To The Saints !!!!!
Centuries ago guys like Johannes Kepler (17th Century) and William Herschel(18th Century) thought that the moon supported life. Kepler even wrote a book about the moon people in which he fantasized about how their lives might be.
As scientific knowledge grew, dreams of finding lunar civilizations dissipated. Everyone came to agree that the moon cannot support life. Yet surprising discoveries in recent years have shown the opposite to be true: the moon really does support life - ours! Scientific evidence confirms how this parched, airless satellite actually contributes in unexpected ways to creating a lush and stable environment a quarter of a million miles away on Earth.
A discovery recently made in 1993 found that the moon actually stabilizes the tilt of the Earth's axis. The tilt is responsible for our seasons. During summer, in the northern hemisphere the north pole axis is pointed towards the sun. Six months later, when the Earth is on the other side of the sun, then the south pole is more pointed towards the sun. With the Earth's tilt at 23.5 degrees, this gives us very mild seasons. So in a very real way, the stability of our climate is attributable to the moon.
If the moon was not there then the tilt of the Earth's axis could swing wildly over a large range, resulting in major temperature swings. If our tilt were more like ninety degrees, the north pole would be exposed to the sun for six months while the south pole would be in darkness and vice versa. Instead , it [our tilt] varies by only about one and a half degrees - just a tiny variation, because the gravity from the moon's orbit keeps it stabilized.
The moon's large size compared to its host planet is unique in the inner solar system. Mercury and Venus have no moons. Mars has two tiny moons - probably captured asteroids - and they don't do anything to stabilize the axis of Mars. In fact, all three of these planets have chaotic variations in their tilt.
The moon also helps in another crucial way, which is to increase our tides. The moon contributes sixty percent to the tides; the sun accounts for the other forty percent. Tides serve an important role by flushing out nutrients from the continents to the oceans, which keeps them more nutrient-rich than they otherwise would be. Scientists discovered just a few years ago that the lunar tides also help to keep large-scale ocean circulation going. That's important because the oceans carry a lot of heat, which is necessary to keep the temperature of the higher latitudes relatively mild.
If the moon was larger and still in the same place, the tides would be way too strong which would create serious difficulties. The tides slow down the Earth a little and at the same time the moon moves out in its orbit. If the moon were bigger, it would slow down the Earth much more. That would be a problem because if the days became too long, then you could have major temperature differences between day and night.
Isn't it amazing that the moon "just happens" to be the right size and in the right place to help create a habitable environment for Earth. Do we really know what a BIG GOD we serve?
Would it not be strange if a universe without purpose accidentally created humans who are so obsessed with purpose? (Sir John Templeton)
Info taken from The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel (2004)
I have felt the wind blow
Whispering Your name
I have seen Your tears fall
When I watch the rain
How could I say there is no God
When all around creation calls
A singing bird a mighty tree
The vast expanse of open sea
Gazing at a bird in flight
Soaring through the air
Lying down beneath the stars
I feel Your presence there
I love to stand at ocean's shore
And feel the thundering breakers roar
To walk through golden fields of grain
'Neath endless blue horizon's frame
Listening to a river run
Watering the earth
Fragrance of a rose in bloom
A newborn's cry at birth
I believe
I believe
I believe
(Creation Calls by Brian Doerksen)
LoCTY!!!!
Showing posts with label Did you know. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Did you know. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 1, 2004
Thursday, November 11, 2004
Did You Know(3)
To The Precious Saints !!!!!
What is it about our solar system that contributes to life on Earth?
More and more astronomers are learning how the other planets tie into the habitability of Earth. For example, George Wetherill of the Carnegie Institution showed in 1994 that Jupiter - which is huge, more than three hundred times the mass of the earth - acts as a huge shield to protect us from too many comet impacts. It actually deflects comets and keeps many of them from coming into the inner solar system, where they could collide with Earth with life-extinguishing consequences.
This was illustrated very nicely by the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter in July,1994. This comet was attracted by Jupiter's tremendous gravitational pull and broke into fragments, with all of them hitting Jupiter. Likewise Saturn and Uranus also participate in that kind of comet-catching.
In addition, the other planets in our inner solar system protect us from getting bombarded by asteroids from the asteroid belt. The asteroids are mostly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Our first line of defence is Mars, being at the edge of the asteroid belt . It takes a lot of hits for us. Venus does do.
Can you imagine these planets acting like big brothers, loving protectors putting their 'bodies' on the line to protect the life that is on this planet Earth. Does not that remind you of someone?
More on Gods awesome creation to follow, watch your mail.
Info taken from The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel (2004)
The River
To the river I am going
Bringing sins I cannot bear
Come and cleanse me come forgive me
Lord I need to meet You there
In these waters healing mercy
Flows with freedom from despair
I am going to that river
Lord I need to meet You there
Precious Jesus I am ready
To surrender every care
Take my hand now lead me closer
Lord I need to meet You there
Come join us in the river
Come find life beyond compare
He is calling He is waiting
Jesus longs to meet you there
(Brian Doerksen, Michael Hansen & Brian Thiessen)
LoCTY !!!!!!
What is it about our solar system that contributes to life on Earth?
More and more astronomers are learning how the other planets tie into the habitability of Earth. For example, George Wetherill of the Carnegie Institution showed in 1994 that Jupiter - which is huge, more than three hundred times the mass of the earth - acts as a huge shield to protect us from too many comet impacts. It actually deflects comets and keeps many of them from coming into the inner solar system, where they could collide with Earth with life-extinguishing consequences.
This was illustrated very nicely by the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter in July,1994. This comet was attracted by Jupiter's tremendous gravitational pull and broke into fragments, with all of them hitting Jupiter. Likewise Saturn and Uranus also participate in that kind of comet-catching.
In addition, the other planets in our inner solar system protect us from getting bombarded by asteroids from the asteroid belt. The asteroids are mostly between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Our first line of defence is Mars, being at the edge of the asteroid belt . It takes a lot of hits for us. Venus does do.
Can you imagine these planets acting like big brothers, loving protectors putting their 'bodies' on the line to protect the life that is on this planet Earth. Does not that remind you of someone?
More on Gods awesome creation to follow, watch your mail.
Info taken from The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel (2004)
The River
To the river I am going
Bringing sins I cannot bear
Come and cleanse me come forgive me
Lord I need to meet You there
In these waters healing mercy
Flows with freedom from despair
I am going to that river
Lord I need to meet You there
Precious Jesus I am ready
To surrender every care
Take my hand now lead me closer
Lord I need to meet You there
Come join us in the river
Come find life beyond compare
He is calling He is waiting
Jesus longs to meet you there
(Brian Doerksen, Michael Hansen & Brian Thiessen)
LoCTY !!!!!!
Friday, October 22, 2004
Did You Know (2)
To The Saints !!!!!
Obviously the key (from a scientific viewpoint) to continued life on Earth is the sun, whose nuclear fusion, taking place at twenty-seven million degrees Fahrenheit at its core, provides us with a consistent warmth and energy 93 million miles away. If the distance between the earth and the sun was adjusted by 5% either way human and animal life would be impossible because the mix of carbon dioxide and oxygen would not be able to sustain it.
Our sun is pretty special. For instance its among the 10% most massive stars in the universe. In fact if you pick a star at random, you're likely to pick one that's far less massive than our sun, usually red dwarfs, which make up about 80% of stars. Another 8 or 9 percent are called G dwarfs, most of which are less massive than the sun. The sun is a yellow dwarf ; technically, it has a G2 spectral type. So we can see that yellow G2 dwarfs like our sun help account for the balance, between 1 and 2 percent, of all stars (this 1 to 2 percent also consists of other types of stars some of which are more massive than the sun).
Lets take a look at red dwarfs quickly since they make up the majority of stars in the universe. These are not very conducive to having life-bearing planets orbiting them. There are several reasons for this. First red dwarfs emit most of their radiation in the red part of the spectrum, which makes photosynthesis less efficient. A greater problem though is that as you decrease the mass of a star, you also decrease its luminosity. A planet would have to orbit this kind of star much closer in order to have sufficient heat to maintain liquid water on its surface. This then results in the problem that the tidal force between the star and the planet gets stronger as you move in, so the planet will spin down and eventually end up in what's called a tidally locked state. This means it always presents the same face towards the star. This is very bad (major understatement) because it causes huge temperature differences between the lit side and the unlit side. The lit side would be terribly dry and hot while the unlit side would be prohibitively icy and cold.
Now back to our sun (aren't you warming up more to it?). Fortunately our sun is not only the right mass, it also emits the right colours (a balance of red and blue). If the Earth was orbiting a more massive star, say an F dwarf, there would be much more blue radiation that would build up the oxygen and ozone layer very fast. Any imbalance in the ozone layer would subject the planet to an immediate flood of highly intense ultra-violet radiation, which would be disastrous to life.
The sun is also metal-rich; in other words it has a higher abundance of heavy elements compared to other stars of its age in this region of the galaxy and surprise surprise the sun's metallicity may be near the golden mean for building Earth size habitable terrestrial planets. The sun is also highly stable, more so than most comparable stars. Its light output only varies by one-tenth of one percent over a full sunspot cycle, which is about eleven years. This prevents wild climate swings on Earth. As mentioned in the previous mail the sun's orbit is more nearly circular than other comparable stars in our galaxy and this keeps it away from the dangerous spiral arms in our galaxy.
So our star the sun has some pretty amazing properties - just the right mass, the right distance, the right light, the right composition, the right orbit, the right galaxy, the right location, the right stability - to nurture living organisms on a circling planet. Pretty allright don't you think. Now what do you think the chance of all this just kinda happening on this grand a scale.
Is not our God just awesome. More of His glory to follow just watch your mail.
Info taken from The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel (2004)
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Do you know how its dimensions were determined and who did the surveying? What supports its foundations and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? (Job 38:4-7)
I believe in God the Father
Almighty Maker of Heaven and Maker of Earth
And in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, our Lord
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
Born of the virgin Mary
Suffered by Pontius Pilate
He was crucified dead and buried
And I believe what I believe is what makes me what I am
I did not make it, no it is making me
It is the truth of God and not the invention of any man
I believe that He who suffered was crucified, buried and dead
He descended into hell and on the third day, He rose again
He ascended into heaven where He sits at God's mighty right hand
I believe that He's returning
To judge the quick and the dead of the sons of men
Oh yeah I believe it
(Creed by Rich Mullins)
LoCTY !!!!!!
Obviously the key (from a scientific viewpoint) to continued life on Earth is the sun, whose nuclear fusion, taking place at twenty-seven million degrees Fahrenheit at its core, provides us with a consistent warmth and energy 93 million miles away. If the distance between the earth and the sun was adjusted by 5% either way human and animal life would be impossible because the mix of carbon dioxide and oxygen would not be able to sustain it.
Our sun is pretty special. For instance its among the 10% most massive stars in the universe. In fact if you pick a star at random, you're likely to pick one that's far less massive than our sun, usually red dwarfs, which make up about 80% of stars. Another 8 or 9 percent are called G dwarfs, most of which are less massive than the sun. The sun is a yellow dwarf ; technically, it has a G2 spectral type. So we can see that yellow G2 dwarfs like our sun help account for the balance, between 1 and 2 percent, of all stars (this 1 to 2 percent also consists of other types of stars some of which are more massive than the sun).
Lets take a look at red dwarfs quickly since they make up the majority of stars in the universe. These are not very conducive to having life-bearing planets orbiting them. There are several reasons for this. First red dwarfs emit most of their radiation in the red part of the spectrum, which makes photosynthesis less efficient. A greater problem though is that as you decrease the mass of a star, you also decrease its luminosity. A planet would have to orbit this kind of star much closer in order to have sufficient heat to maintain liquid water on its surface. This then results in the problem that the tidal force between the star and the planet gets stronger as you move in, so the planet will spin down and eventually end up in what's called a tidally locked state. This means it always presents the same face towards the star. This is very bad (major understatement) because it causes huge temperature differences between the lit side and the unlit side. The lit side would be terribly dry and hot while the unlit side would be prohibitively icy and cold.
Now back to our sun (aren't you warming up more to it?). Fortunately our sun is not only the right mass, it also emits the right colours (a balance of red and blue). If the Earth was orbiting a more massive star, say an F dwarf, there would be much more blue radiation that would build up the oxygen and ozone layer very fast. Any imbalance in the ozone layer would subject the planet to an immediate flood of highly intense ultra-violet radiation, which would be disastrous to life.
The sun is also metal-rich; in other words it has a higher abundance of heavy elements compared to other stars of its age in this region of the galaxy and surprise surprise the sun's metallicity may be near the golden mean for building Earth size habitable terrestrial planets. The sun is also highly stable, more so than most comparable stars. Its light output only varies by one-tenth of one percent over a full sunspot cycle, which is about eleven years. This prevents wild climate swings on Earth. As mentioned in the previous mail the sun's orbit is more nearly circular than other comparable stars in our galaxy and this keeps it away from the dangerous spiral arms in our galaxy.
So our star the sun has some pretty amazing properties - just the right mass, the right distance, the right light, the right composition, the right orbit, the right galaxy, the right location, the right stability - to nurture living organisms on a circling planet. Pretty allright don't you think. Now what do you think the chance of all this just kinda happening on this grand a scale.
Is not our God just awesome. More of His glory to follow just watch your mail.
Info taken from The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel (2004)
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Do you know how its dimensions were determined and who did the surveying? What supports its foundations and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? (Job 38:4-7)
I believe in God the Father
Almighty Maker of Heaven and Maker of Earth
And in Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, our Lord
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
Born of the virgin Mary
Suffered by Pontius Pilate
He was crucified dead and buried
And I believe what I believe is what makes me what I am
I did not make it, no it is making me
It is the truth of God and not the invention of any man
I believe that He who suffered was crucified, buried and dead
He descended into hell and on the third day, He rose again
He ascended into heaven where He sits at God's mighty right hand
I believe that He's returning
To judge the quick and the dead of the sons of men
Oh yeah I believe it
(Creed by Rich Mullins)
LoCTY !!!!!!
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Did You Know
To The Saints!!!!!
There are three types of galaxies that have been discovered in the universe so far, these are elliptical, spiral and irregular. Of these three types of galaxies the one most suited for supporting life is the spiral galaxy. So guess what? Our galaxy (The Milky Way) just happens to be a spiral galaxy. These are dominated by a central spherical bulge and a disk with spiral arms extending outward from the nucleus in a spiral pattern, resembling a celestial pinwheel. The spiral arms of our galaxy are dangerous places where you would find exploding stars(supernovae) and hazardous giant molecular clouds and all sorts of other lethal activities. Earth is situated safely between the Sagittarius and Persues spiral arms.
Also we're very far from the nucleus of our galaxy, which is also a dangerous place. We now know that there's a massive black hole at the centre of our galaxy. In fact, the Hubble telescope has found that nearly every large nearby galaxy has a giant black hole at its nucleus and these are very dangerous things. You also have more supernovae exploding in that central part of the galaxy. Not a nice place to be!
Then you get the outer part of our spiral galaxy where star formation has been going on much more slowly over the years so the abundance of heavy elements isn't quite so high. Consequently these outer regions of the galaxy are less likely to have planets that support life or to be life supporting at all..
You guessed it we're in the middle of our galaxy!
Also the thin disk of our galaxy helps our sun to stay in its desirable circular orbit. A very eccentric orbit could cause it to cross spiral arms and visit the dangerous inner regions of the galaxy, but being circular it remains in the safe zone.
Awesome stuff eh!!!!!
More examples of God's glory will follow just watch your mailbox.
Info taken from The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel (2004)
From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God. (Romans 1:20)
Lord of all creation of water, earth and sky
The heavens are your tabernacle
Glory to the Lord on high
God of wonders
Beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares your majesty
You are holy, holy
Lord of Heaven and Earth
Lord of Heaven and Earth
Early in the morning
I will celebrate the light
And as I stumble in the darkness
I will call your name by night
Hallelujah, to the Lord of Heaven and Earth
Hallelujah, to the Lord of Heaven and Earth
Hallelujah, to the Lord of Heaven and Earth
God of wonders
Beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
Precious Lord, reveal your heart to me
Father, holy, holy
The universe declares your majesty
You are holy, yes you are
Lord you are
Jesus is holy
Hallelujah, to the Lord of Heaven and Earth......
(This live version by Third Day with Micheal Tait)
This video version with Caedemon's Call
LoCTY !!!!!!!!!
There are three types of galaxies that have been discovered in the universe so far, these are elliptical, spiral and irregular. Of these three types of galaxies the one most suited for supporting life is the spiral galaxy. So guess what? Our galaxy (The Milky Way) just happens to be a spiral galaxy. These are dominated by a central spherical bulge and a disk with spiral arms extending outward from the nucleus in a spiral pattern, resembling a celestial pinwheel. The spiral arms of our galaxy are dangerous places where you would find exploding stars(supernovae) and hazardous giant molecular clouds and all sorts of other lethal activities. Earth is situated safely between the Sagittarius and Persues spiral arms.
Also we're very far from the nucleus of our galaxy, which is also a dangerous place. We now know that there's a massive black hole at the centre of our galaxy. In fact, the Hubble telescope has found that nearly every large nearby galaxy has a giant black hole at its nucleus and these are very dangerous things. You also have more supernovae exploding in that central part of the galaxy. Not a nice place to be!
Then you get the outer part of our spiral galaxy where star formation has been going on much more slowly over the years so the abundance of heavy elements isn't quite so high. Consequently these outer regions of the galaxy are less likely to have planets that support life or to be life supporting at all..
You guessed it we're in the middle of our galaxy!
Also the thin disk of our galaxy helps our sun to stay in its desirable circular orbit. A very eccentric orbit could cause it to cross spiral arms and visit the dangerous inner regions of the galaxy, but being circular it remains in the safe zone.
Awesome stuff eh!!!!!
More examples of God's glory will follow just watch your mailbox.
Info taken from The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel (2004)
From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God. (Romans 1:20)
Lord of all creation of water, earth and sky
The heavens are your tabernacle
Glory to the Lord on high
God of wonders
Beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
The universe declares your majesty
You are holy, holy
Lord of Heaven and Earth
Lord of Heaven and Earth
Early in the morning
I will celebrate the light
And as I stumble in the darkness
I will call your name by night
Hallelujah, to the Lord of Heaven and Earth
Hallelujah, to the Lord of Heaven and Earth
Hallelujah, to the Lord of Heaven and Earth
God of wonders
Beyond our galaxy
You are holy, holy
Precious Lord, reveal your heart to me
Father, holy, holy
The universe declares your majesty
You are holy, yes you are
Lord you are
Jesus is holy
Hallelujah, to the Lord of Heaven and Earth......
(This live version by Third Day with Micheal Tait)
This video version with Caedemon's Call
LoCTY !!!!!!!!!
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