Mikaela says:
I finally got some perspective. I had to leave our solar system to do it.
Last Thursday, Lodestar Planetarium invited a bunch of folks to preview their newest slate of shows that have just now come on-line to the public. (Hint: Start lining up!)
There is nothing that can compare to leaving your planet and being confronted with the vastness of space -- the puny reach of human beings ending within the neighborhood, cosmically speaking -- to understand again how little politics matters and how utterly absurd (however deadly) war is.
With Enchanted Skies, Lodestar uses this great new software that combines all known astronomical data with an interface that allows you to fly all over space, and we did on Thursday night. Our planet -- small, blue-green beauty -- looks nothing like anything else. It's a unique confligration of qualities that allow life, as far as we know (and we know more and more), yet ... we fight over what?
If there really is a God and a Jesus or a Mohammed, how often do they watch earth, with trillions of other planets to watch? How much does the violence of war disturb them when supernovas are exploding all over the place to become the centers of every galaxy? Violence on a cosmic scale makes our violence so ... avoidable.
I admit I loved getting away, contemplating the universal navel, realizing yet again what sorry sorry star splinters we really are. Yes, politics matters. It just strikes me again how ignoble intolerance at all levels really is. Vote for connection and community and science. This really is all we have.
Get some perspective at the Lodestar Planetarium dome:
Black Holes: The Other Side of Infinity with
Wonders of the Universe
Shows on the hour from noon - 3 pm
Enchanted Skies: The Digital Universe
Shows 10 am, 11 am, and 4 pm
For information: 841-5955 or visit www.lodestar.unm.edu
WHERE: LodeStar Astronomy Center, in the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, 1801 Mountain NW
HOW MUCH: Admission to each show is $6 adults, $5 seniors and $3 children 3-12
Starting on Saturday, Nov. 18, admission will be $7 adults, $6 seniors and $4 children 3-12.
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