50,000 light years, as the Crow flies, is the estimated distance across a Galaxy nicknamed Sombrero. The image of this celestial marvel can be seen in the December issue of the National Geographic Magazine. The first three page foldout is the picture of Sombrero. You see the Galaxy from end to end, 50,000 light years across! Light travels fast, real fast, faster that 25 MPH, I think its around 186,000 miles per second. How do we even mentally grasp the distance light will travel in 50,000 years, and yet, in this image of Sombrero, you see something that big, how large is this, compared to a universe that we can't even see the boundries off, a universe full of things we know nothing about. Our most advanced " Eye On Infinity " to date, the Humble Space Telescope, shows us astounding views, into parts of these distant realms. Many scientist say the universe may be around 13.7 billion years old, from its beginnings, the Big Bang, but then, whats beyond our universe? If you reach the end, the outer edge, is there a sign that says, DCHS is closed :-) The Hubble took a picture, at a spot in the night sky, where previously, before the Hubble, nothing could be seen. Within the image were 3000+ Galaxies, and whats beyond, who knows! This Geographic article also shows an image of Helix Nebula which looks much like the eye of the universe looking back at you. Its all the Great Beyond, it surrounds us completely, and most people in thier busy lives, forget its even there. The last two page foldout shows the image of the cone nebula. It looks like beautiful clouds in space. People many times imagine various images in the clouds. The first thing I thought of when I saw this picture of the Cone Nebula was it looked like the Image of a praying Jesus looking to the right, praying hands out in front of him and a bright star for the pupil of his eye. Within the incredibly thin life support veneer, across the surface of this sphere in space, that humans have carried out there lives, many derivations of " truth " have come, and gone. The Universe, The Great Beyond, represents to me, a place with endless questions, like peeling back the layers of and onion, endless layers, new truths will be forever forthcoming, transforming, and revealing to some, that there are no absolutes, just the journey, and what an amazing trip it has been, in my indescribably short time here.
