Not By Chance!

J.D. Skoric Ranko

Description

The Hubble telescope captures stunning new images of our universe....Rovers comb the surface of Mars....NASA discovers an approaching asteroid threatening the Earth....As never before in history, todays society is on a quest to learn more about our place in the universe. Technological advances have allowed us to make great strides in deepening our understanding of the universe around us and our unique position in it. Drawing from his astrophysics background and work in space communications, the author of Not By Chance! explores a number of strange cosmic coincidences which enable our existence on this small terrestrial ball. Written in a popular and engaging manner, this book explores the position of our planet, the inclination of the Earths axis, our proximity to the Moon and its size, along with a host of other factors which all point to the existence of a wise and powerful designer of the universe. This caring architect has clearly invested a great deal of effort in ensuring our survival on the planet we inhabit. There are just too many coincidences to be explained away as occurring only by chance.It is hoped that the material presented will compel the reader to ponder these inevitable questions: Who is the designer? Why does he have such a great concern for us? How does he reveal himself to humankind?With these and similar fundamental questions about the meaning of life and our existence, well enter the final portion of the book. In it we shall try to discover the identity of the creator of the universe. Are science and faith mutually exclusive, or are they perhaps complementary?Not By Chance! offers a provocative read for those seeking answers about their place in the universe. Drawing on scientific and biblical evidence, it contextualizes readers lives in the grand scheme of things and compels them to take control of their eternal destiny.

Sujets

• Sciences et techniques
• Astronomy

Informations

• Publié par: eBookIt.com
• Date de parution: 21 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781456607296
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

NOT BY CHANCE !
Astronomy and God
 
The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament sheweth his handy work.
(Psalm 19:1)
 
 
Ranko Skoric
 


Copyright 2012 © Ranko Skoric
Original written in Croatian
Translated into English by the author
Cover design by Kerri Eaton
Edited by Patricia Salisbury
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0729-6
Images used with the following permission:
Fig. 1: National Research Council of Canada
Fig. 2: Russian Federal Space Agency, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
Fig. 3-10, 12-14, 17,18: NASA
Fig. 11: Dr. Robert Gendler
Fig. 15: April Hobart, Chandra X-Ray Observatory
Fig. 16: FORS Team, ESO (European Southern Observatory - Chile)
Fig. 19: Inga Skoric
Bible quotes: The King James Study Bible, published by Thomas Nelson, Inc, 1988
 


 
 
To my dearest Minka, who almost half a century ago
trustfully put her hand into mine as we were departing
across the ocean into the unknown.
I have a special joy in knowing that her hand
will remain there through all eternity.
 
 

PHOTOGRAPHS
Figure 1: The Algonquin Radio Telescope, Largest in Canada
Figure 2: The Other Cheek Unmasked
Figure 3: First Footprint on the Moon
Figure 4: Horse Hoof Prints on Mars?
Figure 5: A head on Mars!
Figure 6: Earth or Mars?
Figure 7: Honeycomb? Or Sponge?
Figure 8: Hubble – A Space Photographer
Figure 9: Expert Has Arrived
Figure 10: Run Away From This One!
Figure 11: Andromeda Galaxy
Figure 12: Seahorse
Figure 13: Three Elephant Trunks
Figure 14: The Oldest Photograph in the World
Figure 15: All Hope Abandon….
Figure 16: The Crab Nebula
Figure 17: Sleep Well, Our Native Earth
Figure 18: A Cosmic Speck
Figure 19: Author in Front of the Sun
 
Introduction
They say that once you have an encounter with a bear, you will never forget it. The image of your experience will forever be indelibly fixed in your mind. Having encountered a black bear this summer when hiking in the woods of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, I seem to have bears on my brain. Headlines of other bear encounters in the news readily catch my eye. I was particularly struck by the case of a jogger in British Columbia who I read about recently. Running in the woods near Vancouver, he heard a sound and looked behind him. Shocked, he spotted a large black bear running after him. Eager to get away from his pursuer, he ran as fast as he could, but to no avail. Stopping to catch what he thought would be his last breath, the jogger sought refuge between two logs. The bear caught up with him and stood on his hind legs, menacingly eyeing his prey, eager to strike. At that exact moment, the raucous cry of barking dogs pierced the stillness of the forest. Caught by surprise, the bear dropped down on all fours and ran off. A dog walker with three large dogs just happened to be going down the trail in the forest, when the dogs spotted the bear, thereby saving the jogger. Lucky guy! But was this just a coincidence or was it part of a master plan?
We hear everyday of incidents too good to be true, too improbable to have occurred only as the result of chance. In many instances our knowledge is very limited and we can only describe these cases as being a fluke. However, in the realm of science, we are able to use facts and probability to calculate the likelihood of an event occurring. This book was born as a means of exploring a growing number of strange cosmic “coincidences” which enable our existence on this planet. Many of these facts came to light only recently as a result of ongoing space exploration.
My own foray into the area of space research began in the 1960`s in Canada. A graduate of electronics engineering from the University of Zagreb in Croatia, I was awarded the National Research Council Fellowship in Radio Astronomy. This Fellowship was a special government grant designated for use in scientific research and graduate studies in this branch of astronomy. It turned out that I found myself the only graduate student working and studying with Professor Iizuka at the University of Toronto. The professor and I spent entire nights making observations and taking measurements. The subject of the final thesis was a spectral analysis of the signals coming from pulsating radio stars, or pulsars.
It is hard to forget the excitement that came over me when the giant dish-like antenna of the Algonquin radio telescope (Figure 1) for the first time obeyed the commands of my fingers on the control board and began to adjust its large ear skyward, looking for the constellation Taurus. Just a few seconds later, the first radio signals from a distant pulsar started to show up in the form of a very regular stream, like the ticking of a clock, or the beating of a remote, but very strong and healthy heart. I wanted to pinch myself, so difficult was it to believe that the whole event was not merely a long-cherished dream. My brain struggled to register the fact that these radio signals, having originated in an incredibly remote transmitter, had been travelling through the cosmic void for thousands upon thousands of years, rushing toward the planet Earth. They were not just casually walking as some old retirees, but speeding with an incredible velocity of 186 thousand miles per second! Eight minutes earlier they had zoomed past our Sun, and only a single second before the end of their long trip, they were in the vicinity of the Moon. And finally – impact! They silently and invisibly crashed into the metal dish of the Algonquin observatory in northern Canada. The whole thing was almost impossible to believe!
Much water has passed over Niagara Falls since that event of more than four decades ago. The cosmos has since faced an onslaught of scientists, like never before in history. Thanks to an explosive development in technology, especially in the fields of electronics and telecommunications, the heavens have in the last thirty years revealed more secrets than were known in the past five millennia.
Through these new astronomical discoveries one fact is becoming increasingly obvious: we are here not by chance. The position of our planet, the distance to the Moon and its precise size, the Earth’s axis inclination, the proximity and size of Jupiter (which like a football quarterback guards us from various space wanderers), the velocity of space acceleration, the balance in the number of electrons and protons, our Sun’s exact location in our own hundred billion star galaxy the Milky Way, and many other factors . . . all these point to a wise and powerful -- but also very caring -- designer of the universe. A designer who, in human terms, has clearly invested a great deal of effort to ensure our survival on this good old sphere. There are just too many “coincidences” to be explained away as occurring only by chance. Consider one example.
You often read in the newspaper of someone winning the lottery jackpot. “Lucky guy”, is likely your only comment. No real surprise that someone happened to pick all the right numbers. After all, it happens almost every week; and if not, then the size of the money pot goes up. But what would you say if that same “lucky guy” again won the grand prize a week later? Hmmm -- I can see you raising your eyebrows –you would not believe this, were it not here, right in front of your eyes, printed in black and white (as if that makes it true!). Well, someone was definitely born lucky - you mutter through your teeth, and turn to another page. But wait. What if that same person wins the lottery again the very next week?
Wait just one minute, mister, you would certainly think. Joe Q. Public wasn’t born yesterday. You think you could pull this trick and we won’t notice it? It’s obvious this game is fixed. That winner is probably related to the director of the lottery corporation, with the two of them now splitting the profit. No way! Only over my dead body!
So . . . you were willing to accept the possibility of coincidence after the second lottery drawing. But just three times in a row was too much to believe. Common sense kicked in, and you became certain that the game results were fixed. However, this example of a fraudulent lottery game is child’s play when compared with a number of cosmic “coincidences” that have recently come to light. Anyone would have to be crazy to believe that they could happen just by accident.
Throughout this book a number of “hard to believe” cosmic coincidences will be presented. One such example is the relationship between two space constants: the electromagnetic force and the force of gravity. These two values are crucial for the existence of stellar systems. If the electromagnetic force should be increased by only 1 over 10 to the exponent of 40 (the explanation of this term in a moment), there would be only stars the size of our Sun. Conversely, if the gravitational force should become greater than the electromagnetic force by that same negligible amount, we would have only huge stars. Okay, but really, who cares? The stars are pretty far away. What does it matter if they are all big or all small? It matters because we must have stars in both size ranges, in order to ensure our very existence. Bulky stars are necessary to sustain life since the thermonuclear explosions in their wombs are the main source of important chemical elements, without which there would be no life. On the other hand, somewhat smaller stars, like our Sun, are also extremely crucial for our survival, since only they can produce heat in a steady, stable manner, enabling life on a nearby planet. Thus, the existence of both types of stars is critical for our survival. This was only possible to achieve by an extremely careful adjustment of the balance between the two forces mentioned, the electromagnetic force, and the gravitational force. What is the balance as the ratio of 1 to 1 over 10 t