Humans fascination with the cosmos long predates the technology and information we can access today. It is one of the most natural impulses for people to wonder about the glittering bodies in the sky. It is no wonder that Allah references celestial bodies and invites us to look upon His signs above. The Qur’an spoke to the curiosity of a desert people 1400 years ago and continues to encourage our curiosity today.
In Hidden Secrets, I have attempted to demonstrate that the curiosity that makes the scientifically-inclined mind ask questions about meteors and star clusters and the origins of the universe also leaves these individuals with the necessary sense of wonder and mystery that encourages future exploration and discovery.
I accomplished this by conducting my own research, consulting religious and scientific minds, and taking some creative liberties. Any inconsistencies or errors are my own.
One creative decision that I had to settle upon was the omission of some interesting, fun facts. For example, when referencing meteoroids, it didn’t serve the story to include the fact that they can come from comets and that sometimes small comet fragments can also make it to Earth. I also thought it was really cool that some meteorites could even come from the Moon or Mars. I ended up removing some dialogue around this. I’m hoping that kids will be inspired to explore these rocks further after reading Hidden Secrets and uncover these tidbits on their own.
I wanted to expand on the use of the red light flashlights and how they preserve night vision. I thought about including some STEM activities at the end of the book, but then thought better of it. I would have tried to cram too much into it. I do think it’s relatively simple for parents and teachers to present this information to kids at various age levels and come up with fun activities. It’s as easy as taping cellophane to a flashlight.
Averted vision. I loved how well this concept metaphorically represented how we perceive the Unseen. We don’t directly look at Allah and all of things in al ghayb, but we indirectly experience (see, essentially) them through His visible signs and miracles. I hope parents and teachers make this connection and talk it through with the kids. I did not want to devote too much time defining averted vision.
Lastly, star clusters. I loved the idea that you can see a globular star cluster with the naked eye and it would resemble a fuzzy star. A closer look through a telescope would reveal an array of stars. These bodies have been studied by astronomers for a long time. There have been questions about their age, formation, evolution, and how this information helps scientists understand the structure and history of the universe. In a word, they’re complex. I tried briefly to wrap my head around mass segregation and determined there was no way I was going to concisely explain it in a meaningful way in the narrative.
I came across a 2014 NASA release about star clusters which shared some interesting discoveries and new questions [at that time] about star clusters. I felt I could pare this down to a level kids could understand. Astronomers had come upon an unexpected observation in which a star cluster seemed to have younger stars (200,000 years old) concentrated at the center and older ones (1.5 million years old) on the outside. The release mentioned a couple of hypotheses to explain this phenomenon. I found this to be a good example of how deeper inquiry constantly leaves scientists puzzling over new mysteries and questions. Since Hidden Secrets isn’t confined to a specific point in time, I ran with it. I anticipate that much has changed in 11 years, especially in light of the James Webb telescope. I am sure that families and classrooms will have fun discovering new information about star clusters as time goes on.
Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my creative process. Just a little glimpse into how a non-scientist tells a story centered around scientific discovery.
Golden Butterfly Books 