Comets and Creation

Comets and Creation by Mother Ren - How I imagine Creswell Crags to have looked in an age well before our own, but truly special the day I shared with one of my vagabonds. Always my tribe.

Hello my vagabonds, how are you? Are you aware of an adventure for all of humanity that is playing out right now? The 3i Atlas!!!

If you aren’t already aware, there is an absolutely gigantic, deep space, “object” that will be passing our Earth at its nearest on the 19th December 2025. I say “object” as there are some contentions whether it is a comet or designed, but, what is important is that this “object” has travelled from a part of the universe so old it predates our own solar system. This intergalactic interloper is older than time itself and possibly could have borne witness to the birth of our entire universe.

“Oh no, Mum”, I can hear you thinking, “not another alien conspiracy theory?”. No, my darlings. I know too little about the workings of the universe to even speculate on an opinion as to whether a mothership is hurtling towards Jupiter to sprinkle technological probes in to its stable orbit for observation reasons. All I can say on that point is I feel it would be arrogant of ourselves to think firstly, we are the only life in this vast forever, and secondly, and probably most importantly, we are the most intelligent. And, although we are smart and innovative, an intelligent life wouldn’t destroy their only means for survival quite like a certain some of us do.

Yet, there is something we as a species holistically are lacking in, and have been for around 15,000 years, which would surpass intelligence alone as a means to determine the hierarchy of mobile life in the universe. But, before we get there I want to titillate you with a scintillating Stone Age fact.

Homo Sapiens, translated from Latin, means “Wise Man”. Homo being “Man” and Sapiens meaning “be wise”. In literal terms, “Man be wise”.

Are we? I question this as a species yet, I believe 3i Atlas, regardless of the possibilities that we may yet meet new friends from very, very far flung places, is an opportunity for us to live up to our name. As Man Being Wise. Not being just intelligent, not being just smart, not being just cynical. Wise! So, what is Wisdom?

If we take the dictionary definition for Wisdom;

• The ability to discern or judge what is true, right, or lasting; insight.

• Common sense; good judgement.

• The sum of learning through the ages, knowledge.

Wisdom is a knowing, or more importantly, an understanding that is beyond the external. Wisdom is the continued questioning of both the known and the unknown. It is not just the “how’s” and the “what’s”, it’s the “why’s”. It is not just the recycling of our own limited pool of knowledge collected only in our lives, it is a shared ocean deep with the wisdom of all the ages that came before us. Wisdom, to borrow an idea from Jung, is a shared consciousness that any one of us can tap into if we are only willing.

So, how does 3i Atlas help us when, so far, it seems to have such little relevance to our every day lives and struggles? It makes us question what we know, simple. It is a universal, paradigm-shifting event that will probably never be experienced again in our lifetime, or any that follows. Not just for scientists and astronomers (and I am sure some possible billionaires already dare I say pulling a Don’t Look Up. I kid, sorry, Mum jokes really are the worst), but for people like you and me, my vagabonds. The “ordinary” people who go to school/work, eat sleep, repeat. The people who don’t get a chance to look to the heavens because they are busy looking down on their own toil. Don’t despair though, we don’t have to look up to receive a glimmer of the wisdom that is hurtling past us.

I read a silly amount of news and science articles about 3i Atlas, slowly gathering information, enough to try and formulate an opinion on what it most likely could be. To categorise it and define it. Learning about tails and comas, perihelion and Avi Loeb. It gave me a passion again for learning all about the universe I am a part of, that is true, but, it was with a goal in mind. Until I remembered something. The Socratic Paradox . . .

I know that I know nothing.

I had learnt a lot of complex principles and theories from prominent experts in their field with varying, often opposing, views. One thing that kept coming up was the chemical composition that objects and reactions in space are made of. It’s embarrassing to admit, but, I guess I had never questioned before how they knew, with such certainty that 3i Atlas was made up of x, y, and z. I presumed it was something to do with the colour of the gases emitted. Or, in my more fanciful thoughts, I imagined Bruce Willis, kitted up in full astronaut gear (older readers should hopefully know where I am kind of heading with this), land on the comets surface and this time his mission would be peaceful, it would be just for samples. Wouldn’t make much of a movie really, I know. But, the answer is so much more spectacular than I could have ever imagined, spectroscopy.

“What is spectroscopy?” I hear you ask, but my vagabonds, I tell you now, it is really not important what it is, or how it works, but the why. But, I will borrow the words of the the Astronomy Staff, at astronomy.com and explain, in short, it is the study of how “each element absorbs light specific wavelengths unique to that atom”. That would mean the light reveals the uniqueness of that atom so it is observable. If everything in the universe has a purpose, then light’s very purpose is to make the unobservable, observable.

This is obvious when we consider our very own magnificently engineered eyes, they perform this spectroscopy naturally all the time. This is how we can tell water from land, and rock from flesh with sight alone, even if all our other senses are blocked from communicating what is around us. Our sight is incredible, it is but one tool in our box, but that tool is as the telescope to our lives, whether it points out to the heavens or deep within our own private universe.

Some wise people, somewhere in history, thought to themselves, “I can see! Where am I not looking?”. The fire inside them grew and grew as they learnt more and more of how their tools could work. A hope of discovery along their exploration fanning and feeding their flames till they shone bright, a beacon in their own right. And, then eventually their light became so strong that when they directed their honed and sharpened tools in to the darkness, they observed the birth of the universe herself.

None of this can be witnessed without the light. Yet, sometimes, in darkness, you must shine a light on to an unknown that is uncomfortable at first. It can be scary, or feel too abstract, looking at something that was once hidden plain from the light, had not yet been revealed, but the awe you feel at understanding the once impossible is the only path to the possible.

So, my vibrant vagabonds, take care of those big beautiful eyes of yours, look to where you point them and do not be afraid, for you will shine your beacon in to the darkness and watch the impossible born in to creation.