Image credit: NASA’s Webb Delivers Deepest Infrared Image of Universe Yet by NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI, image resized for formatting purposes, Creative Commons License By Attribution (CC BY 2.0), image to be found at https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasawebbtelescope/52210366419/in/album-72177720300469752/ and licence information to be found at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ 

What’s the point of star gazing?

by Sean van Staden SJ

I was recently looking at a James Webb Space Telescope deep field image of an extremely distant galaxy cluster. It contains several thousand galaxies, each containing several million stars and their unique solar systems. Some galaxies are close to 13 billion light years away – nearly the universe’s age.

These galaxies are so far away that they appear incredibly small to us. If you hold a grain of sand at arm’s length, the amount of sky it covers is the size of the Webb image: all those thousands of galaxies and billions of stars within a grain of sand.

What are we to make of such images? What does the work of astronomers tell us about who we are and how we relate to creation and our creator?

They make us realise just how small we are. We live on a tiny planet orbiting an average-sized star in a galaxy among billions of galaxies. The span of our lives in the time frame of the universe is barely a flicker.

They also make us realise how special we are. In all this vastness of space, we are matter that has become conscious of itself. We are the universe marvelling at itself. We look at the rest of creation and find it beautiful, and we realise that we are fearfully, wonderfully, and beautifully made, too.

As the Psalmist says, “Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens… what is humankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honour.” (Psalm 8:1, 4-55)

Contemplating the stars leads us to wonder and praise our creator. We realise the sheer majesty and beauty of creation. It leads us to wonder at ourselves and the mystery of what it means to be human.

We also remember that God chose to become a part of this creation and pitched his tent on our little planet. How dignified is our universe that God decided to be a part of and dwell in?

As Jesuit priest and astronomer Fr Jean-Baptiste Kikwaya Eluo said in an interview with the Jesuit Institute, “The work of astronomy is part of the ongoing work of salvation. It leads us to an integration of ourselves with others, creation and God”.

Wonder and praise must not end there. It must stir in us a sense of responsibility. Firstly, for ourselves. When I become conscious of the dignity of my creation, I realise that I must learn to take care of myself.

Furthermore, I realise my responsibility towards others. How do I treat those with whom I live and my neighbours? How do I make this world more just for its dignified inhabitants?

Finally, I find a sense of responsibility towards all of creation. Our little planet is vulnerable, and my actions impact it. What am I doing to protect this beautiful planet at the edge of the Milky Way Galaxy?