THE UNIVERSE ; IS THERE A CREATOR?; To put the question in a more direct way; “Do you believe in God?” Although still at an infantile stage, mankind has gained a considerable amount of knowledge on the workings of the Universe. This accelerated information was initiated only in the past 500 years. In the 1600’s Galileo made the statement, “Our world is not the center of the Universe, but just one of the planets in our solar system”. Today with the Hubble telescope orbiting around the earth, (free of obstruction from the Earth’s atmosphere), we can look at Galaxies with billions of stars in each of them. Our own Solar system is a very small part of the Milky Way Galaxy, one of the billions of Galaxies in this Universe. And, in the 1700’s Sir Isaac Newton discovered the force of Gravity. This is a very major concept on the workings of the Universe. Although the Earth is 93,000,000 miles from the sun, it orbits the sun at an average speed of 67,000 mph. Why doesn’t the Earth fling out of orbit in space due to this huge centrifugal force being generated? The reason is that the force of gravity counter balances this centrifugal force. Gravity is directly proportional to the product of the Sun’s and the Earth’s mass divided by the square of the distance between them. The Sun has a mass 333,000 times bigger than that of the Earth. Then later, in the 1800 Michael Faraday published his work on electricity and magnetism. We now know the Sun emits solar (radiation) storm winds. This radiation winds emitted by the Sun reaches as far away in the Universe 1000 times further out the distance from the Earth. Lucky for us earthlings, the earth has a magnetic field (south to north pole) strong enough to divert these solar winds outside the pheriphery of the earth’s atmosphere. This happens most of the time. Also, an ozone layer in our atmosphere protects us from the Sun’s ultraviolet rays. Recently, in the early in the1900th Albert Einstein mathematically proved that matter and energy are interchangeable. This is his well known formula E = M(c squared), c being the speed of light. Tragically, this theory was demonstrated in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. The general accepted theory by most cosmologists on how the Universe started is founded on “The Big Bang Theory”. About 13.7 billion years ago, a very minute particle with infinite energy burst out inflating the Universe with neutrons, protons and electrons. Some 300,000 years after the Big Bang, protons and atomic nuclei began to capture electrons. Protons are positively charged. Electrons (negatively charged) began to orbit around these protons, forming the first atoms. There is a comparatively large space between these protons and the orbiting electrons. Without this space, the whole Empire State building could collapse to a size no larger than a single grain of sand. These dust particles eventually coalesced and formed the celestial bodies (concentrated in galaxies) such as stars, planets, moons, etc in the Universe. Observing mostly the red color in these stars, physicists conclude the Universe is in a continual stage of expanding. This cannot go on forever. Gravity will stop this current expansion and eventually all stars will begin to die out. Space will be dark again with died out stars entombed in “black holes”. This then is postulated as “The Big Crunch” theory. They estimate this will happen in many years about 10 to the 100th power. Will the Universe start again? Or, were there other Universes before “The Big Bang”? Our solar system located in the Milky Way Galaxy is only a small part of billions of other celestial bodies in this galaxy. Our sun is just an averaged sized star. The sun is about 4.6 billion years old. The sun’s interior consists of its core (the radioactive zone), and the convective zone. Light and heat escape onto space at the outer photosphere layer. The sun is made up mostly of hydrogen and a small amount of helium. In the sun’s core, nuclear reactions take place (equivalent to 10 million hydrogen bombs of explosion every second). The sun produces helium from hydrogen in these explosions. The sun generates a colossal amount of energy. The exterior photosphere becomes a layer of plasma (ionized gas). Solar flares are formed by vibrating plasma which results in the forming of loops around the sun’s surface. These loops are charged magnetic fields. Due to the changing magnetic field inside the sun, these flare-loops could either be charged negative or positive. A typical loop is large enough to have an earth sized sphere go thru it. When these flare loops of opposite charge come in contact, an explosion results. The sun then sends off magnetically charged solar (storm) winds out in space. They usually arrive in the earth’s atmosphere with liked magnetic charge as the magnetic charge around the earth. Like poles repel. Therefore solar winds are diverted mostly outside the earth’s top atmosphere layer. If this collision met on opposite charges, they will create strong electrical explosions resulting in power black outs, especially in earth’s highly populated cities. Transformers, transmission lines, etc. will be destroyed. It will take months of repair and replacements to restore power. Today these solar winds are endangering the hundreds of satellites orbiting the Earth. Similar to a weather report, they are reported so as to warn satellite operators to shut these operating satelites off before magnetic forces destroy them. These solar flares are visible as auroras in the northern hemisphere in such places as Alaska and other northern countries. At one time during the the Civil War, auroras were recorded visible even in the middle United States. Just like other stars; the sun will eventually run out hydrogen. The sun will then expand like a balloon in space. The Sun will destroy all the planets and moons in our solar system due to the intense heat generated at the Sun’s expanding outer surface. The sun will die! However, there is no need to worry! That is, unless you plan to be in this earth 4 billion years from now. The sun has nine distinct planets and 140 moons orbiting these planets. The so called “rocky” planets, in order to nearest distance from the sun; are Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars. After Mars, the so called gaseous planets in the same order nearest the sun are; Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. There are Moons orbiting around the vicinity of each planet closest to them. Beyond the orbiting planets, you have the Asteroids rotating about the sun, some as big as 25 miles long. Asteroids are debris left over from the formation of our solar system. Smaller bodies such as comets and meteors are also within our solar system too. Venus is a planet a little smaller than Earth, but wildly different. It is a dry world with a scorching surface of about 860 degrees F. Unlike the Earth it does not have moving tectonic plates and so the planet’s surface tends to move up or down. Since it has hundreds of volcanoes, 85% of the surface is low-lying volcanic plains consisting of vast areas of flood lava. Why is this so? I conjecture the Sun’s gravity is so great it stretches Venus like a rubber ball. Winds can reach 250 mph. The atmosphere is 97% carbon dioxide. Mars, the planet just beyond Earth is called the Red planet because of its rust red color. Although Mars is now a dry planet, a large evidence seen on surfaces indicate liquid water once flowed across its surface. Somewhere after the creation of the Solar System, planet Mars lost its strong magnetic field. Solar (radiation) winds then penetrated Mars’ atmosphere and dried the whole planet surface. High level winds produce dust storms that cover vast areas in the planet. Similar to tornados, “Dust Devils” are common. But unlike tornadoes these swirling winds shoot dust up towards the atmosphere. Since Mars is much smaller than Earth and further from the Sun, gravity on the surface of Mars is only about 38% strong compared to that of Earth. Like Venus, the atmosphere is dominated by carbon dioxide. Jupiter, Mar’s outer neighbor is the largest planet in our Solar system. Jupiter’s atmosphere is mostly hydrogen. Its volume is 1,300 times larger than that of the Earth. Surprisingly, gravity in Jupiter is only 2.5 times the Earth’s gravity. Although one day revolution in this planet is only 10 hours long, one orbital revolution about the Sun lasts almost 12 years. Storms in Jupiter can generate 250 mph winds. A red spot in this planet long visible for many years by observatories on Earth, is believed to be a large storm lasting for about 300 years. It has a magnetic field is so powerful, most asteroids straying from the asteroid belt, land in Jupiter, Earth’s life saver. Saturn, although not as large, is still 760 times the volume of Earth. It is another cold gaseous planet with an average temperature of minus 220 degrees F. The atmosphere is mostly ammonia gas at the top and ammonium hydroxide beneath it. Saturn has continual lightning storms all over the planet. Lightning noise was transmitted to Earth by a mechanical Orbiter Explorer (observer), which started its journey after being “rocketed shot” from Earth. The rings visible encircling Saturn are actually frozen ice particles, some as large as asteroids. For now, planet Earth seems to be the only planet where life has flourished. Like other planets, it has undergone violent changes from the time of its creation. About 4.5 billion years ago, during the early formation of the solar system, there were considerably more planets than there are today. While orbiting the Sun, many of these planets have collided. Planet Earth itself collided with another planet; head on for the other planet but a lucky side collision for planet Earth. The Earth survived but this collision caused the Earth to have a higher temperature below the surface. Tectonic plates on Earth now float on a molten-lava like mantle. Some of the debris from the collision broke up into asteroids that have orbited around the Earth. Eventually gravity coalesced much of these asteroids and thus formed our Moon. The Earth was also continually bombarded by asteroids, meteors, etc and as a result, it grew in size. It was assumed, these asteroids carried water to our Earth. The Earth at one time was completely covered with water. Volcanic activity under the oceans gave birth to land. This process of building land masses above the water surface on Earth is still going on. Volcanic activity is seen today in one of the Hawaiian Islands and has been pushing lava on its ocean shores. Floating tectonic plates have altered the Earth’s terrain. When the plates separate they form new continents. Notice that the western shores of Africa and the eastern parts of South and North America fit like a jigsaw puzzle. This movement created the Atlantic Ocean. When tectonic plates meet, land masses rise up. The island of India collided with Asia. The result was the formation of the Himalayan mountain ranges. The presence of water, oxygen, carbon, amino acids, etc. were what propagated life on Earth. Fossils seen in ancient rocks point to living simple bacteria-like organisms on Earth some 3.8 billion years ago. Once life in this rudimentary form had started, processes such as mutation and natural selection inevitably followed (over billions of years). This resulted to a collection of life forms of increasing diversity and complexity. Most mammals developed eyes. This is because of the “predator/prey” laws of Nature. Even if Charles Darwin was right that man evolved from the apes, the big question is, “Why are we the only mammals that evolved as rational beings capable of having the free will to do good or evil?” During the formation of life species in the planet, many colossal incidences have continually occurred. A million years ago, an asteroid landed on Earth, (in the Yucatan region), bursting out with such energy comparable to a thousand atomic bombs. Asteroids can be as large as 25 miles in length. This explosion contaminated the Earth with radiation and changed climatic conditions for many years. Most plants and animals did not survive. This also caused the extinction of dinosaurs in our planet. We just went thru an Ice age of 10,000 years ago. The Earth has gone thru 12 such Ice Ages where most times the globe was completely covered with ice. The existence of mankind on Earth is no more then a blimp when looking at the age of our Earth. Never the less, compared to other planets in our solar system, we are truly blest currently living life in our home, the Earth. The Universe is a collection of billions of Galaxies. To understand the workings of the Universe one needs to understand how Galaxies are formed. After “The Big Bang”, dust clouds seem to swirl around central points in the center in each Galaxy. This center is a dark area, called a “Black Hole”. It was labeled “black” because no one has seen inside it. Due to almost infinite gravitational forces in this hole, beams of light are bent so much so, light cannot escape in this Black hole area. Most Black Holes occupy a volume about one billion times larger than our Sun. Since there is singular point of possibly infinite gravity, inside each Black hole, they create problems for physicists who try to discover how Black Holes work in the Universe. Physicists using existing mathematical equations, to find out how Black holes behave in the Universe, lead to meaningless conclusions. We need to discover better mathematical postulates. Black Holes are crucial in the formation of stars, planets, moons, etc. in a Galaxy. Celestial bodies orbit about the center of these Black Holes. Large stars, called Super Nova, are also formed from dust particles. These large stars consume hydrogen much faster than other smaller stars. When they die, they expand in size. Because of the intense heat generated on its surface as it expands, they devour other celestial bodies when these celestial bodies come in contact with it. What is then transformed in the center of this previous Super Nova is a sphere very much smaller from the stars’ original size. This star is now called a Neutron star. Gravity continually compresses this Neutron star. Consequently intense heat is generated in its interior, (same thermodynamics principle as in your pressure cooker). Eventually, the star explodes and releases a collection of dust particles in the Universe, called a Nebula. This can actually be seen with powerful telescopes from Earth, even Nebulas as far as a million light years away. One second in a Light year travels seven times around the world. Therefore, what we see today in an existing Nebula could be the formation of this Galaxy in the early stages of creation. The dust particles from these Nebulas eventually form solar celestial bodies containing all the elements, identical to what we have here on Earth. If you look around you, including yourself, we are made by the same atoms, molecules, etc. that was once in a star. Our true mothers are the stars. Most humans believe in a Supreme Being. Why is this so? Is this because Faith is inborn in humans? Or is it because humans fear death, the unknown hereafter? Years ago here in the US, William Miller declared that Domes Day would arrive on April 5, 1843. Tens of thousands of devout followers, called Millerites, awaited the coming of Armageddon. When 1843 came and went without the arrival of the End of Days, the Millerite movement split into several large groups. One large Millerite movement regrouped in 1863 and changed their name to Seventh-Day Adventist, which today has about 14 million baptized members. Another splinter group of Millerites later drifted toward the work of Charles Russel, who pushed back the date of Doomsday to 1874. When that date also passed, he revised his prediction, this time to 1914. This group would later be called Jehovah’s Witnesses, with a membership of over 6 million. No wonder Lenin made the statement, “Religion is the opium of the people”. What was Lenin thinking about? Unfortunately, man has incorporated many of man’s fantasies in all religions, (in my opinion). Recall the history of all the sufferings, prejudices, and even killing through wars, all in the name of religion. This is still happening today! However some of these fantasies may have validity. Historians trace that a big earthquake occurred near or on the coast of southern Europe at the time of Moses. As we recently experienced, a tsunami follows resulting from such earthquakes; the water recedes from the coastline and comes back with a vengeance generating high waves. Is this how Moses and his followers crossed the Red Sea, and the pursuing Egyptians drowned in the aftermath? I would like to emphasize the difference between Religion and Spirituality. A spiritual person believes in God because his faith convinces him there is a Supreme Being. Many physicists are in awe on the creations in the Universe because they believe in a Creator. They are looking for a God of Order not a God of Miracles. There are many persons thru out history and even at the present, devoting their lives, serving mankind. Some serve through their religious affiliations. But others have no religious affiliation at all! I conclude this article quoting the Nicene Creed which was a prayer by the Romans when they converted to the Christian faith; “Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorem caeli et terrae, visibilium omnium et in visiblium. (I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things, visible and invisible.) References: www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/index.html www.history.com/shows/The-Universe Tony Villanueva June 2012