To start off I want to make sure you know what a light year is.
It is the distance light travels in a year...duh! ;)
Light travels 5,878,482,164,161 miles in one year.
And 299,792,458 meters per second!
That is pretty fast-- wouldn't you say so?
Ok so now that you know that, here we go.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
This is Earth--Home sweet home.
Being just one tiny person this place seems pretty big,
but I think you will find that the song
"It's a Small World After All" has some truth to it.
This is the sun.
The closest star to us
(only 93,000,000 miles away).
Now this thing is really big!
It brings us light and warmth.
And if it were just a little bit farther away
or closer to us we would be up a creek.
Over a million Earths could fit into the sun!
Feeling small yet?
Do you see the white speck?
That is a picture taken of our Earth by the Voyager
from the other side of the solar system.
This is the Milky Way Galaxy-- where we are.
It is about 100,000 light-years across.
You see where its pointing to the sun? That's us.
This is the Vela Pulsar. It's out in space about 1,000 light years away from us.
Still pretty close. This thing is spinning 11 times every second.
In fact, it's spinning fast enough to produce radio waves that have been
recorded by NASA.
It sounds like an intergalactic helicopter.
The distance to the Orion Nebula is 1,500 light-years.
This thing looks awesome huh?!
The Ring Nebula is just 2,300 light-years away.
The Hourglass Nebula is about 8,000 light-years away.
It is a cloud of dust, gas, and plasma.
Meet the Sombrero Galaxy it is 28 million light-years away
and 50,000 light-years across!
This is the Whirpool Galaxy and it is about
31 million light-years away from Earth!
It makes a perfect spiral-- very awesome.
The Polar Ring Galaxy is 130 million light-years away.
This galaxy was formed by the collision of two separate galaxies!
The Hubble telescope found this at the center of the
Whirlpool Galaxy.
God's signature to His masterpiece.
Now think about it.
The Polar Ring Galaxy is 130 million light-years away.
130 million light years!
Remember that light travles 5,878,482,164,161 miles in a year.
Multiply that by 130 MILLION and that is how far away that galaxy is!
Now why is that out there?
Really, what is it doing way out there?
Well the Bible says in Psalms 19:1-2
"The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their
expanse is declaring the work of His hands. "
God made those galaxies waaaay out there to
glorify Him. And to show us that He is real.
I can't look at all of that and believe that
those galaxies just happened.
No, they are part of our awesome God's masterpiece!
And those are just the things that we have found so far.
Just imagine all that is out there that we have yet to discover.
And just think about how HUGE the universe is.
Then think about how small you are in comparison.
We are tiny! Yet God still cares about us and loves us
so much that He sent His son to die for our mistakes!
Wow! There really aren't words...
This song by Chris Thomlin captures it as well as
anything ever will--
From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation's revealing Your majesty
From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God
Who has told every lightning bolt where it should go
Or seen heavenly storehouses laden with snow
Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light
Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night
None can fathom
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God
You are amazing God
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God
Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God
Incomparable, unchangeable
You see the depths of my heart and You love me the same
You are amazing God
You are amazing God
1 comments:
Man... the universe is a pretty astounding and beautiful place. :)
Great post, Jade!
And you know, even though we interpret the universe in a different way, I think we are definitely on the same page when it comes to reverence, admiration, and love for the awe-inspiring world around us.
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