Both images are from the Hubble Telescope.
Left: The Pillars of Creation and right: The Cone Nebula.
I will, I promise, stop writing about this one day but not right now, for a number of reasons. The first is that the world, from where I’m looking, could do with some good news. While the second is that, if we look, the Wonderland is, in fact, all around us.
If you should doubt that then just pause to look at the simple things. The trees coming into bloom, the butterflies and bees doing their bit as are the newts in our pond. In fact, the pond itself is what pleases me most. My son, Matt, dug it for me a dozen or so years ago when he stayed with us. Five days of hard graft digging nearly a metre down into London clay and through the roots of a big tree. Once that was done it was just a matter of lining it and filling the hole with water. Some “starter” water from a local community garden followed along with some planting; after which we let nature take its course. It’s wonderful to watch this small world of its own, especially at this time of year when the annual frog orgy usually takes place.
At the other end of the scale is the night sky which I looked at a few years ago with a telescope that my wife bought for me. Unfortunately, it proved not to be for me despite my fascination with the universe and its wonders. Yet, in the short time that I used it, looking at the moon and some of the planets was amazing.
Which brings me to my point. We live on a Wonderland called Planet Earth, within another Wonderland called the Solar System. This within an even wider one called the Milky Way Galaxy; along with millions of other galaxies in the Universe. This latter, as far as we know, 13.4 billion years old. Furthermore, there may be other universes and more than the four dimensions that we know of. Even I find it difficult to grasp that concept, especially when it may number as many as eleven.
So, just so that you can see the real Wonderland that we are all part of, have a look at the photos and wonder, again and again.