Of all the physical sciences, none seems to defy
logic and understanding as does astronomy. Or so it seems to me. The numbers
alone challenge understanding. For example, when astronomers state that the
universe was created in one billionth of a second, the time element seems
incomprehensible. Yet that's the time span given for the Big Bang--a cosmic
explosion of an intensely hot fireball that resulted in the creation of the
universe, about twenty-billion years ago.
To better understand the time span from the
creation of the universe to man's appearance on Earth, think of a twenty-four
hour clock. Man appears in the last few seconds before midnight.
The universe is so vast that its size, too, defies
understanding. More than one-billion stars comprise our galaxy, the Milky Way
galaxy. And there are millions of galaxies in the universe. Does that give you
an idea of its immense size? Furthermore, the universe is expanding at a
tremendous rate. That means that stars, planets, and all heavenly bodies are
moving away from each other. The more remote the body, the faster it's moving.
This expansion of the universe is called "the red shift."
If you can get away from city lights and look up at
the night sky, you'll see a countless number of stars shining in the heavens.
With all of these stars in the night sky--millions and millions--the night sky
should be a blinding sheet of light. Yet it isn't. The night sky is dark.
The darkness of the night sky presented a paradox to astronomers in the past.
(Many may not know it, but Edgar Allan Poe was a skilled astronomer. The dark
night sky puzzled him, too.)
The puzzle was eventually resolved in the
deliverance of time. Stars don't shine forever. They shine for millions or
billions of years, and then they burn out. The first stars began shining about
fifteen-billion years ago. So why is the night sky dark? When we look far out in
space, we are looking back in time. We see the light of the stars, but they are
no longer there. They died out years ago, but their light is just now reaching
us. The farther out in the sky we look, the farther we are looking back in time.
It has taken millions of years for their light to reach us, even though they
died out eons ago. The sky is an image of the past.
The astronomers' term for this relationship between
time and space is referred to as "lookback time." It was Albert Einstein who
proved that space and time are interwoven.
I used to wonder what the edge of the universe
looked like. If the universe is finite--if it has an end--then what lies beyond
it? Now astronomers state that there are many universes, going on and on.
Now considering our own universe, with its billions
and billions of stars, one might wonder if there is intelligent life beyond our
planet. Can there be an Earthlike planet, with just the right ingredients for
intelligent life? Scientists refer to this as the Goldilocks criteria, not too
hot and not too cold. SETI--The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence--has
been seeking intelligent life elsewhere for years. But even if there is
intelligent life elsewhere, how could we reach them, or how could they reach us?
Distance appears to be an insurmountable problem. According to the laws of
physics, nothing travels faster than the speed of light. It could take men on
earth thousands, even millions of years to reach a habitable planet, a
self-defeating pursuit. Wormholes, if they exist, can be dangerous. So how could
we travel to outer space? All you Trekkies, do you have an answer?
I can't conclude this discussion without saying
something about the Christmas Star, or the Star of Bethlehem. Scientists now
know that the Star of Bethlehem wasn't a star but a planet--most likely Venus,
or a conjunction of Venus and Jupiter--shining brightly over the town of
Bethlehem.
For those who want to read more about the
universe, "The Red Limit" by Timothy Ferris is a good place to start.
If fiction is more your cup of tea, may I suggest
my own books with Books We Love. You can find them here at http://bookswelove.net/martin.php
and at Amazon. I write historical, paranormal, and fantasy romance, so you have
a varied selection to choose from.
