Jazzy D's Soul Notes

I love space pics and here is one of a churning galaxy from the Hubble Space Telescope.



The Hubble Space Telescope, which is operated by both NASA and the European Space Agency, is one of the most trustworthy tools for observing distant objects in space. It’s been sending back stunning images for over 29 years now, getting repairs and upgrades along the way, and NASA has chosen a particularly lovely image from Hubble to close out 2019. The image shows the galaxy known as ESO 021-G004, which sits around 130 million light-years from Earth. From our perspective, we see the galaxy at a rather extreme angle, but the heart of the galaxy is still visible enough that astronomers can offer some insights and at its centre is a supermassive black hole. Hubble, which will turn 30 this year, could potentially continue to operate well into the next decade, or perhaps even last until 2040.
(msn news).

Watching this programme tonight on Channel 5 about ALMA (the Atacama Large Millimetre / Submillimetre Array) and how they transported the satellite dishes up to the site, cousin posited the notion that we would never visit the stars and that this scientific endeavour of looking into the farthest reaches of space was futile.

I disagree. We are curious creatures and we will always endeavour to unravel the unknown. We have made great strides in understanding the cosmology of the universe, and whilst we may not see man go the stars in our lifetime, I am optimistic that one day we will reach the stars.

However, because space is a hostile environment, and that space is so immense, it will not be homo sapien that will travel to the stars but our future offspring, most likely intelligent machines, or perhaps genetically engineered humans, that will take on this vast task.

Our ingenuity alone will someday see us there, or we doomed as a species.