by Bill Drennon
"When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; What is man, that Thou dost take thought of him? And the son of man, that Thou dost care for him?" Ps 8:3-4 (NAS)
We don't know what the first big celestial event was that revealed the Christ-child to the magi, but we are familiar with some recent Christmas Celestial Events, thanks to the cameras of NASA, USA.
Christmas 1966:
The Russian spacecraft Luna13 took the first panaramic pictures of the Moon's surface.
Christmas 1968:
The Apollo 8 astronauts took this image of the Moon and Earth from space ...which inspired the world
Christmas 1968:
The Apollo 8 astronauts took this image while orbiting the Moon
Christmas 1994:
This mosaic of earth was taken by Clementine
Christmas 1996:
The MIR space station orbits the earth.
Christmas 1997:
From Mars, the USA Pathfinder Mission sends us high resolution pictures of a Martian rock named Yogi.
The Hubble Space Telescope shows us some of the celestial christmas ornaments that are in our sky. Before the Hubble was placed above our atmosphere, no one could fathom this beauty of the creation. These images are of Planetary Nebulae.
Christmas 1999:
STS-103 Astronauts celebrate Christmas
The Hubble Space Telescope is fixed and upgraded by STS-103 shuttle astronauts.
Saturn as viewed with infrared camera by the Hubble Space Telescope