The image above, provided by NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, shows 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula.  The nebula is located about 166,000 light years away from us.  At its center (upper right in the picture) is a starburst region consisting of hundreds of the brightest, most active, and most massive stars in the nearby universe.

Modern astronomy has provided us with countless similar images that capture the beauty and mystery of the cosmos.

“Through our science we have created magnificent spacecrafts and telescopes to explore the night and the light and the half light. We have made visible things that are invisible to the unaided eye. We have brought the dreamy heavens down to Earth, held them in the mind’s eye. Our explorations have produced a vast archive of remarkable astronomical images… The riches are too many for choices, the revelations beautiful and dreadful. Who can look at these images and not be transformed? The heavens declare God’s glory.”

– Chet Raymo, from Skeptics and True Believers

For more beautiful images of the heavens, as well as insightful quotes about faith and the cosmos, be sure to check out The Hand of God, available from the Templeton Foundation Press.