Life’s 3 big questions?

This picture was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. A wonderful scripture comes to mind…

And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose; and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten. (Moses 1:33)

This image above when it first came through from the Hubble telescope and their newly installed Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) way back in April 2002 quickly became known as ‘The Hand of God’ because of it’s finger like nature, before I continue on Life’s 3 Big questions and how when you look at such an image our own purpose on this earth comes into our minds, more on what this is, the scientific part if you’re interested…

This is the Eagle Nebula, also know by the designation M-16, it’s part of an enormous interstellar cloud of dark, cool gas and dust in the Constellation Serpens, some 7,000 light-years from Earth. These magnificent pillars reveal the birth of dozens of stars. The pillars are made of gas and dust, and sculpted by intense radiation from very hot, bright nearby stars. Protruding from these pillars are small “fingers.” Buried within the tips of many of the fingers are stars that are still forming. As the gas and dust evaporate, the stars are unveiled. Radiation evaporates the gas and dust, and that radiation creates these surreal looking shapes. The largest of these pillars is about one light-year in length.
To give this some perspective, one light year is the distance that a beam of light would travel in one year, going at the speed of light, which is approximately 186,000 miles per second! 186,000 miles would be the equivalent of circling the Earth about seven and a half times. Now, imagine that distance spread out in a straight line. That’s how far light travels in one second! Now, imagine how far the light could travel in 31,536,000 seconds (one year) - almost 5 quintillion, 866 quadrillion miles! That’s 5,866,000,000,000 miles!! It’s a distance so vast that it’s hard to fathom! That’s the height of the large pillar in this photo! That would equal 60,000 times the distance from the Earth to the Sun! To travel one light year in the fastest space ship we have today (25,000 mph), it would take us a mere 17,000 years! Keep in mind, the Eagle Nebula itself is 7,000 light years away from us!

I love looking at such images, another example is the Cone Nebula below, are these truly not just beautiful?

So where does this leave us in the grand scheme of things?

The scriptures are laid before thee, yea, and all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea, and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator. (Alma 30:44)

Another favourite scripture I enjoy is again from Moses:

And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations. (Moses 7:30)

Life’s 3 big questions?

When we face the difficulty of loosing someone close to us, many will wonder is there more? I’m grateful for the peace and knowldge that I have in my life.

Here are the answers:

Where did we come from? (Click here)