Let's
recap a few points that we made earlier. The universe
following the Big Bang was a nebula of just hydrogen
and helium. Heavier elements were produced later
by means of intentionally-designed nuclear reactions.
Yet the existence of heavier elements is not a
sufficient reason for the universe to become a
suitable place for life. A much more important
issue is how the universe was formed and ordered.
We shall start
by asking how big the universe is.
We
have adorned the nearest heaven with an
adornment, the stars.
(Surat as-Saffat: 6)
|
The planet Earth
is a part of the solar system. In this system
there are nine major planets with fifty-four satellites,
and an uncounted number of asteroids all revolving
around a single star called "Sun", a middle-sized
star compared with others in the universe. Earth
is the third planet from the sun.
Let us first
try to understand the size of this system. The
diameter of the sun is 103 times that of the earth.
To visualize this, the planet Earth has diameter
of 12,200 kms. If we scaled that down to the dimensions
of a glass ball, the sun would be about the size
of soccer ball. But the interesting thing is the
distance between the two. Keeping to the same
scale, the two balls should be 280 meters apart.
Some of the objects representing the outer planets
would have to be set several kilometers away.
Big though this
might seem, the solar system is a quite miniscule
in size compared with the Milky Way, the galaxy
in which it is located. There are over 250 billion
stars in the Milky Way–some similar to the sun,
others bigger, others smaller. The star nearest
to the sun is Alpha Centauri. If we wanted to
add Alpha Centauri in our model system, it would
have to be located 78,000 kilometers away.
That's too big
for almost anyone to grasp, so let's reduce the
scale. We'll assume the earth to be as big as
a dust-particle. That would make the sun as big
as a walnut about three meters from the earth.
On this scale, Alpha Centauri would have to be
located 640 kilometers from the sun.
The Milky Way
consists of about 250 billion stars with similarly
mind-boggling distances between them. The sun
is located closer to the edge of this spiral-shaped
galaxy than it is to the justify.
Even the Milky
Way is dwarfed by the vast size of the whole universe.
It is just one of many galaxies–nearly 300 billion
of them according to recent calculations. And
the distances between galaxies are millions of
times greater than that between the sun and Alpha
Centauri.
George Greenstein,
in The Symbiotic Universe, comments on this unimaginable
vastness:
Had
the stars been somewhat closer, astrophysics
would not have been so very different. The fundamental
physical processes occurring within stars, nebulas,
and the like would have proceeded unchanged.
The appearance of our galaxy as seen from some
far-distant vantage point would have been the
same. About the only difference would have been
the view of the night time sky from the grass
on which I lie, which would have been yet richer
with stars. And oh, yes-one more small change:
There would have been no me to do the viewing…All
that waster space! On the other hand, in this
very waste lies lour safety.1
Greenstein also explains
the reason for this. In his view, the huge distances
in space makes it possible for certain physical
variables to be arranged so as to be exactly suitable
for human life. He also notes the importance of
this huge space in allowing Earth to exist while
minimizing the risk of collision with other stars.
In short, the
distribution of celestial bodies in space is exactly
what it must be for human life to exist on our
planet. These huge spaces are the outcome of an
intentional design for a purpose and not a result
of coincidence.
|
