Praise Him in the Arts for the Sciences

Photo credit: NASA, ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Praise Him in the Arts

For the Sciences…

Praise Him in the Sciences

…For His Art.

-- K. Hartnett, December 1998

Great are the works of the Lord; they are studied by all who delight in them. (Psalm 111:2)
 
The Spirograph Nebula - a Cause for Wonder

This amazing and beautiful object is found in the constellation of Lepus the Hare, hiding in the winter sky beneath the feet of Orion the Hunter.  Catalogued by astronomers as IC 418, this object is known as a planetary nebula because in small telescopes, its circular shape appears very much like the disk of a planet.  In reality, the shape is caused by layers of gas that have been ejected from the central star due to complex physical processes there.  As one shell of gas moves away, cools, and slows down, it is then flooded by ultraviolet radiation from the star which causes it to fluoresce.  The colors represent the various chemical constituents (nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen) of the shells.  The remarkable patterns within this and other planetaries are assumed to be based at least in part by the rotation of their central stars, but remain poorly understood to date.

"Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? (Exodus 15:11)

Look about you- there’s no greater scientist or artist than God Himself.  The artistic sensitivities of men should rightly be employed to honor the exquisite engineering, mathematical, and scientific  foundations  of the  universe.  Likewise, scientists and engineers would do well to  worship God for the artistic beauty and intricate simplicity of His creative genius.  In the Spirograph Nebula, we see astounding beauty resulting from complex scientific processes expressed to God’s glory in one tiny corner of the universe.