Creation Station
Space
10 Stellar Facts for Astronomy Buffs
so reads the title of a June 27, 2004 article on MSN Encarta. The
author of this article, Jay Pasachoff, claims to be presenting a top 10
list of the most fascinating “facts” from astronomy. The problem with
this article, as with so much evolutionist propaganda that masquerades
as science, is that the author mixes fact with interpretation and
treats them both as though they were proven fact. Following is his list
of “facts” followed by an explanation of which have been proven and
which are simply opinions.
- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune all have rings. True, rings are an observed characteristic of the gas giants.
- The Sun is middle-aged; it’s halfway through its 10-billion-year lifetime. Opinion, the Sun’s so-called lifetime is based on faith in the Big Bang story. There is no scientific way of determining the age of the Sun or anything else.
- Astronomers think that all of the normal matter in the universe makes up only 5% of its contents. Opinion, this is another case where faith in the Big Bang story cancels out observed reality. The observed reality is the matter and energy that astronomers actually see. It is the evolutionists’ faith in the Big Bang story that causes them to claim that there are vast amounts of undetectable dark matter and dark energy in the Universe, because there isn’t enough real matter and energy in the Universe to fit the Big Bang story. Dark matter and dark energy are so named because they cannot be seen or detected. Evolutionists’ evidence for the Big Bang in this area is that there is no evidence for it.
- As a result of the greenhouse effect, Earth’s average temperature is comfortable rather than freezing. True, the greenhouse effect is an observed effect of certain gasses in the atmosphere that retain heat and is evidence of God’s creating the Earth as a place designed for humans to live.
- Pulsars are dead stars that have collapsed; they can spin around in as little as 1/500 second. Opinion, while astronomers have detected energy pulses from around the Universe, exactly what produces them has not been proven. The name pulsar and the inference of dead, collapsed stars are used to explain this phenomenon.
- The Sun-as big as it seems to those of us on Earth-is actually on the small side for a star. True, sort of, what is observed is that other stars produce more or less energy than the Sun, leading astronomers to infer the size of other stars. Based on these inferences, our Sun is a medium sized star.
- Earth’s galaxy, the Milky Way, contains about 400 billion stars. That’s not all: There are hundreds of billions of other galaxies in the universe. True, while all such numbers are estimates, the numbers are based on true scientific observations.
- Wherever you are in the universe, distant clusters of galaxies seem to move away from you. The farther away they are, the faster they recede. This leads many astronomers to believe that the universe is expanding. Opinion, measures of possible distance or speed of galaxies are based on an interpretation of what is called the “red shift” or “blue shift” of some galaxies. This whole idea is based on the observation that some galaxies are redder or bluer than astronomers expect. Red shifted galaxies are interpreted as moving away from us; blue shifted galaxies as moving towards us. Red and blue shifting is interpreted as examples of the Doppler effect. This is the observation that when light moves away from you, the light is stretched out making it appear redder. When light moves towards you, the light is compressed making it appear bluer. The unanswered question is this, is the red and blue shifting of distant galaxies the result of the Doppler effect or due to something else? Currently, both red and blue shifting of distant galaxies is a phenomenon for which no scientifically proven explanation currently exists.
- Astronomers have discovered dozens of planets orbiting stars other than the Sun. We know of many more planets outside our solar system than inside. Opinion, these so-called planetary discoveries are based on the observed wobbling and the periodically reduced light of some stars. The stellar wobbles and reduced of light are interpreted as evidence of planets. As of now there is no proof of any planet outside of the Solar System.
- Explosions on the Sun send particles into space, creating luminous displays called auroras that can be seen from Earth. True,
it is the interaction of the Earth’s magnetic field and Solar wind and
flares that creates auroras known as the Northern and Southern lights.
The reason for going thru each of these statements is to show how common it is for evolutionists to mix truth and opinion in order to give credibility to what is actually just someone’s opinion. Some of the opinions in this article may be true and may someday be proven to be true, but not yet. What you need to be able to do is to learn to be discerning in distinguishing between fact and fiction. In this article there are five statements of fact and five statements of opinion masquerading as fact. True science only states as fact that which has been proven, not that which is simply hoped for.
