Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Journey to the Edge of Creation

“The heavens declare the glory of God...”
This weekend, Glen and I viewed a documentary on the vastness of our universe as seen from technology that has opened up new windows of wonder and beauty. The pageantry depicted in the film was awesome! I wish I could turn this into the video, but some of the numbers might be of interest.
Distance was presented as light years. A light year is how far you can travel by the speed of light--186,000 miles per second--multiplied by 360 days at that speed.
If we left earth on Jan 1 going the speed of light, we would reach:
     The moon in 2.3 seconds
     Pass Mercury and Venus and the Sun in 8 min. 17 sec.
     Pass Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto in 5 hrs and 31 min
We would have traveled 3 1/2 billion miles and it would still be Jan 1st.
In four years we would reach the nearest star--25 trillion miles out
     It would take 100 light years to be able to see the arms of the milky way
     It would take1,000 light years to reach the arms and the disc of the milky way
     It would take 100,000 years before we would be able to recognize each point of light 
            within the milky way itself.  
    We would find that each point of light is a galaxy not just a star.
5  million light years out and the milky way comes into focus at the center
It would take 10 billion years before we would be able to view the structure of the universe and see how it is 
filled with galaxies.
The sheer quantities:
     It is estimated that there are 100 billion galaxies in the universe. 
     Each galaxy contains 200 billion or more stars
     Our Milky way is but one galaxy!
The orbiting Hubble telescope shows the predictability and order of the Universe.  It has reshaped our view of the Cosmos.  It was not until 1924 that Astronomers believed there was anything beyond our Milky Way!
“The great book of the universe stands open unto our gaze, but we must understand the language in which it was written.”  Galileo
The light of God’s eternal power and truth is reflected in what He has made:

                                                           ...Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain...  Ps 104:2
The Universe gives man significance:
When I look at your heavens, the work
Of your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which you 
have set into place,
What is man that you
Are mindful of him,
And the son of man,
That you care for him?
You have made him a little lower
Than the heavenly beings
And crowned him with glory and honor.
Psalm 8:3-5

Amazon.com  Wonders of God's Creation  6 CD's for $34

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