15 July 2023 - In Heaven As It Is On Earth
Someone asked me if I could break down the concept of a nebula into terms that children could easily comprehend. So, during this workshop, I introduced a fresh teaching aid - a plasma orb. This plasma orb mirrors the behaviour of a nebula since both consist of ionised gases.
This approach ignited a significant amount of curiosity among the children. A group of kids extends his finger, tracing the glass boundary of the orb, and the plasma follows his movements. You can't help but marvel at the uncanny similarity between this terrestrial display and the nebulas (the image of the Prawn Nebula below is taken by a boy named Bodhi that night). Both are entities of floating gas, throbbing with neon-like intensity. This is a personal lesson in the universality of nature's laws - the same atomic dance unfolding in his plasma orb is being played out on a cosmic scale within the nebulas.
This is perhaps one of the most profound lessons taught by science, a perspective shift of our relationship with the cosmos. For countless generations, our ancestors looked up at the twinkling tapestry of the night sky, and perceived an insurmountable divide between the heavens and the Earth. Heavenly bodies - stars, planets, Milky Way - were regarded as divine entities, their affairs considered separate from mundane earthly matters. The mysteries of the cosmos seemed to belong to a sacred and untouchable realm.
Yet, modern science has unmasked a truth more wondrous than any we could have imagined - we are intimately and inseparably connected to the cosmos. The laws that govern the celestial ballet of heavenly bodies are not exclusive to them. Instead, they permeate every corner of our existence. The same forces that energies and colour the nebulae also colour the plasma orb.
This revelation that the same physical laws govern both the heavens and the Earth paints a portrait of profound cosmic unity. It teaches us that we are not mere spectators of a distant cosmic play, but active participants in a universal dance.
Group Photo Under the Milky Way
IC4628 Prawn Nebula taken by Bodhi
NGC4725 Barred Spiral Galaxy
Date: 15 July 2023
Location: Zebra Stone Litchfield, Northern Territory, Australia
