his presence we will know completely. I am also of the opinion, and some of this from personal hardship, that he will sustain us through what comes our way, and like Job I will say, “though he slay me, I will hope in him” and like the three companions of Daniel, when faced with the fiery furnace and a horrible death, told to Nebuchadnezzar, “even if God does not deliver us from death in your fiery furnace we will still obey and trust him.”

And, in all of this, there is a lesson from Amos when he recognizes the power of the LORD to “turn darkness into morning.” So too we can recognize the LORD can also turn the darknesses that we encounter in our lives into mornings of blessing, joy, and rejoicing! The power to control celestial objects and events also is turned by our loving Lord into healing and joy.