Hang on to your hats! It’s time for an exciting journey in to the world of astronomy! Last week, a faint gamma ray burst (GRB) was captured by NASA’s Swift satellite. This particular GRB is significant in that it destroyed “the record for the earliest, most-distant known object in the universe”. (skyandtelescope.com) The burst, named GRB 090423 in honor of its discovery date lasted for 10 seconds. Based on how much the light was red shifted (stretched) through the expansion of the cosmos since the burst first happened, it was determined that the gamma rays traveled 13.1 billion years before reaching the Earth. The GRB comes as the result of the explosion of a massive star. When the right kind of star collapses in just the right way, narrow jets are produced that can send gamma rays streaming towards the Earth. I hope that you are still reading at this point. I know not everyone is as fascinated by astronomy in the way that I am.
I love astronomy because it is the scientific discipline that humanity has covered the least ground in, relatively. We have much to discover about our own planet, but we only know a tiny fraction of what exists beyond it. It is difficult to wrap one’s mind around light traveling 13.1 billion years. We are accustomed to flipping a light switch and instantly seeing light. God has existed since before GRB 090423. He knows our origin and our finale. It’s easy to worry when we consider the current recession began in December, 2007 or that the swine flu vaccine could take several months to develop. I love the perspective given in Ecclesiastes 3 regarding time. The writer states that God “has made everything beautiful in its time” and that men “cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (vs. 11) God has always been in control and always will be.
No comments:
Post a Comment