Astrophysics

Review: Pillars of Creation

/ rtrube54 / 2 Comments
Cover image of "Pillars of Creation" by Richard Panek.

Pillars of Creation, Richard Panek. Little, Brown and Company (ISBN: 9780316570695) 2024.

Summary: The development of the James Webb Telescope and what scientists have discovered about the cosmos in its first years.

Perhaps it is fitting that this review posts on Christmas Day.  Heavenly events feature in the accounts of the birth of Christ. For millenia, human beings have been peering into the night skies, trying to understand our place in the cosmos. When telescopes extended what we could see, we saw further and more detail, beginning with Galileo’s instruments. Large earth based reflector telescopes saw further.  The Hubble, and now the James Webb telescopes see further yet. Each generation of telescopes have extended and expanded the horizons of our knowledge of the cosmos. Each has allowed us to see further back in time toward the beginning of everything. And each has revealed new details of the composition and physics of both near and distant objects.

In Pillars of Creation (a reference to one of the most spectacular images created by both the Hubble and Webb telescopes, a region that is a “star factory”), Richard Panek traces this history of our observational studies of the cosmos. He describes the twenty-five year process, beginning shortly after the Hubble launched, to plan for the next telescope. And it was decided that this would not only see deeper into the past, but to see spectra of light in the infrared region not previously observed. But this posed a tremendous engineering problem that involved separating the array that gathered sunlight to power the platform from instruments that needed to operate at close to absolute zero. Panek offers an account that gives one appreciation of the talent of scientists and engineers that built the Webb and planned its deployment–all of which worked!

On July 12, 2022, the Webb officially went into “science mode.” What Panek offers us is a preliminary report of what scientists have already discovered in the first two years. The most frequent comment of the scientists themselves seems to be “Wow.” Panek recounts some of the “wows” in terms of four horizons.

First Horizon: Close to Home: For Heidi Hammel, who first detected a ring around Neptune in Voyager’s 1989 flyby, it was an image of that ring captured thirty years later by the Webb. But the big deal was spectroscopy that could detect water within the solar system, including a giant plume being emitted by a moon of Saturn affecting the atmosphere of Saturn itself.

Second Horizon: Close to Homes. The Webb allows spectrographic observation of exoplanets outside our solar system. One of the most intriguing was the detection of possible evidence of dimethyl sulfide, a molecule that is a biomarker of life (at least on Earth). This was on K2-18 b, a planet 124 light years from earth. The search is for water on planets within habitable zones of stars. But Webb also explores the question of how, from the formation of stars onward, it got there.

Third Horizon: Across the Universe. One of the enigmas in cosmology is how much dust there is in the universe. Panek describes how a team of scientists studying the dust ejected by a supernova were detecting huge amounts. Some of the team didn’t believe it–an interesting study in the relentless pursuit of accuracy. After more data, comparisons with other supernovae, and more analysis, these scientist agreed–and found themselves closer to an explanation of all that dust.

Final Horizon: In the Beginning. Rebecca Larson was studying data looking far back in the universe and thought she detected spectra lines amid the ‘noise” of early elements where they should be on the electromagnetic spectrum. As others reviewed the data, it became increasingly clear that she had discovered the most distant object ever observed, from when the universe was 400 to 500 million years old.

And these are but beginnings. Scientists are sifting through mountains of data. Each new discovery brings with it new questions and more to investigate. And the Epilogue tantalizes us with discussions of the next telescope. How close to the beginning of the cosmos will it get us? And how much more will we learn about everything in between? What Panek does with both text and illustrations is to translate for the public what an amazing time it is for those who work in astrophysics. Wow.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

Review: Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

/ rtrube54 / 6 Comments

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Neil deGrasse Tyson. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., (forthcoming May) 2017.

Summary: A clear and concise discussion in understandable terms about the current state of our understanding of astrophysics, everything from the origins of the universe to the origins of the elements on the periodic table, and all the space between the galaxies.

The Big Bang. Quarks. Bosons. Gravity waves. Dark matter. Dark energy. Cosmic background radiation. Quasars. Pulsars. Black holes. Dwarf galaxies. Nebulae. We hear about these things on comedy shows and educational television and in science columns in newsweeklies. They suggest that the universe is even more amazing than the moon, stars, planets, and the faint band of the Milky Way we can see, along with that closest star of all, the Sun.

For as long as we have been on the planet, people have been gazing at the sky and wondering about our place in the cosmos, and how it all worked. Astrophysicists work on the second part of this question, and can tell us, at least by various physical measures, our infinitesimal size in the immensity of all things. There is the curious wonder that we can perceive and study and understand at least something of what we see by our eyes, and through the instruments we use, probe across the immense reaches of space and time. We can apply our understanding of physical laws and our observations to grasp something of the chain of causal events that result in what we see. That is what astrophysicists like Neil deGrasse Tyson do (as well as several grad student and faculty friends in astrophysics).

That’s why I wanted to read this new book by Tyson — to understand a little better what my friends are working on. And thanks to Tyson, I can say that indeed, I think I understand a bit better. For example, I understood that the first fraction of a second in the life of the universe was immensely significant to the way things are.  I learned that there was an important transition that occurred when the universe was about 380,000 years old that can be detected in the form of cosmic background telescopes, a discovery first made by some Bell Labs telecommunications researchers.

I found out that the space between the galaxies is not empty and may be one of the most interesting things astrophysicists can study. I have friends doing dark matter research, and I discovered that there may be more of this than “visible” matter. At least in terms of the physical chemistry that makes up my body, I learned that Joni Mitchell was right: we are star dust. The stuff of my body was once the stuff generated in the core of stars and in their explosions. “All the light we cannot see” is not just the title of a great novel, but also reminds us that some of the most interesting aspects of light are in portions of the spectra our eyes cannot see.

Neil deGrasse Tyson is probably the most well-known living writer and speaker on astrophysics, a successor in this work to the late Carl Sagan. He is both an active researcher, and has a knack for explaining this research in understandable terms while ushering us into the wonder he encounters as he studies these things. And that brings me to one of the most fascinating aspects of this book.

Tyson has inserted this statement about himself into his Wikipedia article: “Neil deGrasse Tyson, widely claimed by atheists, is actually an agnostic.” It is fascinating that he draws the title of his first three chapters from either biblical themes, or a best seller on the life of Christ: “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” “On Earth as in the Heavens,” and “Let There Be Light.” Perhaps this is just cleverness in setting up his discussions of the Big Bang, the universality of physical laws, and the origins of light. But it strikes me that for Tyson, these scientific realities supplant the spiritual realities alluded to in the title references. Later in the book, he makes this clearer in his reflections on the cosmic perspective. He writes a series of statements on the cosmic perspective, a few of which I will quote here:

“The cosmic perspective is humble.

The cosmic perspective is spiritual–even redemptive–but not religious.

. . . 

The cosmic perspective opens our eyes to the universe, not as a benevolent cradle designed to nurture life but as a cold, lonely, hazardous place, forcing us to reassess the value of all humans to one another.

The cosmic perspective shows Earth to be a mote. But it’s a precious mote and, for the moment, it’s the only home we have.

The cosmic perspective finds beauty in the images of planets, moons, stars, and nebulae, but also celebrates the laws of physics that shape them.”

While Tyson refuses the term “religion” for what he calls “the cosmic perspective,” it is clear that for him, this is ultimate reality, the really “real.” There is a kind of spirituality in this writing. His research teaches him humility, has a redemptive quality to it (I’m not sure what he means by this) and seems to enhance his solidarity with other human beings and his care for our common home. The laws of physics are a kind of delight to him on which he meditates day and night (cf. Psalm 19).

I’m a Christian theist, and I point these things out in Tyson neither to debate him nor denigrate him. Rather, I found his book important for understanding not only the basics of astrophysics and the current state of the research (which I did) but also for understanding the mind of this scientist, who is humbled and finds beauty in the cosmos, and who struggles with “the lonely, hazardous place” our universe is (a major reason for his agnosticism as I understand it). It helps me understand why he has captured the imagination of many through his writing and media appearances.

Tyson also makes me wonder whether we Christians might do better to enter deeply both into the wonder and the haunting questions he asks than to engage in wars against science. It makes me wonder whether we might sensitively explore what is it about us humble creatures that we have this insatiable curiosity to explore the cosmos, and a sense that despite our objective insignificance, we are significant both individually, and to one another. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry actually invites us to do a very unhurried thing and consider what we are learning about the cosmos and how it relates to the big questions each and all of us face here on earth.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher via a pre-publication e-galley through Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.