Do you know the names and order of the planets in our solar system? Do you follow NASA's every move? Are you excited when space science succeeds, as when asteroid dust was brought to Earth recently? This is World Space Week, so I'm thinking how experiencing outer space could help lift mood and boost wellbeing in our everyday here.
I know little about the wonders of space, about light years and stars and nebulae. I never watch TV, so I haven't seen shows like The Sky At Night, and I don't own a telescope to see the full night sky. I don't know a lot about constellations or satellites, although recently I enjoyed seeing the International Space Station moving across the sky. But the very vastness of space that feels confusing and overwhelming is also awesome and uplifting. I may not understand the figures or the complex systems, but I do enjoy seeing images from space, photography of space phenomena. It's like they transport us into space, allowing us to glimpse another world. Colours, light, it's all inspiring. It injects drama and mystery into the familiar.
Seeing space images transforms my perspective. Perhaps only for a moment or for a while, but it opens a door on the vastness of the universe. That might just help balance or even rein in overthinking. It won't change the cost of living, strikes, ill health, or whatever overshadows life day to day. But it's another outlook on the world.
Outer space can also awaken, or confirm, faith in God, who holds all life in being.
Maybe you have insomnia, or feel depressed or anxious at night time. Watching the night sky, learning to recognize some constellations and how the sky changes, might help time go by, lift spirits and make night feel more familiar, less forbidding, more beautiful.
Art and craft can open up ways to interact with outer space, either creating artwork or seeing what others create. Experimenting with making a simple mobile of the solar system using card, paint and thread helped me learn the planets at last! By contrast, Luke Jerram's striking Museum of the Moon installation has travelled the world, being seen by crowds in very different settings, from cathedrals to quays.
Music is another way to connect with outer space, to feel and express the thrill and awe of somewhere so other, so different. Holst's Planets Suite is classical music at its most dramatic and majestic. Then there are songs like Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. And there are John Williams' scores to the Star Wars movies, which resonate with power and might, and - to fans - build a whole fantasy world.
Yes, light pollution is a major problem. Now that some places get designated as Dark Sky areas, it just shows how rare it has become to have a good view of the night sky – but also just how prized that view is.
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