Science Behind Things

Extremely Energetic, High Velocity Stellar Collisions are Possible

July 18, 2007 on 5:43 pm | In Creation Astronomy | No Comments

Abell 576 is a colliding galaxy cluster consisting of hundreds of galaxies colliding with enormous speeds of 7 million miles per hour (3,300 kilometers per second).  In order for hundreds of galaxies to collide with each other at any speed, let alone the high speeds observed in the cluster and other clusters as well, the so called big bang idea has a lot of explaining to do, since (1) it requires all matter to initially be traveling away from the rest of the the universe, (2) making galactic formation difficult, and (3) it can’t explain how matter could collide with such enormous velocities with the resulting massive kinetic energy seen in numerous instances (i.e. Bullet Cluster, et al).

And yet unbelieving scientists still believe it. Or some do. The rest are seeing that the big bang just can’t stand up to scientific scrutiny.

But some see such galactic collisions as evidence of dark matter.  Dark matter, which was invented to force the big bang idea to fit into preconceived ideas of evolution and the big bang, has never been observed, directly or indirectly, but is nevertheless embraced by some.  Dark matter would add as much as ten times the mass to galaxies observed through telescopes, supposedly explaining why such galaxies, even hundreds, could go from traveling away one another to traveling toward one another at speeds as high as 7 million mph.

As usual, I urge the read to seriously look into these things himself, and not let himself to be led astray by others doing the thinking for us.

Biblical Astronomy

July 9, 2007 on 10:10 pm | In Creation Astronomy | 8 Comments

Many types of science are taught in the Bible, and were there long before atheists or believers came to (re)discover them. Astronomy is my favorite.

A. The Number of Stars

An examination of the night sky, even the darkest night sky anywhere on earth, reveals at most only a few thousand stars visible to the naked eye. And yet the Bible says there are many, many more.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9)

“Astronomers have statistically estimated that there are about 1025 stars (that is, 10 million, billion, billion) in the known universe. One can also calculate that this is about the number of grains of sand[1] in the world. In any case, it is not possible to count either number. If one could count even as many as twenty numbers per second, it would still take him at least 100 billion years to count up to 1025![2]

And there may actually be even an infinite number of stars! Since God is infinite, and He is the Creator of the universe, there is no reason to assume that either our telescopes or our relativistic mathematics have penetrated to its boundaries. … Since the ratio of God’s omniscience to man’s wisdom is infinite, so apparently is the ratio of the size of the universe to that of the earth, according to this assertion by God Himself.[3]

“The Bible is accurate when it states the impossibility of numbering the stars”.[4]

B. The Size of the Universe

Modern “science fiction”, masquerading as science, claims that the universe is finite in size. Why? In order for the supposed big bang to have taken place. But no telescope has ever seen the edge of the universe, or even seen evidence that the end of the universe is near to being seen. Galaxies from the very closest (the Great Magellanic Clouds, located “only” 160,000 lightyears away) to the most distant that we can see (about 500 billion light years away) are all similar in appearance, rather than looking as if the farther ones are less developed.

C. Distance to the Stars

How far away are the stars? Man used to think they were in complex celestial spheres just a few miles above our heads. But Job knew:

“Is not God in the height of heaven? And see the highest stars, how lofty they are!” (Job 22:12)

The true awesome height of the stars wasn’t discovered until the 1800’s, but Job made his declaration above 3,800 years earlier!

God Himself also made the declaration, in Jeremiah,

“Thus says the LORD: ‘If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, says the LORD.” (Jeremiah 31:37)

In other words, if heaven could be measured by man, then God would do what He promises elsewhere He would never do, when He said He would never leave nor forsake leave and forsake Israel (Joshua 1:5, et al)

D. The Variety of Stars

This truth is taught in Jeremiah 33:22,

“As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so will I multiply the descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.”

Carefully scanning the night sky will reveal a subtle variation of color in the stars, and a slightly more obvious difference in brightness. And yet today’s telescopes reveal a far greater variety of beauty, size, temperature, gravity, and many other variations than anyone not using the Bible as a guide could ever know or imagine.

The Bible says,

“There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.”

E. The Order of the Solar System

Why is the solar system so orderly? There are nine planets (unless you believe the recent declaration that Pluto is in fact not a planet). Except for Pluto, the planets of our solar system are all orbiting in a fairly flat orbital plane. Aside from the planet Uranus, the planets are all spinning on their axes close to 90° relative to the ecliptic. Venus is the only planet spinning slower than it rotates around the sun, so that its “day” is longer than its “year”. But there is still incredible order in our solar system.

Going to Jeremiah yet again, we see the order of the solar system taught in Scripture,

“Thus says the LORD, Who gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, and its waves roar (The LORD of hosts is His name): ‘If those ordinances depart from before Me, says the LORD, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before Me forever.’ “

The orbits of the planets are so precise that their location can be predicted far into the future and far back into the past. Solar and lunar eclipses can be predicted years ahead of their occurrences. And even comets, such as Haley’s comet, can be predicted long before they arrive to delight us in the night sky.

Also, our sun, along with the earth, the eight other planets, comets and asteroids, along with the remaining 200 to 400 billion or so stars that in our Milky Way galaxy, are rotating, and bobbing up and down as they do so, around our galaxy’s center, taking 250 million years to do so. This motion of our sun is taught in the Bible in Psalm 19:6,

“Its rising is from one end of heaven, and its circuit to the other end; and there is nothing hidden from its heat”

[1] The Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Henry Morris, pages 156-9, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1984. Morris cites, The Genesis Record, Henry M. Morris (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1976), p. 384.

[2] The Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Henry Morris, pages 156-9, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1984

[3] The Biblical Basis for Modern Science, Henry Morris, pages 156-9, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1984

[4] John MacArthur, http://www.biblebb.com/files/MAC/sg1348.htm