Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Is there anyone who hasn't stood in the night, looking up to the expanse above, and wondered? How I wonder what you are....

The Christmas season reminds us of the star of Bethlehem. The bright, incomparable star that was a map for Magi. The star that led the way for traveling wise men in search of a king. Wise men who had studied the heavens, astronomers, who had seen changes and knew something extraordinary was happening. Intelligent men who plotted the paths of stars when my Anglo ancestors were still nomadic because they had not learned how to store food. Men looking for answers.

There has been rampant speculation for hundreds of years about the source of the star. Some believe an alignment of planets. Others think it was a comet or supernova.

Why is it so hard for some to believe that the star was created specifically for the glorious birth of the Savior?

Could the King of glory become human and live among us without 'stirring up' all creation?

Newborn stars, hidden behind thick dust, are revealed in this image of a section of the Christmas Tree cluster from NASA Spitzer Space Telescope, created in joint effort between Spitzer infrared array camera and multiband imaging photometer instrument

Newborn stars, hidden behind thick dust, are revealed in this image of a section of the Christmas Tree cluster from NASA Spitzer Space Telescope, created in joint effort between Spitzer infrared array camera and multiband imaging photometer instrument

And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." Gen 1:14-15.

This image, containing data from NASA Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes, shows a cluster of young stars expected to burn for billions of years.

This image, containing data from NASA Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes, shows a cluster of young stars expected to burn for billions of years.

Psalm 19: 1-4 The heavens declare the glory of God; The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; Night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, Their words to the ends of the world.

NASA image release April 12, 2011

Astronomers have uncovered one of the youngest galaxies in the distant universe, with stars that formed 13.5 billion years ago, a mere 200 million years after the Big Bang. The finding addresses questions about when the first galaxies arose, and how the early universe evolved.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope was the first to spot the newfound galaxy. Detailed observations from the W.M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea in Hawaii revealed the observed light dates to when the universe was only 950 million years old; the universe formed about 13.7 billion years ago.

Infrared data from both Hubble and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope revealed the galaxy's stars are quite mature, having formed when the universe was just a toddler at 200 million years old.

The galaxy's image is being magnified by the gravity of a massive cluster of galaxies (Abell 383) parked in front of it, making it appear 11 times brighter. This phenomenon is called gravitational lensing.

Hubble imaged the lensing galaxy Abell 383 with the Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys in November 2010 through March 2011.

Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Richard (Center for Astronomical Research/Observatory of Lyon, France), and J.-P. Kneib (Astrophysical Laboratory of Marseille, France)

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He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. Psalm 147:4.

Illustration of our universe

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:26.

This is view from ESA Hubble Space Telescope of a very massive cluster of galaxies, MACS J0416.1-2403, located roughly 4 billion light-years away and weighing as much as a million billion suns.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east come to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him. Matthew 2:2.

Heaven wasn't surprised when the star appeared. It was no accident of nature, no regular cycle of the universe. The star was for the Child!
*NASA photos

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Amish in Stantonville, Tennessee

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Faith, Folklore, and Friends

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