Transcript 7.1 What The Heavens Are Declaring About God`s

What The Heavens Are Declaring
Measuring Our Universe
Astronomers use a number of methods for measuring the
size of our universe. The light-year is the unit of
measurement typically used which is the distance light
travels in 1 year (9.5 x 1012 km).
Our Universe is Vast
Current estimates
of our
universe’s size
suggest that it
is at least 93
billion light
years in
diameter and
continuously
expanding
outward.
Parallax
Parallax is the apparent difference in position of an object
against a distant background due to a change in position of
the observer.
Stellar Parallax
If a star is viewed against a distant background at one “side”
point in its orbit around the sun and then six months (1/2 an
orbit) later, the star will appear to have moved slightly against
the distant background. This is Stellar Parallax.
More
Distant
Objects
Show
Less
Parallax
Parallax Measurements
Using parallax (the apparent shift of an object’s position
against a fixed background caused by a change in the
observer’s position), astronomers can measure the
distances of sky objects up to 3,000 light years distant.
The Inverse Square Law for Light
As light travells outward, it gets dimmer by a fraction of the
distance squared. Brightness = 1 / (distance)2 .
Measuring Distances by Brightness
The energy output of a star is called its luminosity. Cepheids are
very bright stars that periodically glow brighter and dimmer.
Their pulsing rate from brighter to dimmer is directly related to
their average luminosity (longer pulsing rates are associated
with greater luminosity). Since more distant objects are
observed to be less bright than closer objects, astronomers can
determine the distance of cepheids by knowing their observed
brightness and their luminosity (as determined by their pulsing
rate).
Object Distances Determined by Cepheids
Using cepheids, astronomers can determine stars that have
the same luminosity (brightness) If these stars appear
dimmer to us it is because of their distance. The inverse
square law for light can be used to determine the distance
required for a star of given brightness to appear as dim as
it does to us. Using these principles, some cepheids must
be 70 million light years away. Light from these galaxies
took 70 million years to reach us which means that they are
at least 70 million years old.
Standard Candles
A standard candle is a type of space object that always emits the
same amount of light (the same luminosity). Cepheids are one
kind of standard candle. By measuring the observed brightness
of the object and knowing its luminosity, astronomers can
calculate the distance to the object. There are several standard
candles that are used by astronomers which allows them to
cross-check their results for accuracy.
Supernova Explosion Candle
A certain type of supernova explosion (explosion of a large mass
star) can be used as a standard candle due its fixed luminosity.
Using this candle, astronomers have measured galaxies as
distant as 10 billion light years away.
A Sense of the Universe’s Vastness
Shrinking the Sun to the size of a tennis ball, earth is the size
of a sentence period and Pluto is 3 football fields away.
If our entire solar system (Sun to Pluto) were again shrunk to
a ballpoint pen tip, our Milky Way galaxy would be a disk
150 miles across with us located 28 miles from the center.
God is Beyond Measure - Man Insignificant, Yet Cared For
“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the
moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what are
mere mortals that you are mindful of them, human beings
that you care for them?” Psalm 8: 3-4
In the Immense Universe, Humans Have Dominion Here
“You have made them a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned them with glory and honour. You have made
them rulers over the works of your hands.” Psalm8: 5-6
God Redeems and Forgives Us
“God does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us
according to our iniquities…As far as the east is from the
west so far has he removed our transgressions from Him.”
Psalm 103: 10, 12. How far is our sin removed?
What Does the Vastness of the Universe Teach?
Despite our smallness, the universe declares the greatness of
God’s love. His love removes our sins beyond the ends of
our universe for each one of us! “For as high as the
heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those
who fear him. Psalm 103: 11
What Does the Vastness of the Universe Mean to an Atheist?
Carl Sagan, an atheist astronomer, responded to the
vastness of our universe in this way: “Our planet is a
lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our
obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will
come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.” - The
Pale Blue Dot.
The Universe is Dynamic
A study of sky objects has shown that they change over long
periods of time, going through typical life cycles. Stars,
galaxies, solar systems and planets are born, age and die
in regular, predictable ways over billions of years of time.
Star Birth
Clouds of hydrogen gas and dust called nebulae contract and
heat up due to gravity compression. If they are large
enough, they eventually reach the temperature, 15,000,000
oC, which causes atomic fusion to start, the process that
generates the light energy we see coming from stars. A
new star is born each year in our galaxy.
Star Aging: Dependent on Star Mass
How a star changes depends on the mass of the nebula cloud that
produced the star. Less massive stars like our sun shine stably
for billions of years until they use up their hydrogen which
causes them to expand outward as red giants and then to
collapse as white dwarfs.
Star Aging: Nucleosynthesis of New Elements
As they age stars produce new
elements inside themselves
from the process of atomic
fusion. During the final red
giant stage, stars produce
carbon, nitrogen and oxygen.
Silicon-28 is name of isotope
above
Star Aging of High Mass Stars: Supernovas
Stars with masses over eight times our Sun’s mass reach a stage
where iron is formed in its centre which causes the star to
become unstable and eventually explode. The explosion of a
high mass star is called a supernova which releases so much
energy that briefly it outshines a whole galaxy. Supernovas also
produce elements heavier than iron.
Stars Made The Periodic Chart of the Elements
The element H with traces of He and Li is thought to have
formed as a result of the Big Bang. All the other elements
are thought to have been formed inside stars, the heavier
elements from Ne on from supernovas.
High Mass Stars’ Deaths
After supernova explosions, high mass stars contract into
dense objects like neutron stars or black holes which have
such strong gravity force that energy can not escape but is
pulled back into the dense star. Objects passing close to
black holes are annihilated and sucked into the black hole
by its gravity force.
Supernovas Enrich Neighboring Nebulas
Supernova explosions propel heavier elements made by
atomic fusion into nebulas that surround them, enriching
these with elements besides hydrogen and helium.
Planet Formation
Planets form alongside parent stars. Nebula dust grains and
atoms that are swirling around the star clump together and
grow in size from pebbles to boulders to asteroid-size
planets. As it grows larger, the planet gains more gravity
which causes more material to clump to it.
Earth’s Presumed Formation
As our sun’s nebula contracted and began to swirl, the
planets began to clump together around the sun. Since
the earth, moon and inner planets have heavy metals in
their crusts and cores, the nebula that gave birth to the sun
and planets of our solar system had elements from one or
more earlier supernova explosions.
Man: Created from Dust, “Stardust”
The common earth elements like oxygen, nitrogen and
carbon that we are composed of are thought to have come
from a supernova explosion. In this regards we can be
said to be made of “stardust”.
Process Creation
Some Christians think of God’s creating of things as an
instantaneous, supernatural process (His speaking “Let
there be” followed by an instant appearance of a fullyformed object). However nature clearly shows us that the
creation of things around us today occurs by various
processes.
Process Creation
The Bible affirms God as Creator and His Creation affirms that
new things are created by natural processes, governed by
the Creator. Thus a Christian believes in a Creator who
works through processes, in process creation. This does
not imply however, that God only works through natural
processes since He also performs miracles – inexplicable
events which differ from normal patterns.
The Bible: God Creates People
Ecclesiastes 12:1 “Remember your Creator in the
days of your youth, before the days of trouble
come…”
God Creates Us
Isaiah 43:1 “ But
now, this is
what the Lord
says – he who
created you ….
He who formed
you…”
God Creates Us
Job 36:3 “I will ascribe
justice to my Maker…”
We Were Created Through A Process.
Did God create you?
Or did your parents make you? (through a Natural process)
The answer to both questions is yes.
Christians Affirm That God Creates
Through Processes.
God has made
nature and
governs its
processes,
creating and
maintaining
things through
natural
processes.
Christians call
this process
creation.
Process Creation of The Universe
Stars, planets and galaxies all are formed by natural
processes. Although God could have made each star
miraculously at the beginning of the universe, the heavens
are witnessing to the fact that God established and
maintains dynamic processes by which sky objects were
and are created.
The Heavens Declare That The Universe Is Old
When a galaxy is one billion light years away, the light we see
today has taken one billion years to arrive which means
that the object is at least one billion years old. Based on
the distances measured to sky objects and other evidence,
the age of the universe is estimated at 13-14 billion years.
Young Earth Arguments Against An Old Universe
Some young earth advocates have argued that light moved
faster when it first left distant sky objects, making it
possible for it to reach us in much less time than billions of
years. However, this conflicts with ample evidence that
light in distant objects follows the same laws of quantum
physics and electromagnetism (therefore travels the same
speed) as for us on earth.
Evidence For An Old Universe From The Moon
382 kg of moon rocks have been collected by NASA missions
to the moon. These have been dated at 3.2-4.5 billion
years. Lunar meteorites (fragments of the moon dislodged
by asteroid impacts and sent into the Earth) have likewise
measured ages billions of years.
Mars’ Evidence for an Old Universe: 1
Mars orbiters have sent back pictures showing the effects of
water erosion on the surface of Mars even though water is
not visibly present today. Such erosion and the dispersion
of the water into space would have taken millions to
billions of years to accomplish.
Mars’ Evidence for an Old Universe: 2
In addition, Mars exploration vehicles (rovers) have sampled
and chemically tested Mars rocks, finding they are made
up of minerals (sulfides) and crystals that only form when
exposed to or under water for long time periods. Mars was
a very different planet many millions of years ago. It had a
warmer and thicker atmosphere and liquid water on its
surface.
The Sky Is A Time Machine
When we look at a sky object one million light years away, the light
we see has taken one million years to arrive which means what
we are seeing is one million years old. By looking at similar
galaxies at various distances from thousands to billions of light
years, it is possible to look back in time to see the various stages
that a particular kind of galaxy has gone through in the past. Sky
objects can give us a look back in time.
How Galaxies Have Changed Over Time
The most distant galaxies are bluer and brighter with many
new stars forming in them as compared to closer galaxies.
Distant Galaxies
Close Galaxy (Andromeda)
Asteroid Orbits As Evidence of Old Universe
Using the present orbits of a number of asteroids, the past
orbits can be calculated. A number of these orbits when
followed back millions of years converge to a single point.
This indicates that a collision occurred millions of years
ago with the smaller fragments sent into new orbits.
Evidence of Universe Age From Meteorites
Radiodating many meteorites with 5 different isotopes has
produced consistent ages of 4.5 billion years which would
roughly indicate the age of our solar system and agrees
with the ages shown by the oldest moon rocks.
meteorite that fell through the
roof of a house in South Auckland
Star Clusters Indicate an Old Universe
A star cluster is a group of stars that formed at approximately the
same time. High-mass stars in the cluster burn out faster and
brighter while low-mass stars burn slowly and steadily. This
means that star clusters with high-mass stars would be
relatively young while star clusters with only low mass stars
would be much older. The oldest star clusters with only lowmass stars have an age of about 12 billion years.
The Pleiades in Taurus (Young)
NGC 2266 (Old)
Are Modern Science and the Bible in Conflict?
Many lines of evidence from modern astronomy indicate the
universe is billions of years old. A reading of Genesis Ch 1,
interpreting the days as 24 hours, is in conflict with modern
science. However, a non-concordist reading of Genesis Ch 1 or,
a concordist reading as longer periods of time, is not in conflict
with the findings of modern astronomy.
The Big Bang Theory: A Beginning for our Universe
Our universe began (and time for it started) as a condensed,
hot ball of energy/matter that rapidly began to expand
outward and to cool about 13.7 billion years ago. Seconds
into the expansion at temperatures over 109 K, energy
condensed into sub-atomic particles and minutes later the
nuclei of H and He atoms (with traces of Li formed). About
379,000 years from the start, electrons accumulated
around nuclei to form atoms. Nebulae made up of of H, He
and traces of Li condensed by gravity to form stars,
galaxies and planets.
Evidence for the Big Bang 1: An Expanding Universe
Scientists found evidence that sky objects in all directions
were moving away from us and that the farthest objects
were moving the fastest away. This is consistent with a
universe that is expanding. If we take the rate of expansion
and work backwards through thousands, millions and
billions of years, we find that 13.7 billion years ago all the
sky objects were at one spot which is the beginning of
what is called the “Big Bang”.
Sky Objects Are Moving Away from Earth
• Hubble noticed what many astronomers before him had
observed: that sky objects in all directions from earth are
moving away from the earth.
The Farther an Object is from Earth, the Faster it Moves
• Hubble made the new discovery that the farther a sky
object is from earth, the faster it moves away from the
earth. What could this mean?
Farther Objects Move Faster in an Expanding Universe
• In an expanding universe, objects farther away appear to
be moving faster so they have greater red shifts. As the
bread expands, the closer raisins move only 5 cm away but
the farther raisins move 15 cm away – they move apart at a
faster rate because there is more expansion between them.
How Do We Know that Sky Objects are Moving
Away From Us?
• The Doppler Effect for waves helps us know whether an
object is moving away from us or towards us.
The Doppler Effect
• When something producing waves moves, the waves in
front get compressed into shorter waves while the waves
behind get stretched out into longer waves. This is called
the Doppler Effect.
Science Behind the Expanding Universe
• There are many different kinds of light with different
energies and wavelengths. Visible light (detected by our
eyes) has many colours. Red light has longer
wavelengths, blue light has shorter wavelengths. White
light is a mixture of all the light colours.
Science Behind the Expanding Universe
• The Doppler Effect for a moving light source is that the light
gets shorter waves for an observer that the source is moving
towards and waves get longer for an observer that the source is
moving away from. When visible light waves are shortened,
this is a shift towards the blue end of the spectrum (a blue
shift). When visible light waves are stretched or lengthened,
this is a shift towards the red end of the spectrum (a red shift).
Science Behind the Expanding Universe
• If a light source is moving towards an observer, there
will be a blue shift but if a light source is moving away
from an observer, there will be a red shift. Also, the
faster a light source moves, the greater the shift will be
(the more waves get compressed or stretched).
Science Behind the Expanding Universe
• What would a blue or red shift look like?
Science Behind the Expanding Universe
• A blue shift means the star’s
spectrum is shifted towards
the blue end of the spectrum
because it is travelling
towards you. A red shift
means the star’s spectrum is
shifted towards the red end of
the spectrum because it is
travelling away from you.
Science Behind the Expanding Universe
• When astronomers look in any direction into space, all stars
and galaxies show red shifts and the farther away the objects
are, the greater the red shifts are. What does this mean?
• All stars and galaxies are moving away from each other – the
Universe is expanding!
Science Behind the Expanding Universe
• The more distant the stars or galaxies are, the greater their red
shifts which shows our universe is expanding more and more
each day.
Evidence for the Big Bang 2: Background Radiation
If the Big Bang occurred, it would have radiated heat out in all
directions. This heat radiation would have cooled as it spread
out. Today it should be found everywhere in a faint, low-energy
form on the outer edges of our universe. This radiation was
found in 1965 and is called Cosmic Microwave Background
Radiation (CMBR). CMBR is found in all directions at a
temperature of 2.726o K or -270.274o C (close to absolute zero).
It is interpreted as the energy glow remaining from the original
“Big Bang”.
Evidence for the Big Bang 3: Early Nuclear Fusion
The ordinary amount of matter in the universe is 75 %
hydrogen, 24% helium and 1% other elements. Helium
forms inside stars from as two hydrogen atoms fuse to
form helium. This only happens at very high temperatures
(over 13,600,000o C).
Evidence for the Big Bang 3: Early Nuclear Fusion
The amount of helium made by stars over billions of years is not
enough to have made the present amount of 24%. But if the Big
Bang occurred, calculations indicate that about three minutes
after the Big Bang started, the conditions were like the interior
of a star and this would have caused hydrogen atoms to fuse
into helium. The Big Bang model predicts that this event would
have produced a 24% amount of helium after which the outward
expansion and cooling stopped fusion reactions in the Big Bang
expansion.
Our Universe is Peculiarly Fined Tuned for Life
Our universe need not have turned out as it has. It could
have developed different properties and forms of
matter/energy than it has. It turns out that the laws and
properties of matter and energy that developed from the
Big Bang are precisely just right for life to be possible.
Unique Requirements for Life
1. A stable energy source is required (like light from a longlived star)
Unique Requirements for Life
2. A variety of atoms are needed (C, O, N, P, S, Fe, Ca, Na, K,
Cl, I) to make the complex molecules required by living
things. Planet earth has these elements abundantly while
the rest of the universe has 75% H, 24% helium and only
1% other elements.
Unique Requirements for Life
3. The expansion rate of the universe needs to be our present
rate – a faster rate would have made star and galaxy
formation impossible, while a slower rate would have
caused to universe to collapse back into itself in a “Big
Crunch”.
Unique Requirements for Life
4. The force of gravity needs to be as it is – a weaker gravity
force would not be able to pull matter together into a star
and hold it together against the outward fusion pressure,
while a stronger gravity force would cause stars to be
denser and to burn much too fast.
Unique Requirements for Life
5. The 4 fundamental physical forces in our universe are
balanced in a special way.
Unique Requirements for Life
5. (Continued) The strong nuclear force (holding protons and
neutrons together) is very strong over an extremely small
distance. The weak nuclear force acts over extremely small
distances and allows the conversion of protons to neutrons by
changing the flavour of the quarks making up these particles
(The sun would not burn without this). The electromagnetic
force is just right for atoms and ions to exist - electrons are
held by the nuclei of atoms by this force. The gravity force is
also just right for stars to form and solar systems to exist. If
the strengths of these forces were not balanced as they are,
only hydrogen atoms could exist and fusion would be
impossible.
Unique Requirements for Life
6. Nuclear reactions in stars produce carbon and oxygen by
fusing helium atoms together. For life to exist, there must be
more carbon than oxygen formed because living things are
composed of many complex carbon molecules. Carbon atoms
have a special excited nuclear state that resists fusion into
oxygen which causes more carbon to be made and less
oxygen. The nuclear properties of the atoms are tuned just
right to make lots of carbon.
Unique Requirements for Life
7. Water molecules have properties that make it an excellent
dissolver and transporter of substances. In addition, it is
transparent to sunlight in the wavelengths we see, but not
transparent to wavelengths like x-rays, ultraviolet or infrared
light. Water in our atmosphere lets light in for photosynthesis,
prevents harmful x-rays and ultraviolet rays from entering and
reflects back infrared radiation, keeping our planet warmer. It
seems as if our universe and especially our solar system from
the start was programmed with laws and properties that would
allow life to exist.
Three Scientific Descriptions of Our Universe’s Origin
The scientific description of how our universe formed can be
presented either neutrally, with an atheistic slant or with a
Christian slant. Sometimes Christians dismiss scientific ideas
because they are presented with an atheistic spin. This is
probably done by atheists to promote their belief by associating
it with science which is highly respected in our culture. But, by
removing the atheistic perspective, one can get a religiously
neutral scientific description. By replacing the atheistic
perspective with a Christian perspective, a Christian can
integrate their religious beliefs with a scientific description.
An Atheistic Description of Our Universe’s Origin
The universe started as an accident - a purposeless unplanned
event. We don’t yet understand how, but somehow all the
matter and energy and space and laws of physics of this
universe sprang into existence. Space expanded and matter
cooled, and all these particles went about obeying the laws of
physics, moving around and colliding with each other and
sticking together when the forces were strong enough.
An Atheistic Description of Our Universe’s Origin
As luck would have it, the laws of physics cause clouds of atoms
to collapse under gravity into stars, hydrogen in these stars to
fuse into heavier atoms, and stars to explode and spread these
atoms around into new clouds. And out of one of these clouds
of atoms our Sun and our Earth formed. There was no God, no
Designer. The beginning of the universe can be explained as
mindless matter obeying mindless laws.
A Neutral Scientific Description of Our Universe’s Origin
We don’t know what happened before the Big Bang. We do know
that 13.7 billion years ago, the universe was densely filled with
extremely hot particles. Space itself expanded, carrying the
particles with it and spreading them out. The gases began to
cool, and within a few minutes the particles had merged
together to form hydrogen, then helium nuclei. About 300,000
years later, the universe had cooled down to about 3000 degrees
Celsius, and light began to travel freely through space.
A Neutral Scientific Description of Our Universe’s Origin
Some regions in the expanding universe were slightly more dense
than others and began to collapse under gravity, forming the
first generation of stars. Gradually billions of galaxies formed
throughout the observable universe, each containing billions of
stars. About 4.6 billion years ago the sun formed within the
Milky Way galaxy. A disk of dusty particles around the sun
condensed into planets and the Earth was formed.
A Christian Scientific Description of Our Universe’s Origin
In the beginning there was God. From nothing, God created time
and space, matter and energy, and the very laws of nature. God
spoke and the universe began 13.7 billion years ago in a blast of
light, heat and extremely energetic particles. At God’s
command, space expanded and the universe cooled. God used
nuclear and electric forces to fuse the particles together and
gravity to bring the atoms together into stars.
A Christian Scientific Description of Our Universe’s Origin
God made billions of stars in billions of galaxies,
extravagantly filling the whole universe over
billions of years. In the stars God used nuclear
fusion to make atoms of all sorts and dispersed
them throughout space. About 4.6 billion years
ago, God used gravity to shape some of this
stardust into the sun and its planets, bringing
together all the material necessary to form the dry
ground, oceans and atmosphere.
End of Presentation