I am amazed at the fact that one can be an astronomer and an atheist. As technology enables us to behold beauty once hidden hundreds of light-years away, it reminds us how vast this universe really is. My faith is continually bolstered by the Divine creativity on display in the the heavens, and the scale on which God has stretched his canvas. Conversely, it should give us pause to think about how incredibly finite we are.
Consider our galaxy, the Milky Way. It’s between 80,000 and 100,000 light-years in diameter. One light-year is 5,878,625,373,183 miles. To put it in perspective, if you shrunk the Milky Way to 80 miles, our solar system would be 2 millimeters wide.
The Milky Way has numerous smaller “satellite galaxies”, and one of them is called the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Apparently, the LMC is easily visible to the naked eye far south of the Equator (e.g., Australia, etc.). Through a telescope, however, the LMC is dominated by a cloud of gas called the Tarantula Nebula. The Tarantula Nebula was thought to be a star until 1751, when Nicolas Louis de Lacaille said hey, that’s a nebula!
This nebula is 160,000 light-years away, but is still about as bright to the eye as the Orion Nebula (which is 30 light-years away). It’s huge; approximately 1700 light-years across, (50x Orion)! If the Tarantula were placed at the distance of the Orion nebula, it would fill half the sky. And, to get back to my point, it’s beautiful:
That photo above is from the European Southern Observatory. They stitched together a 256 megapixel image of the nebula and have a variety of sizes available to download. It definitely confirms Psalm 19:1:
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
I recommend heading over there and checking out a larger version of the image. Spend a moment considering the magnitude of that masterwork, so vast to us, yet just a little speck in the cosmos.
(via Bad Astronomy.)
Related: The Big Bang & Blind Faith
4 responses so far ↓
1 Evakian // Dec 29, 2006 at 8:50 pm
I’m confused as to why you believe the vast complexity of the Universe proves the existence of a supernatural being. However, I must say that the nebula pic is truly a wonder. I shall make that my desktop background.
2 Jacob // Jan 1, 2007 at 4:17 pm
There’s really nothing confusing about it. How can nature exist via nature? An “effect” is contingent upon a cause greater than itself; therefore, our natural existence demands a supernatural “cause.” That is a logical deduction made independent of “vast complexity.” The intricacies of the universe on both a macro and micro scale are simply further proof.
Consider the widely accepted (though erroneous) “Big Bang” theory. That very theory does not conform to what we call “natural law.” In other words, scientists demand a “supernatural” cause for this universe. The only difference is they avoid the metaphysical implications of such a claim. “Science” doesn’t want to address the questions of “why” and “how.” The Big Bang is ultimately a quick fix to uphold evolutionary theory.
Thanks for commenting. I will certainly be dealing with this topic in the future.
3 Evakian // Jan 1, 2007 at 7:37 pm
“How can nature exist via nature?”
You’re positing that nature was at one point created. That idea would lead one to believe in a supernatural being, but the law of conservation of mass and the law of conservation of energy tells us that the matter and energy of the Universe has always been, seeing as how it had no beginning and has no forseeable end. Science thus far has explained the how, but it does not propose a why, nor does it need to, as the why is something that we find so trivial that we reject it and turn to the concepts of deities and the supernatural.
As for your skepticism on the Big Bang, you say it is erroneous, but why? Father Lemaitre would be disappointed.
4 Jacob // Jan 4, 2007 at 5:56 pm
I have expounded upon my disbelief in the Big Bang in my article The Big Bang & Blind Faith.
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