The elections are over. At least for a while. There are other things to think about and comment on.

A friend of mine sent me an email about the Hubble Telescope (HST). The Hubble Telescope is one of the largest and most versatile space based telescopes. Launched in 1990, it is a vital research tool and a public relations boon for astronomy. The HST was built by the United States space agency NASA, with contributions from the European Space Agency, and is operated by the Space Telescope Science Institute. It is named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble. (The background of the Hubble Telescope is based upon the Wikipedia article found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope)

The HST is one of NASA’s Great Observatories. Hubble’s orbit outside the distortion of Earth’s atmosphere allows it to take extremely sharp images with almost no background light. Hubble’s Ultra Deep Field image, for instance, is the most detailed visible-light image ever made of the universe’s most distant objects. Many Hubble observations have led to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as accurately determining the rate of expansion of the universe.The telescope is now expected to function until at least 2014, when its ‘successor’, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), is due to be launched.

As part of its operation astronomers decided to point the Hubble Telescope at a dark spot out in space and they left it pointed in that direction for 10 days. The results encouraged them to try again for an additional 11 days. What they saw is available as video (with sound): http://tinyurl.com/rdzpzu

This is all a prelude to my observations and comments about the implications about what they found.

My friend who sent me the information and video connection observed: “This is incredible. Doesn’t this make you feel small?” In answer I wrote back the following: “In answer to your question the answer is NO. I always felt that man was insignificant.”

I continued to ruminate about the implications of the photos and their meaning.

These photos caused me to consider the question which has plagued mankind since we swung down from the trees, or crawled out of the sea. What is the reason for the Universe? Why does the Universe exist? And, in conjunction with that, if there are over 100 Billion Galaxies, (note galaxies, and within each galaxy there are millions, perhaps billions of stars), what are the odds that we, mankind, are unique? It is clear that life as we know it is either unique or it isn’t. If we are unique, then we are a product of incredibly small probabilities. Statistics being what it is, I am inclined to believe that we are not unique. There are probably other pockets of life in the Universe, and given the number of celestial bodies, probably a large number of places where life exists.

Now, let me pose a question: If you were the Creator (not a subject that I can speak about with any authority) and you decided to have a little fun and create LIFE, where would you

put it? Everywhere? Make it spread out with a high probability of existing in each galaxy? Perhaps.

But if I was in charge I would experiment by placing life on a small planet in a modest size galaxy, far from everything. The concept is similar to those scientists who experiment with VERY dangerous things such as nuclear devices. They would like to experiment with something like that in a safe place…..far from everything, etc.

As far as I can see we are a microscopically small blip in the Universe, and the experiment about Human Life on Earth will almost certainly end in the next few thousand years. It will come about because we can and certainly will kill ourselves off through making incredibly stupid decisions on a small, finite planet with very limited resources. If you don’t believe this then educate yourself about the most recent elections in the United States and the implications about the leadership.

If I were the lab instructor and looked at the results of the experiment of life on Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy I would give the student a C, or perhaps a D, with a note that would say something like, “interesting.”