Friday the 13th, April 2029

Incoming!

Introduction: Asteroid 2004 MN4 is heading this way. It is about 1,050 feet across, big enough to basically eliminate Texas. 

NASA discovered this fairly large asteroid back in June of 2004. They were able to gather sparse data, but gave the asteroid a 1 in 60 chance of hitting Earth on Friday the 13th, April 2029.

So, on the traditionally most unlucky day of the year, we are all going to get very lucky.

The Science: Asteroid 2004 MN4 will not hit Earth. At least not on its current trajectory. Right now, we think we know it will pass earth at a distance of 18,600 miles. That may seem like a long way away, and I suppose it is, but consider this: we have satellites orbiting at 22,300 miles. 

This means we will be able to see the asteroid pass our planet with the naked eye. Of course, you would have to be standing on the right side of the planet to see it and, as far as I know, we don't know which side it will be passing on at this time.

I know I am hoping to see it. These things don't happen often. We think they happen once in 1,000 years, so it would not be prudent for anyone to think, "I'll just catch the next one." This would be the only time in recorded history that this has happened. It will only look like a shooting star, but it will be the first asteroid we know of that we will be seen in the sky without visual aid.

However, some people think that this very asteroid will hit Earth in 2035 when it comes back around for round two. NASA says that talk is premature. We know, fairly precisely, how close the asteroid will come to Earth, but we certainly don't know exactly. The close it gets, the more our gravitational pull will affect the asteroid's path. We truly don't have any idea that it will come close to Earth at all in 2035. It is believed that in 2013, when the asteroid is only about 9 million miles away, we will be able to get radar ranging and know where it will be out to 2070.

I have to pause here for science. This is astounding to me. Not only can we use radar on something 9 million miles away, but that will allow us to know it's path in the solar system for the next 57 years. Thanks to movies like Armageddon, a lot of us worry about how we will defend ourselves from oncoming collisions from large objects. Considering we gave ourselves 25 years for this asteroid that won't even hit Earth, I am feeling pretty good about our chances of survival for me, my children, and probably their kids and grand-kids. We have become pretty smart on Earth, at least on this matter, and I would say it is something we should all take a little pride in!

Of course, we will have to not kill each other in a nuclear war for this to matter at all, but we can talk about that another time.

The Big Hit: We know Earth has been hit before. Craters are an easy indication. It has been hit many times, and it will be hit again. The extinction of the Dinosaurs is almost surely the work of an asteroid or comet hitting Earth, but did you know that isn't the largest thing to hit Earth? It isn't even close.

Now, the big one was never a threat to any living thing. It probably happened as the planet was forming, but the Earth was hit by something roughly the size of Mars. How do we know, or at least think we know this? We have evidence spinning around us, in the form of the moon.

Yes, the moon was once a part of Earth. We know about how the planets were formed, and this is explained further in my Origin of the Universe post, so we are able to hypothesize that after the collision happened, the heavier, iron elements were pulled back into the formation of Earth, while the lighter stuff became the moon by creating an object far different from Earth's composition.

One to Watch: Toutatis, a 2.9 x 1.5 x 1.2 mile asteroid that has a very similar plane to Earth's orbit. It may be headed for us one day, but we are safe from it for the moment. I just mention it here in case you want to do a little more research.

What Did We Do?

God: Is this a message from God? A warning, something to keep us on our toes?

Could be. We only discovered this asteroid in 2004. Where was it before then? The asteroid belt? Maybe, but then what sent it on it's way to come so close to Earth?

Maybe it is God's doing. Maybe there is a message to this. The only problem is, if you're like me, you have no idea what that message is.

Sure, we should end war, be good to each other, eliminate hunger, and eliminate poverty. I'm all for it, but I don't know what an asteroid would do to change that. The only thing it might force some to do, is re-visit the Bible a little more often.

The Bible: The book of Revelations chapter 8 is some pretty heavy stuff. It isn't exactly a fun read, but it is interesting because I imagine that, when it was written, they had no idea that an asteroid was likely responsible for wiping out life on Earth 65 million years ago. For me, this is a major accomplishment and a very wise warning that we are susceptible to death from above. It seems unlikely that God is firing at us, but who know for sure? Things hit Earth, that is about as much as we really know.

So, without further ado, the eighth chapter in the book of Revelation:

"1 Then, when the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, and he held a gold bowl for burning incense. He was given a large amount of incense, in order to offer it on behalf of the prayers of all the saints on the gold altar in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense offered for the prayers of the saints rose up before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the incense container and filled it with fire from the altar. He threw it down to the earth, and there were thunder, voices, lightning, and an earthquake.

6 Then the seven angels who held the seven trumpets got ready to blow them. 7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood appeared, and was thrown down to the earth. A third of the earth was burned up. A third of the trees were burned up. All the green grass was burned up. 8 Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain burning with fire was thrown down into the sea. A third of the sea became blood, 9 a third of the creatures living in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. 10 Then the third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star, burning like a torch, fell from heaven. It fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water. 11 The star’s name is Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it became so bitter. 12 Then the fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars so that a third of them became dark. The day lost a third of its light, and the night lost a third of its light too.

13 Then I looked and I heard an eagle flying high overhead. It said with a loud voice, “Horror, horror, oh! The horror for those who live on earth because of the blasts of the remaining trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!" "

It doesn't matter to me if you believe the story literally or figuratively, or not at all. It is talking about a very real possibility of massive destruction from space. I can't help but wonder how anyone back then could know this was possible. Maybe a small meteor struck their lands, or maybe it was simply the fear of the sky. Either way, I'm impressed they were able to see the possibility, or maybe God really did give someone a heads up.

Little Known Use for Turtle

Conclusion: Science does an amazing job spotting asteroids, or any object long, long before they hit Earth. We have some amazing technology out there to keep us safe, or at least give us warning for when something is heading our way.

It was thought at one time that a 200 ft wide asteroid would hit Earth in February of 2013. That has since been disproved, but there were plans on how to defend against it. We were either going to shoot it with big guns, or paint it. Yes, painting it would be a sort of sun-screen, cooling the asteroid, changing the spin, and altering its course. Strange? Yes, but the point is we have people who come up with all kinds of stuff to protect us.

Of course, I doubt we could protect against a missile from God.

If we, as a society, were to believe that everything was as it is written in the Bible, what would we do? When it comes to an issue like this, if an asteroid was heading our way from God and going to destroy the Earth, we would give up. "Nothing we can do, it's what God wants," we would say. I believe that is one of the biggest conflicts between the Bible and reality.

Reality is, we have brains. I believe God gave us brains but, regardless, we have them. We have the power to do a lot, including protecting ourselves from threats, whether they come from God or elsewhere. So why? Why, why, why, why, why would we give in? If God made us, and these are tests, they aren't tests to see us give up, but to pull together and survive.

          

Origin of the Universe

The Universe Begins

Introduction

No matter what your religious makeup is, from the most devout Christian to the most extreme Atheist, the origin of the universe is fascinating. I can't imagine being human, and not being interested in the stars, the earth, and just wondering how it all came to be.

Religions offer answers. Science continues to discover more and more, and is getting closer to offering an answer of it's own. The partial answer science is offering is, at best, not close to any religious belief that I have ever heard.

Despite this, I believe that God and science are still working together, even in the creation of the universe. I'll explain why using the latest and greatest scientific discoveries. It is going to challenge a lot of people's beliefs,  but it is the greatest conversation piece I have ever known.

What Science is Saying so Far

From Hawking: I always thought Stephen Hawking was out to kill God. After all, his work is to find scientific reasons for everything. If he did that, there wouldn't be a lot of reason for God. However, I was very surprised to hear him say there may be a higher power. He doesn't seem to believe in one, but he doesn't rule out the possibility. He is, in my view, the leading authority of the universe, so most of the science that will follow is based on his work.

Big Bang part 1: The Big Bang theory is barely a theory. It happened. The way we learned this is amazing:

If you are standing by a road, and a white race car is going 200 mph along the path, can you imagine what it sounds like? You don't have to conduct an experiment to know that the pitch of the motor will rise as the car approaches, and fade as the car leaves. A much less known fact is that the color of the car changes as well.

Our eyes cannot see it, but the car approaches in a very light shade of blue, and speeds away in a very light shade of red. Crazy right?

So when astronomers started viewing galaxies far away it isn't surprising they didn't see it right away, but every galaxy ever found is a very definite, although a very slight, shade of red.

This concludes that every galaxy, everywhere, is moving away from ours. It's not a stretch then to realize that the farther back in time you go, the closer the galaxies would have been to each other. Take that back over 14 billion years, and it stands to reason that everything would be in about the exact same place.

Big Bang part 2 (matter/anti-matter): So, the entire universe began as a ball of stuff called matter and anti-matter. We all know the electron as a piece of matter, but there are positrons as well, the anti-matter element. Protons have anti-protons as well, and so on and so forth.

Anti-Matter

At some point, somehow (I believe God is at the root in some manner, although gravity could be the culprit here), at least one particle of matter met a particle of anti-matter. When that happens, it triggers a violent explosion of photons and radiation. One event triggers another, and the Big Bang comes into existence. 

If you can imagine the entire universe compacted into a neat little ball, you have a better imagination than me, but then try to imagine this Big Bang, where everything, everywhere, began as radiation and light. In an explosion that might be equivalent to a grain of sand expanding to the size of Earth, in a trillionth of one second.

Here's another Godly question. There is supposed to be balance in the universe. Meaning that there is supposed to be an equal amount of matter and anti-matter. However, if there was, nothing would exist. When the Big Bang happened, about 1 in 1 billion pieces of matter escaped. These escape artists are what make up our universe now. So, the question is why? Why and how did matter outplay anti-matter?

However it happened, a LOT of electrons, neutrons, and protons survived, began to find each other, and created hydrogen gas.

The Beginning of Light: We already covered that the Big Bang was full of light and radiation, but that wasn't sustainable light. Sustainable light comes from stars, so let's look at how stars were born.

After the big bang, there was only hydrogen. What should have been a uniform spread of hydrogen too.

However, another Godly imperfection existed. Somehow, the hydrogen gas was not quite uniform. Just a few molecules were either out of place, or removed somehow. Due to this, seemingly minor imperfection, the hydrogen began to pull together. Over a VERY long time, massive amounts of hydrogen started getting really close together. Then they started to rub against each other. The rubbing began to cause heat, then it started to cause a lot of heat, so much, that fusion was born, and stars and sustainable light came into existence.

The Creation of Everything Else: Everything we can see, touch, hear, smell, or taste came from stars. How? Glad you asked.

A star begins as hydrogen, but the force of gravity caused the birth of a new element. The pressure within a new star basically crushes the inner hydrogen into a helium core. As the star ages, gravity creates more, like neon, oxygen and iron.

Eventually, the star dies. It does not happen peacefully. It collapses into itself and creates the rest of the elements in a supernova explosion. Eventually, these elements pulled together and created planets, asteroids, comets, and everything else.

Another interesting observation is that large dead stars (around 20 times the size of our sun) can create super-massive black holes and that, at the center of every galaxy, there is one of these incredibly large black holes pulling all of our stars and planets into their eventual demise. What an amazing place we are a very small part of.

Higgs Boson: On July 4, 2012, something called the Higgs boson was discovered to be real. Maybe. This particle has been theorized and dubbed "the God particle" because it is believed to be the reason why mass can be created at all. So, some scientists believe it creates mass, not God. I find this to be presumptuous at best. Even if this is the reason why mass exists in current form, it doesn't explain where it all came from. God is not very close to being disproved, at least not to me. What do you think?

What the Bible Says

Genesis, Chapter 1: It's pretty much the whole story above written in 5 verses.

1 - In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 - And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 - And God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

4 - And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 - And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

I'm not a great student of the Bible, especially the Old Testament, but what I seem to understand from Bible followers is that this version of God never cared about anything else once He created the earth. We are His chosen people. I find this very strange. If He really is the creator so many believe he is, and the Bible really is the definitive source for how everything came to be, he sure is ignoring a lot of His work.

Our galaxy is estimated at about 200-400 billion stars. The estimates as to the number of galaxies go from 100-500 billion. I'm going with 200 billion of each, because a lot of things in this universe are symmetrical, and I think it is a fairly conservative number. If each plays host to 8 planets (I miss Pluto) like ours, How many planets did God make, that He is ignoring?

I'm going to type it out so we can really appreciate it:

320,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 minus 1.

I didn't know how to say that number. It is 320 sextillion (minus Earth) planets that God apparently pays no mind to. I'm sorry, I'm not going to buy it. Not that I'm God, but I would find some other cool places to check out and play with as well. These 5 verses really resemble man's vanity, which is hardly God-like.

I do think it is funny because I don't know why we have to believe we are the only ones God is monitoring. Seems like that wouldn't be very fair to our God.

Is This What God Did for Earth?

One final note. I've come to understand the Jewish calendar supposedly started on day 1 of creation. Apparently Adam and Eve came up with that idea quickly, or maybe it was with the help of God, I don't know. The point is that on September 18, 2012, according to this calendar, the earth is about to turn 5,773 years old. 

Um, nope. That isn't right.

Conclusion

If you believe absolutely in the Bible, the beginning of the universe is simple. There's a lot to be said for that. It's not impossible, but it does fly in the face of everything we've been observing in our short time here. It certainly isn't a conclusion I would ever draw, but it is a very difficult thing to argue against, since no one was around to witness it.

The far more plausible thing, at least if you believe in God at all, is that He is somehow responsible for creating this pre-Big-Bang ball of everything. His interventions may have come in the form of unbalancing things that appear to be against uniformity and allowed this universe to exist at all. I don't see how science could ever explain some of the things that absolutely, and very bizarrely had to exist in order for anything to be the way it is. It is insanely coincidental and probably the main reason why I believe God and science couldn't really exist without each other.

For the Atheists out there, fear not. It would be impractical not to consider the possibility that everything is just here. There is no reason. Nothing created it, it just was. I find that impossible to consider, but hey, I've been wrong before.

In the end, your individual answer to the question, "How did the universe begin?" might be your most telling sign as to what you actually believe. I can't recommend highly enough for you to take some time, reflect a little on what I've said here, maybe do more research on your own, maybe have conversations with your closest friends and learn exactly what you believe. I'd wager that, no matter who you talk to, you will all have slightly different opinions, and that is why I don't think any religion, ever, can be for everyone.

The worst thing I think you can do for yourself, as it relates to this issue, is to just believe someone else's view and take it as your own. This is a critical question and you might learn a lot about your beliefs by answering it.

Whatever your answer is, feel free to share!