Heavenly Majesty

On the evening of Sunday, July 5, hundreds of Latter-day Saints and friends gathered at the Washington D.C. Temple Visitors Center to contemplate certain aspects of the Creation. The program was titled “Heavenly Majesty: Images of Creation.” First off, before the prayer everyone sang “The Star-Spangled Banner,” a pretty clever tie between the Independence Day weekend and the subject matter to follow. Then Mario R. Perez took the podium. (Here is a link to his official biography, and an earlier one in Spanish.) Dr. Perez is currently a Program Scientist for several Exoplanet Exploration missions such as the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM-Lite), Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF), Keck Observatory, Large Binocular Interferometer (LBTI) and the NExScI (NASA Exoplanet Science Institute). He was baptized in Chile at age 10 and served in the Chile Osorno Mission. Until recently, he was on the Santa Fe New Mexico High Council where Sister Perez was stake young women president.

In considering why an astronomer might be invited to speak at a temple visitors center, he justified that astronomy is the only scientific discipline referenced in our scriptures’ Topical Guide. Most of the talk revolved around ten images. Large, high-quality prints of these images have been on display at the Visitors Center for several weeks. Most of them are of nebulae. My visual favorite was the Great Carina Nebula. Its several interwoven shockwaves and illumination sources make a wonderful composition. A significance of the nebulae in Dr. Perez’s talk is that they are a place where stars explode and also a place they are born. I was impressed by the youth of nebulae, thousands of years for many of them, and by the intricate structure of the youngest on display, the Crab Nebula; time and diffusion smear away starry clouds as well as men. Speaking of diffusion, the Sombrero Galaxy M104 was also displayed, a spiral galaxy that we view almost edge on. Its glowing central core and surrounding halo are the product of billions of stars, not a single one of which may be individually discerned; an entire sun just contributes its bit to a photon distribution.

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field made an appearance, that three-month stare at a speck of sky bearing 10,000 galaxies. Quite remarkable, considering that before Galileo 400 years ago, the known, visible stars numbered about 6,000. God blessed Abraham that “I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore,” which must have once seemed two very distinct levels of hyperbole; a quart of sand holds on the order of a million grains. Now, though, we can contemplate, 100 billion observable galaxies, each with its 100 billion stars, and some number of beaches among those. One of the last images in Dr Perez’s picturesque, non-technical presentation was of Fomalhaut b, the first extrasolar planet to be directly imaged, tying together the enormity of the universe with its intricate detail.

Before the next talk, “The Heavens are Telling the Glory of God” from “The Creation” by Haydn was played by Victor Bowman on trumpet and Jennie Bowman on french horn. Then, Earl Tingey took the podium. President Tingey currently presides the Washington D.C. Temple, and was once one of the presidents of the Quorums of the Seventy. Brother Perez had given a glimpse of the “what” of Creation, and President Tingey followed by expounded what we know from scripture of the “why.” The Visitors Center auditorium holds 540 seats, and many people had to be turned away. After the program concluded with prayer, most of the audience including myself, exited while others stayed for a question and answer session to follow with the two speakers. It was a truly fulfilling evening to gather with hundreds of Saints on the temple grounds to contemplate the Creation for an hour and a half.