The Universe as a Distraction

 

The first image from the Webb Space Telescope.  Credit:: NASA/STScI

Copyright © 2022

by Ralph F. Couey

Yes.  It's been awhile.  For a writer, creative blocks are bound to come, like rain.  But my extended absence isn't related to a loss of creativity.  

For a long time now, we've been on the receiving end of a battering ram of bad news.  From one vector the Pandemic, which has exhausted us physically, mentally, and emotionally.  It's true that mandates and restrictions are beginning to ease, but hanging above us, like the proverbial sword of Damocles is the threat that a new variant could appear, spread rapidly, and we'd be right back where we were.  Vector No. 2 is the discord between ever-widening political sides in our country has been ratcheted up alarmingly.  Both sides are lying constantly, comfortable that none of their followers will ever hold them accountable for the truth.  

From yet another direction, war is raging, as Russia tries to swallow whole the country of Ukraine.  We have all been inspired by the courage displayed as ordinary Ukrainians willingly pick up weapons to defend their homeland.  The unexpected level of resistance has cost the Russian military time, money, and soldiers.  Almost five weeks into this, Ukraine is standing strong, led by their irrepressible President Zelensky.  When this started, most analysts thought it would be over in a matter of days.  No one knows as yet how this is going to end, but their's no doubt for which side the rest of the world is rooting.

At home, prices are skyrocketing.  Food, fuel, clothing and other necessities are straining budgets everywhere.  People are starting to make those hard choices between wants and needs.  For the first time in living memory, Americans are seeing empty shelves in grocery stores.  Supply chain issues make the acquisition of almost anything difficult.  And expensive.

One of the reasons I haven't been writing is that there's been little good news to share.  After two years of being struck repeatedly by the hammer of negativity, I've pretty much reached my limit.  I find myself willfully ignoring news and other sources of current events. searching out other things to think about.  I've made more trips up to Haleiwa to my place of peace and healing, time that passes all to quickly before my conscience calls me back to The World.  Still, I'm grateful for that time.

So, where I find myself these days is not in contemplation of my surroundings, but rather upwards towards the expanse of the universe.  As I've said before, one of my most favorite source of entertainment is the Science Channel.  There, I can watch endless episodes of "How the Universe Works," "Space's Greatest Mysteries," and other similar shows.  I've found that the contemplation of the universe is a wonderful distraction from everything else.

The known universe is about 93 billion light years across.  Right now, anyway.  Scientists have discovered that the universe is expanding at an ever-increasing rate. The most distant galaxies are getting further away every hour, and it's apparent that we're never going to catch them.  The exact reason for this is still being debated, but it would seem that the unknown "thing" called Dark Energy is responsible for the ever-increasing race outward.

There have been three theories for how the universe will end.  The Big Crunch, The Big Rip, and the Big Chill.  The first one supposes that the universe will expand to a certain point, then begin to contract.  Slowly at first, then with increasing velocity, all the objects in space will race back to what was it's origin place and "crunch" down into a singularity with infinite density, infinite mass.  This school of thought then supposes that another "Big Bang" will occur, and matter and energy will once again start spreading into a new universe.  The thought is that the universe is in an eternal cycle of expansion and contraction, death, and rebirth.

The Big Rip acknowledges that the universe will continue to expand at an accelerating rate until space time is stretched literally to the breaking point.  Galaxies, stars, planes, moons, comets, even atoms and molecules will be ripped apart, leaving nothing behind.

The Big Chill is only slightly less apocalyptic.  In this theory, the universe expands, but instead of tearing itself apart, it dies a slow, dark death.  The gas and dust needed to create stars will disperse to the point where stars can no longer form.  Existing stars will burn out, or explode, and their planets either will be destroyed or will float, frozen around the corpse of a dying star.  The stars will gradually cool to their dead cores.  Eventually, all the light is gone from the universe.  What is left is darkness.

None of these are very attractive.  But rest assured that these outcomes are trillions of years in the future, and none of us will be around to experience it.  

In the meantime, there is much to contemplate.  Exoplanets (planets outside our solar system)  are being discovered by the thousands, but as far as we know, earth is the only haven of intelligent life.  That could change however, perhaps before we are ready for that knowledge.  Still, I hold out hope.  Even the knowledge that there's somebody else out there would be an affirmation that life is plentiful, and not restricted to this one small planet.  

One of the things that fascinates me are the sheer size of things out there.  We think our sun is pretty big.  But close to the center of our galaxy is a monster known as UY Scuti.  This variable hypergiant is 1,700 times the size of our star.  Placed at the center of our system, it would engulf Jupiter.  It's flares would reach Pluto.  UY Scuti is about 5,000 light years distant, and its days are numbered.  At some point, like all massive stars, it will explode in a dazzling and powerful hypernova.  And even at that distance, that's a fireworks show we will easily see in the night sky.

The universe is like the world's biggest box store.  A person could spend their entire life studying it and never run out of new things to find.  That fascinates me.  When I look at the majesty of the night sky, I am awestruck by its beauty and mystery, and how it inspires so many questions that may never be answered.  Now, NASA's new space telescope, the Webb, has made it to it's assigned spot at the Lagrange point between Earth and the Moon.  The Webb is 100 times more powerful than it's aging predecessor, the Hubble.  With this increased vision and resolution scientists expect to uncover more information about the formation of galaxies in the early universe, as well as locating even more exoplanets.  While these discoveries will answer some of the deepest questions of cosmology, each new find will likely trigger a thousand new questions.

Humanity is on the brink of some of the most exciting discoveries about the universe.  For people like me, it is an exciting time to be alive.

And for me, that's so much more interesting than the consumer price index.