The Star

 

Sir. Arthur. C. Clarke (1946-2008) is a British Science fiction writer, futurist and inventor. He is also known as the "Prophet of the Space age'. He was a lifelong proponent of space travel. 'A Space Odyssey (1968) and 'Rendezvous of Rama' (1973) are his famous works. 'The Star' was published in 1955 in 'Infinity Science Fiction' and won Hugo award for best Story in 1956.  Arthur. C. Clarke's 'The Star' deals with a group of explorers who embarked upon remnants of an advanced civilization destroyed by a Supernova three thousand light years away. Clarke excellently presents the Scientific fact and his theological reflections in this story.

Supernova is the most powerful and Spectacular explosions in the universe. When massive stars similar larger than our Sun, reach the end of their lives, their Cores collapse and that trigger massive explosions. As they release vast amount of energy, they play a crucial role in the distribution of elements throughout the universe. Such a Supernova destroyed a civilization three thousand light years away, two thousand years ago. A team of explorers are on their way back having discovered the remnants of that advanced alien civilization. As they knew about the inevitable explosion, they, the alien civilization preserved all that they wished to preserve and all the fruits of their genius is in a vault with the hope that some other race would find it one day. They also deposited the Vault in a distant planet similar to Pluto in our solar system. Three or four times in every thousand years a few stars become supernovae. It is said in 1054 AD and in 1572, they were visible to humans.

The narrator of the Story a Jesuit priest, who is one among the crew comes to find a shocking fact. He has found the exact date of the explosion with the help of the astronomical evidence he got from the vault. He also calculates the date of its visibility on earth. No doubt, it was actually the star that had shone above Bethlehem when Jesus was born. As Supernovae are routine incidents, the universe may sometimes not consider whether the race has done good or evil. Even God has any need to justify His actions to man.  But the Jesuit priest who is also an astrophysicist asks God desperately 'What was the need to give those people to the fire and to make it shine to be visible above Bethlehem? Though the story doesn't give any acceptable answer to the question, it encourages the reader to contemplate the mysteries of the universe and the position of humanity in this universe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvwFAdMKnsc

------Thulasidharan