Does it move you?

"Hubble...huh." I stated as my friend suggested we see it. "Hubble telescope. Imax. 3D. It just opened this week" was the response. I had been to the Imax at the Indiana State Museum before. The theater was impressive. A six story screen that stretched out in front of you. The last time I had gone to Under the Sea, I became so overwhelmed and stimulated that I felt nauseous. That is until I closed my eyes, after a few moments with my eyes shut I was able to open them again and watch the film with no queasiness.

So the decision was made to go. My nephew was up for a couple days and I was thinking of as many things to do with a nine year old on a rainy weekend. I must admit I was not very excited about the film. A movie about space is one thing, but I had little interest in a telescope. My hope going in to it was that the film would focus on the images the telescope had captured and not on the large metal object, which looked like a leftover wrapped in tin foil.

Sitting in the seat, I was a little nervous about feeling ill again, but this time a voice came over the speakers reminding viewers to close their eyes if they experienced any dizziness or discomfort. Good to know. The movie began. The telescope was shown. And a story about astronauts and the first launch of the telescope in 1990. But then, in one scene, a long arm extended from the shuttle, hooked like a hanger, slowly released the Hubble into the earth's orbit. As the telescope slowly slipped away a reflection of the Earth, it's clouds and heavy blue waters, was visible in the Hubble's large mirrors. I was captivated. It was the first image from space the Hubble had ever offered. An accidental image, not a regular photo using its digital data, just a reflection in a side mirror. It did not need the years of precise building and meticulous knowledge to capture this view of the earth. Just a mirror. It was, what I would consider, the best image the Hubble has ever shared.

The movie did fulfill my first expectations for it, by covering the 3D screen with fantastic, intentional photos of the cosmos. The rings of Saturn. A supernova. Magnificent clusters of galaxies. The images zoomed by my face and I noticed my nephew's hands reaching out infront of him to grab stars as they glided by. These remarkable pictures, blurs of colors, waving lights, the hidden tie dye tapesteries of space, so awe inspiring, so intense, yet my mind kept going back to the first image. I kept going back to Earth.

Have we been unappreciative? Have our senses been dulled? We have grown accustomed to this blue/green floating orb that can be found in cartoon form smiling with eyes, telling young children to recycle and reuse. And now we have forgotten that this globe is shockingly stunning. Able to compete with the lights and explosions of the Universe.

There is a saying "By going to the moon we discovered the Earth." We saw the Earth in a way it had never been seen before. And here we are in the 21 century, only 40 years later, and we have forgotten. Do you appreciate it? Besides the 1000 miles per hour that we are currently rotating at, Does the Earth move you?