Listening to the Cries of Baby Stars

Re: # 55

The question about ellipse and circle is excellent and hard to answer. First of all, the orbit of the Earth and most of the planets are almost a circle (but not quite). When the Solar system formed, the planets and other bodies had much more chaotic orbits. However, after some time the orbits became more stabilized. Now, circle is the most stable orbit (or in physics term, a circlular orbit has the lowest energy). But its very hard to get to that level. In the Solar system, we already have giant planets like Jupiter and Saturn affecting the orbits of smaller bodies, perhaps preventing them from getting into a perfectly circular orbit.

There are few examples of circular orbits, and I think they are mostly confined to objects like binary neutron stars. These are the corpses of stars larger than the Sun. They are small but they have intense gravitational field, and perhaps these extreme conditions bring them into perfectly circular orbits. This is what I think, but the issue of orbits is very complex (especially with more than 3 bodies). Perhaps not too convincing, but I hope it helps a bit.

-Salman

#55:
I am not well versed with the geometrical facts about the orbits. Mr Hameed might be in a better position to explain it.

#59:
If the amount of matter falling in a black hole is very small, it may acheive relativistic velocity and it should not be surprising, because there are evidences about particles streaming out of their sources at speeds close to that of light. However if a black hole happens to be close to a star, there is an spectacular phnomenon. It is where a black hole shows its muscles. Because of its immense gravity, it starts to suck in the gases from the fateful star in tremendous amounts. Because of the extremely small radius, very little matter actually gets in the black hole...but the matter which escape this fate of falling in the black hole isn`t very lucky though. Because the amount of matter actually falling in the black hole is far far less than the amount dragged close by its gravity, there is a tremendous build-up of gases around the black hole, ``the accretion disc``. The pressure and temperature in the disc in so intense that the matter loses its integrity as atoms and molecules. There is a tremendous blast-off of matter and energy. The matter escapes on either sides of the accretion disc in the form of extremely fast particle jets. The energy escapes in the form high energy radiation. Cygnus X-1 is a classic example...The X-ray source in Cygnus X-1 is thought to be a black hole close to a massive star engulfing matter from it in the same manner.

#60:
Thanks for the compliment. I only try my best to convey to others what I know, in a simplified manner.


Dr. Muhammad Akbar Hussain Siddiqui
astronomer.bravehost.com

salman Hameed:

Thanks for this article. I particulary liked the poetic phrase `` cries of the baby stars``.
The questions in #60 are also for you. Please help.

thamks.

akbar260:

Am I glad that I opened this page! Akbar, allow me the privilege to add my name to the list of your admirers.

You not only have immense talent, but also a great ability to convey your ideas in a fresh, humorous, polite manner. Your expression of your love for your family is also very commendable.

You certainly are a bright star & likely to be a promising supernova for muslims & Pakistan.

Please continue to regale us laymen, the kind of stuff you wrote about Hydrogen, Helium Lithium etc.

From where & how the Universe gets & retains its balance? why the speed of heavenly bodies retain their chronometer-accuracy whereas man-made sattelites lose theirs & fall off. Also, why is the order not disturbed when meteorites , stars, & others collapse or burn out? Do the laws of entropy & enthalpy get ``suspended-in-balance``( my coinage) in a MACRO ( in universe terms) context?

As my questions might indicate, I know nothing--so please be kind to reply in laymen terms. Thanks.


P.S: You are my children`s age.

I really wonder what kind of speed, particles falling into a black hole achieve. Very close to speed of light I suppose?

If the radius of an average size black hole is just 3-4 kilometers then wouldn`t it take a lot of time to swallow a star? It would seem like a gigantic tank full of water emptying into a small drain!

Re: # 55

I think the answer is that circle is just a special case of ellipse. Therefore random state is ellipse and to get a perfect circular orbit would mean extraordinary circumstances. I hope I am correct.

Is there a limit to maximum temperature?

I mean what is temperature! It is the level of kinetic energy of particles ( this is what I was told in my physics class). Now speed of particles cannot exeed speed of light so the maximum temperture should also be limited........

Akbar sahib,

A very basic question, kindly explain if you have got some time to spare. Why are planets orbits elliptical and not exact circles. After all Kepler`s laws would be valid for perfect circles, no???

Regards

Re: # 53
1. Lorentz, in 1895, ten years before Albert Einstein formulated the Special Theory of Relativity in 1905, brought forward the idea of length contraction L = L0 Underroot 1-V2/C2, The Lorentz Contraction. He concluded that the Aether must have contracted their apparatus by that length calculated by the formula. Later on the conclusion was found to be wrong, but the calculation was found to be correct. The world had already entered into the age of relativity in 1895.

2. Hydrogen burns to form Helium, Helium burning produces Lithium, Lithium burning gives carbon, which in turn gives oxygen, Silicon, and so on. These processes are occuring in the Sun as well. In more massive stars, it goes upto Iron, when burning process halts suddenly, and there is no thermal expansion left to sustain the gravitational collapse. the star falls into itself!...and...rebounds!! The Supernova. I think this is the simplest way I can explain the mechanics of a Supernova. Deep inside Supernova, even Heavier elements like Gold, Platinum, and Uranium etc. are formed. The Sun and the Solar system are themselves formed from the remnants of a Supernova that happened billions of years ago. This explains the existence of heavier elements like Gold on Earth. This also explains why women sometimes burst into a Supernova...Gold is to be blamed which they wear!!

Dr. Muhammad Akbar Hussain Siddiqui
www.astronomer.zoomshare.com

Re: # 51

You mean to say that first discovery was made that speed of light is constant and then consequential theories like theory of relativity etc came about. Not the other way round i.e. first assumption was made that speed of light should be constant and then it was verified through experiments?

Can Helium also fuse into Helium and form heavier element?

Re: # 50
1. The speed of light is not `thought to be` but `is` constant, based on Michelson-Morley Experiment. The speed of light was measured in a fixed direction and six months later in the same direction, when, according to the Earth`s rotation around Sun, the apparatus was moving in the opposite direction than previously. But the speed of light was measured to be the same. One can read about this experiment in any good text book on physics.

2. The Moon`s rotation being exactly equal to its movement around its axis, is not a miracle. Since the moon is so small, and cooled so rapidly, the heavier core is not exactly in the centre, but is slightly shifted towards Earth, hence, the heavier part of the Moon keeps on `hanging` towards Earth, and this has `locked` and synchronized it revolution with its rotation. This is not only the case with Earth`s Moon, but with other moons like Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto, Triton, Charon etc. (I am not exactly sure about Titan).

3. All other elements in the Universe are thought to evolve from Hydrogen. Hydrogen fuses (`burns`) to form Helium, and its concentration is continuously increasing, though still, Hydrogen forms the overwhelmingly major fraction of all matter in the Universe.

4. The radius of an average black hole is expected to be something like 3-4 kilometers, may be less, may be more, but quite comparable to these dimensions.


Dr. Muhammad Akbar Hussain Siddiqui
www.astronomer.zoomshare.com

What would be the radius of event horizon of an average size black hole?

If stars burn hydrogen into helium then shouldn`t there be a lot of helium too in the universe?

Why doesn`t our moon spin or to be technically correct why is its period of orbit around earth exactly same as period of its rotation around its axis?

I had heard that some experiment was conducted in a very deep abandoned mine in UK to detect dark matter. Whatever happened to that experiment?

And what also fascinates me is that central to the theory of relativity is the constant speed character of light to all observers whether stationary or moving. What I am interested to know is why this assumption was made in the beginning i.e. what made scientists to think that speed of the light should be constant?

Re: # 45

{There is a continuous piling-up of theories and speculations about black holes. It is because we cannot observe them directly. The black hole itself was theoretically discovered on a sheet of paper based on cosmological evidences and known facts.}

I think you are absolutely right that we don`t know much about black holes. But I think they are on a far more solid footing than, say, dark matter. The theory is much more developed and we don`t know of a way of preventing a large star from becoming anything other than a black hole (i.e. its escape velocity is expected to be greater than the speed of light). Similarly, on the observational side, we know there are objects that have concentrated in such a compact volume that it cannot be any thing other than a black hole (from pure density-size arguments). However, how many kinds of black holes are out there, how they evolve over history, and whether they evaporate or not...well these are the big unknowns. There are plans being made for an X-ray telescope by 2025 that will be able to image the event horizon directly! Well...lets see what happens. Dark matter on the other hand is driven purely from unexplained observations, and theory has been developed to answer some unexplained anamolies. Unless astrnomers detect dark particles, there will be a huge question mark on it and there will always be a chance that it may disappear like the aether.

-Salman

Re: # 44
That is why I call this theory `highly speculative` and `more interesting than explanatory`.

There is a continuous piling-up of theories and speculations about black holes. It is because we cannot observe them directly. The black hole itself was theoretically discovered on a sheet of paper based on cosmological evidences and known facts. It is only when we might be able to observe them directly, we shall be able to judge what we had perceived correctly and what we didn`t. It would be like the nasty surprise of discovering life-forms like crustaceans and fish at the bottom of Challenger Deep (the deepest point of Pacific Ocean, some 11000m from the surface), when theoretically none should`ve been there, because of the extreme pressure. Much was visioned about Venus, but that planet turned out to be so different from what was initially thought. However, sound knowledge and calculations always help. Wasn`t Clyde Tombaugh doing the right thing, and looking at the right spot, to discover Pluto, based on calculations from Neptune`s motion?

Dr. Muhammad Akbar Hussain Siddiqui
www.astronomer.zoomshare.com

Re: # 43

``There is a theory about `vacuum fluctuation`, which means that in space, particles and anti-particles keep on forming and annihilatiog in t=0, thus without disturbing the overall law of conservation of energy. This theory is, however, highly speculative. If the same occurs at the event horizon (the surface of the black hole), it is quite possible that the anti-particle may fall into the black hole, and the particle may escape. To an external observer, there might be a continuous stream of particles from the black hole...``

But this would mean black holes are directly observable whereas presence of black hole is speculated on the basis of its characteristic signature, much like dark matter . Another point.... what makes particle rather than antiparticle to jump out of event horizan?

Re: # 39
The more massive a star is, more furiously it burns. Hence the very massive stars consume their hydrogen fuel far more rapidly, soon depleting it. Therefore, it is said that even if massive stars may be accompanied by planets, it is less likely that those planets might harbour intelligent life, if any life at all. We can expect more from average sized stars like Sun.
The ultimate demise of Sun does seem to be a white dwarf, but it is not necessary it will lose much mass. In fact, the dimensions of a white dwarf are planetary, but is is far far more dense, and massive. This fact keeps it somewhat alive.
There is a theory about `vacuum fluctuation`, which means that in space, particles and anti-particles keep on forming and annihilatiog in t=0, thus without disturbing the overall law of conservation of energy. This theory is, however, highly speculative. If the same occurs at the event horizon (the surface of the black hole), it is quite possible that the anti-particle may fall into the black hole, and the particle may escape. To an external observer, there might be a continuous stream of particles from the black hole, which, because of eating up anti-particles, would keep on losing mass. But this theory is more interesting than explanatory.
Thinking of reaching far off verges of the universe, at this time, seems as impossible as it was to reach Moon 150 years ago. So it is unlikely that we are in a position to comment that it is impossible to reach other galaxies. There must be life out there definitely, and there must be civilisations out there too. The Universe is so big. In future it might be possible to reach there without actually travelling THROUGH space...who knows!!

Dr. Muhammad Akbar Hussain Siddiqui
astronomer.zoomshare.com

Akbar Sahib

Re: Proof of God

(Let me cut short my viewpoint.
Proving the existence of God on the basis of scientific evidences can be tricky, as laws and theories keep on changing. )

There`s an interesting story probably apocryphal. Diderot the French encyclopedist and rationalist was holding sway in Catherine the Great`s court and to her great consternation was converting people to atheism. To stop him she enlisted the support of Euler the great mathematician. He gave the formula, if I remember correct it is (x+n)^n/n= x hence God exists. Diderot who was notoriously bad at maths couldn`t counter this logic and had to flee the Russian Court.

Regards

#31
majumdar jii

Thank you for a very good response.

#32
Akbar260 sahib

Very good article. Please, keep up . Very informative, of course.

My knowledge of Astrophysics is pretty limited, more or less acquired from Stephen Hawking’s book. One thing I was not able to understand and would be grateful for some explanation here (no heavy duty tech jargon please)

Black holes don’t let anything not even light escape past event horizon. How do then they lose matter and decay?

Re: # 37

``If a star contains 20 times as much mass as the Sun (or more), then we suspect that it will live less than 10 million years (in comparison, our Sun`s lifespan is in billions of years) and will leave a black hole. So many of the new stars seen in the NGC 1398 image will eventually leave as blackholes in a few million years. Amazing!! ``

how so???

shouldn`t a bigger star have more fuel i.e. hydrogen, to burn and last longer?

i read an article which said some millions (?) years later our sun will be out of fuel and start lossing its mass and become a white dwarf, which will also cause a loss of gravitatioanl pull. hence the entire solar system will go into a spin and the sun will disappear (turn into a black hole (?)).

but i also read that black holes have to much of gravity that it absorbs everything towards it (not even allowing light to escape) and hence the term ``black hole``. but if there is no mass how can there be gravity?
or can there be??

regarding your explanation that nebula orion is 500 light years away. if there is life somewhere in the entire universe and unless that civilisation/life can travel more than the speed of light, i think we won`t know its existence. hence there could be a life somewhere.

A lot has been theorized about the existence of black holes. There are even some astronomical evidences as well like the Einstein`s cross. There must be continuous formation of black holes in the universe. Is it an ultimate end to the whole story of stellar evolution? Or the black holes might themselves be in a state of evolution. How might the black holes that were formed billions of years ago, be different from those which are forming now? How far does the theory about evaporating black holes bear weightage? If a black hole does evaporate, what comes out of it?

Re: # 35

{how far is orion nebula and NGC-1398 from us? }
Orion nebula is in our own galaxy and is roughly 500 light years away..so this is still in our neighborhood. In comparison, the center of our galaxy is about 30,000 light years away -- we are sort of on the out-skirts.

NGC 1398 is located roughly 50 million light years from us!

{is it Hydrogen fission/fusion which are the source for the light?}
Yes, hydrogen fusion is the source of energy for the stars. In fact, the ``birth`` of the star is denoted by the time it first starts fusing hydrogen into helium (and as result releasing tons of energy).

{your article mentions about the stars, any idea about the planets? i.e. about their formation and demise.}
We know that planets do form along with the planets. However, they are very hard to detect even for stars that very close by. There are planetary disks detected around some new stars in the Orion nebula - so we know that the planets will be forming around these stars - but we can`t say more than that.

{lastly, what is our understanding about the death of these stars, do they end as black holes?}
Well interestingly, the technique to detect young stars that I described in the article in mostly sensitive to stars that are much larger than the Sun. If a star contains 20 times as much mass as the Sun (or more), then we suspect that it will live less than 10 million years (in comparison, our Sun`s lifespan is in billions of years) and will leave a black hole. So many of the new stars seen in the NGC 1398 image will eventually leave as blackholes in a few million years. Amazing!!

-Salman

Re: # 33
Oh...absolutely no need to apologize - mine was a general comment.

Another general comment:
When working on a project we are always looking for things that are puzzling and cannot explain. This is the beginning of science and not the end of it. We do not ascribe an unknown to a miracle or necessarily the work of God. However, while searching for the answer, it is always assumed that the answer lies in the realm of the natural world, i.e. governed by the laws of nature. Even if we are unable to find the answer about a physical phenomena at present, we assume that the answer is not unknowable.

Thus, while trying to understand how stars form and how they die, the key questions deal with the state of hydrogen gas, its density, temperature, and pressure; nuclear physics of fusion, and radiation laws; and of course, gravity.

-Salman

hameed:

how far is orion nebula and NGC-1398 from us?

is it Hydrogen fission/fusion which are the source for the light?

your article mentions about the stars, any idea about the planets? i.e. about their formation and demise.

lastly, what is our understanding about the death of these stars, do they end as black holes?

thanks in advance.

Re: # 32

Smugness of some people is amazing. I thought the argument was over but no, these enlightened ones have to have the last word. The very first interact on this board dragged `Allah` in to discussion, I didnt!

At the same time I`d wish to apologize (in fact we all should) to Mr. Salman Hameed for messing up the discussion of such a beautiful article by him. Can we now start a more fruitful discussion about distant galaxies and interesting phenomena taking place out there?

Dr. Muhammad Akbar Hussain Siddiqui
astronomer.zoomshare.com

Let me cut short my viewpoint.
Proving the existence of God on the basis of scientific evidences can be tricky, as laws and theories keep on changing. We can only be sure to deliver an exact comment on this issue when we know we have `completed science` at our disposal. We, of course, know this is not possible. We are exploring a universe with ever-growing complexity. We are only coming to know how less we know. The same goes to those who waste their efforts arguing that there is no God. We are, in fact, in no position to even comment on it.
I started this argument when a few readers added a point that there is no God, after reading the main article. That was a nonsense attitude.

Dr. Muhammad Akbar Hussain Siddiqui
astronomer.zoomshare.com

Re: 19

Zeenaji,

(majumdar
lets discuss this article at hand. What do you think about the concept of the universe, GOD and the galaxies while keeping in mind the EARTH.?

Do you think there is life other than the EARTH? I mean in other galaxies.........If, yes then when we will be able to meet`em? )


Good questions. Personally I believe in the existence of God but that’s my belief, I have no proof to back it up nor would I want anyone who doesn’t believe to believe in one.

As far as there being life elsewhere, I can only hazard guesses. When you speak of life I suppose you are meaning an intelligent lifeform based on Chemistry of Carbon- there might be lifes based on completely different principles but I wouldn’t know much about them. As far as higher intelligent life is concenred obviously there are certain requirements.

There should be a star.
The star should be surrounded by planets implying there would have to be a supernova (possibly) at some point in the past whose debris were captured.
The sun should have a certain minimum size and surface temperature.
The star should have a certain lifespan –if it is too short, it will not permit evolution to reach that far.
The planet should be at an optimal distance from the star.
The planet should have a predominantly Nitrogen-Oxygen atmosphere.

What I understand is that the probabilities of such things happening simultaneously is very remote maybe one in a trillion- Akbar sahib may give exact numbers. But given that there may be trillions of galaxies each having billions of stars I would say “THERE MUST BE LIFE ELSEWHERE”. But would we able to speak to them- highly unlikely. If life is so rare the nearest inhabited planet may be billions of light years away. By the time we are able to contact them presumably by means of electromagnetic waves which travel no faster than light- we would probably be finished by then. But of course if we were to find some thing which travels at faster than light who knows.

Regards

Re: # 29 and other earllier posts on religion

The purpose of the article was to simply talk about a natural process. There is beauty and wonder everywhere in nature from a droplet of water to the tornadoes that wreak havoc on land. A faithful person may or may not see the signs of God in it. However, an understanding of the workings of nature (certainly in a scientific sense) has nothing to do with faith. Whether one likes it or not, we have left the middle ages where debates on theology were a common place and people were very sophiticated discussions on the topic. Lets talk about nature as nature and leave the theology to the theologians (or atleast to articles on theology).

Regarding the fate of the universe, it seems that the universe is not only expanding but the rate of expansion is accelerating. If that is the case, then the universe will certainly be cooling down as it has been doing since the Big Bang. The current tempreature of the universe is roughly 2.7 degrees above absolute zero. The expansion will continue its trend in asymptotic manner, inching ever closer to absolute zero, but never reaching its destination. Galaxies will have new stars for a while via recycled material from stars and for unused gases. However, all recycling has limits and eventually there won`t be enough material left to form new stars. Thus our universe will be left with a bunch of galaxies made up of various types of stellar corpses along with a host of planets (most likely with no life on them). Of course, this eventuality is many many hundeds of billions of years away.

-Salman

GOD is science and astronomy is the biggest human contribution to search GOD. GOD says in Quran to search for the GOD.

Science and GOD are inseparable.

Re: # 25

akbar260:

``Thank you for supporting my viewpoint. I am criticizing the attitudes of those who jump into joy claiming there is no God when they find an explanation of any natural phenomenon. ``

well, your criticism is welcomed. at this time we can just say that we can`t prove or disprove the existence of god.

but can you do the same to those who are drawing relationaship b/t ``smoke`` and ``clouds of hydrogen`` in their effort to peddle islam?

Dr. Sahib

Our views are polar opposites. Much greater criticism must be directed at those who jump for joy every time they cannot explain some natural phenomenon, labelling the combination of their own state of ignorance and somebody else`s even more ignorant fiat as evidence for God`s existence (worse, proof that this God of ignorance knows best; and worst of all, that this God has this or that name, and commands us to do this or that thing affecting other fellow human beings).

Re: # 25

I suppose converse is equally true.

Re: # 24
Thank you for supporting my viewpoint. I am criticizing the attitudes of those who jump into joy claiming there is no God when they find an explanation of any natural phenomenon. Proving or disproving the existence of God on the basis of whatever we know as science, is nothing but a waste of time. We have entered an age when we are only beginning to understand the extremely complex laws of nature. The more we go ahead, the more we understand how complex the universe is, and yet, in such a beautiful and perfect harmony.

Dr. Muhammad Akbar Hussain Siddiqui
www.astronomer.zoomshare.com

Dr. Sahib

From a scientific point of view, God concept is beneath contempt. It does not deserve nontrivial attention. A scientist has no reason to waste his/her time disproving something that does not merit scientific focus.

Re: # 16
I know entropy is always increasing, it is quite obvious if unverse itself is expanding!
And when I say matter is uniformly distributed I don`t mean every cubic inch of universe has uniform density. What I mean is that on a reasonable large unit of space, matter is evenly distributed.

Re: # 17
Trying to disprove God by studying, understanding and explaining the natural phenomena is like ``Since there is appendix in the abdomen, it means there is no God!``.

Dr. Muhammad Akbar Hussain Siddiqui
www.astronomer.zoomshare.com

Allah ( God ) without any doubt made everything ( according to Quran & Islam - if one does not agree with the statement he / she is welcome to do so ) - there has to be a force which started the process of evolution ? which made matter?
“He is the Originator of the heavens and the earth.” (6:101)
The scientists now believe that the universe was created after a great
explosion & before that there was nothing such as `matter`. It gives me
a satisfaction that matter, time & energy were created & didn`t exist since
infinite.
“Then turned He to the heaven when it was smoke,

and said unto it and unto the earth: Come both
of you, willingly or not.
They said: We come, obedient.” (The Quran, 41:11)

Quran say that Heaven was smoke before? modern science
has every reason to maintain that the universe was formed from
a gaseous mass ( hydrogen & part of helium ) .

“Have they not who disbelieve seen that the heavens and earth were joined together (as one piece), then We parted them.” (21:30)

As the earth and the heavens above (the sun, the moon, stars, planets, galaxies, etc.) have been formed from this same ‘smoke’, we conclude that the earth and the heavens were once a connected entity. Then out of this homogenous ‘smoke’, they evolved into different forms and separated from each other.



Hence, the verse reveals that the heavens and earth at the beginning were joined together, and that subsequently they were separated. Recent advance-ments in astronomy especially the Big Bang theory of the creation of the universe corroborate with this statement in the Quran. The Big Bang theory holds that about 20,000,000,000 (twenty billion) years ago the universe began with an explosive expansion of a single extremely condensed state of matter. This is what the Quran states in this verse: “the heavens and earth were joined together”. The Noble prize for Science in 1977 was awarded for this discovery.



These facts, only recently discovered by modern science, were disclosed in the Quran 1,400 years ago.

“Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.”

(The Quran, 1:1)





At a time when, perhaps, scientific knowledge was not even at the nascent stage, the Quran revealed about the presence of worlds other than the earth and testified to the fact that, “Allah is the Lord of the worlds”. As a matter of fact, the words, “the Lord of the worlds”, appear in the Quran a total of 73 times. With scientific advancement and use of sophisticated telescopes now we know that there are other planets and multitude of galaxies besides earth. And all this was disclosed to us by the God Almighty through his prophet Mohammad ( P.B.U.H ) 14 centuries ago.



on Expansion of Universe

(iii) The expansion of the universe



According to the Holy Quran:



“And it is We who have constructed the heaven with might, and verily, it is We who are steadily expanding it.” (51:47)



The word “heaven”, as stated in this verse, is used in various places with the meaning of space and universe. Here again, the word is used with this meaning.



At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian physicist Alexander Friedmann and the Belgian cosmologist Georges Lemaitre theoretically calculated that the universe is in constant motion and that it is expanding.



From the moment of the Big Bang, the universe has been constantly expanding at a great speed. Scientists compare the expanding universe to the surface of a balloon that is inflated. Observing the sky in 1929 with a telescope also proved this fact. Edwin Hubble, the American astronomer, discovered that the stars and galaxies were constantly moving away from each other. These observations tell us that when everything in the universe moves away from each other, it is considered to be a constantly expanding universe. This fact was revealed in the Quran when no one knew about the expansion of the universe 1,400 years ago. This is because the Quran is the word of Allah, the Creator and the Ruler of the entire universe.

“By the sky full of paths and orbits.”

(The Quran, 51:7)



The entire universe is full of paths and orbits. The Quran also tells us that:



“(Allah is the) One who created the night , and the day, and the sun and the moon, swim along, each in its (own) orbit.” (21:33)





“It is not permitted to the sun to overtake the moon, nor can the night outsrip the day, each swims along in its (own) orbit.” (36:40)





While referring to the Sun and the Moon in the Quran, it is emphasized that each moves in a certain orbit. There are about 200 billion galaxies in the universe, consisting of nearly 200 billion stars in each. All celestial bodies including planets, satellites of these planets, stars and even galaxies swim along their own orbits.



It is mentioned in another verse, too, that the Sun is not static but moves in a definite orbit.



“The sun runs on its fixed course for a term (appointed); that is the decree of the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing.” (Yaseen 36:38)



According to the calculations of experts on astronomy, the Sun is travelling at an enormous speed of 150 miles per second. It means that the sun travels roughly 12,960,000 miles a day!



The fact that this information was present in the Quran long before it was discovered by the mankind is yet another testimony that Allah, the All-Knowing, and the All-Wise is the source of this knowledge.

source : http://www.cometoislam.com/IslamandScience.htm

The recent advent of the inflationary cosmology may, however, apparently contradict with the `Heat Death` concept suggesting that despite increasing entropy, the Universe is moving further away from equillibrium, the scientific evidences still suggest an impending Heat Death. Whether it be second law of thermodynamics about a closed universe, or be it cosmic inflation, they all point towards a beginning of time, which is NOT a closed loop.

Dr. Muhammad Akbar Hussain Siddiqui
www.astronomer.zoomshare.com

#13 by majumdar on April 17, 2006 4:39am PT
Zeenaji,

{{None of the articles need be censored. But some of the filth and abuse that is hurled by interactors at each other is highly hideable. Incidentally if it is of any consolation to you, none of your posts qualify under the previous category.}}

majumdar jii

At this point I am in 200% agreement with you. Yes, some interactors hurl extreme abuse and gaali gaaloch , full of filth. They can not take the pressure of the debate and take no seconds to resort to a low lying level. Yes, now I understand what you meant.

majumdar
lets discuss this article at hand. What do you think about the concept of the universe, GOD and the galaxies while keeping in mind the EARTH.?

Do you think there is life other than the EARTH? I mean in other galaxies.........If, yes then when we will be able to meet`em?

Majumdar

What`s wrong with holding certain beliefs beneath contempt? :(

Dr. Siddiqui Sahib

``I am just mentionaing how difficult it is to study ``God`` within limits of the modern science.``

What would convince a person that -

``Allah ( suban-o-talah ) DID NOT create this perfect system where everyones & everything(s) roles are defined.?``

Why should science be interested in studying God?

Re: # 15
Mr. Kalihawa

At this point, I would advise you to review your understanding of cosmos. The matter, and energy are NOT distributed evenly in the universe. The entropy is always increasing, and there is no escape. Whether it be melting of ice, or cooling of lava, or the radiating energy of stars, all these process are contributing towards making the distribution of matter and energy more uniform. The matter/energy gradient is continuosly decreasing. Our very existence is because the matter/energy are not uniformly distributed, but are continuously doing so. The ultimate outcome would be `Heat Death` of the universe, when no energy gradient would be left. All living and non living processes will stop at that point. Had the universe been there since eternity, the universe would have already been in a state of Heat Death, but it is not so.

Dr. Muhammad Akbar Hussain Siddiqui
www.astronomer.zoomshare.com

Re: # 5
````There`s no God`` means the universe (matter, energy, space and time) is there since eternity.``

Why? Doesn`t that bring in concept of beginning of time?

``Well we all know this is not possible, otherwise all the matter and energy would have distributed equally throughout space with no energy and matter gradient left.``

How do you know 15 billion years is enough time? And what is beginnig of time? Does a loop has a begining or an end? My understanding is that cosmic matter is more or less uniformly distributed in space which is still expanding.

Akbar Sahib,

My knowledge of both physics and religion is extremely limited. I was just speculating upon the nature of the Universe and God as I understand best.

Regards

Zeenaji,

None of the articles need be censored. But some of the filth and abuse that is hurled by interactors at each other is highly hideable. Incidentally if it is of any consolation to you, none of your posts qualify under the previous category.

Regards

#10 majumdar
Zeenaji,

{{Finally one article and hopefully a set of interacts which are fit to appear on a RESPECTABLE FAMILY WEBSITE. }}

Regards

majumdar sahib

As if chowk.com is a porno web site? You`re acting like this web site is rated R?
Yes, this is RESPECTABLE FAMILY WEB SITE.Whats wrong with your vision?

Show me one front page article which you can not show your family? Yes, show me one article . I am waiting for your response. Just show me.

Mr Majumdar

What you are discussing is the `String Theory`, which unfortunately is extremely rudimentary with no suppporting evidences, only a handful of mathematical speculations. For your kind information, I am not supporting any particular religion regarding the creation of the universe. I am just mentionaing how difficult it is to study ``God`` within limits of the modern science. It may be hard to prove the existence of God, even harder, to disprove one, if we talk with reference of whatever we know as science.

Dr. Muhammad Akbar Hussain Siddiqui
www.astronomer.zoomshare.com

Akbar Sahib,

It is quite possible that there would be infinite number of Universes, each of which would have seen an infinite series of Births (Big Bang???) and infinite series of Deaths (Big Crunch???). It would by no means be inconsistent with existence of God or religion. Such a view would in fact be very consistent with the Hindu viewpoint on God and Cosmos (Anadi-Anant- without a start or end, without a beginning or end). Dont know what view would Abrahamic faiths would take on such a view on the Universe. I hope you are not like the resident Maulana, Urstruly (pbuh) who would consider a Hindu point of view beneath contempt.

Zeenaji,

Finally one article and hopefully a set of interacts which are fit to appear on a RESPECTABLE FAMILY WEBSITE.

Regards

On side note:-
GOD is the only light , the rest of the Universe is big hole illuminated by the GOD.

Dear writer
Very interesing article. Good job.
I always believe that this universe is revolving around GOD, the super light, which is the source of all these lights in this big universe. Universe was created by a big bang and will end up with a big bang. You can take the example of big bang.

I believe our universe will finally turn in to a big hole with no light. The only light which will remain will be the light of GOD.
Thank you

Re: #6
Thanks and that solves the issue of evil in the world :)

Re: #5
Regarding not having new stars in between the rings: You are right, in some galaxies these rings are indeed caused by some kind of ripple effect - usually caused by a small galaxy falling through the middle of a large spiral galaxy. The Cartwheel galaxy (http://hubblesite.org/gallery/album/entire_collection/pr1995002b/) is a spectacular example of that. In this case, however, there are two rings and we suspect that the traffic jam of gas clouds is caused by the distribution of old stars in the galaxy. In fact there are some preferred orbits, called Lindblad resonances, that are created when stars are distributed in a bar-shape in the central region of the galaxy (for an example, see NGC 1300 at http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050112.html). NGC 1398 is a beautiful barred galaxy and probably that has created rings of new stars.

-Salman

good work.

now i know why ``god`` is so immune to human suffering, starvation and grief; he is too busy creating new stars and galaxies!

we humans seem to be the lowest priority in the grand scheme of the cycle of life and death.

``There`s no God`` means the universe (matter, energy, space and time) is there since eternity. Well we all know this is not possible, otherwise all the matter and energy would have distributed equally throughout space with no energy and matter gradient left. It actually CAME into being (Only possible if the source is something except matter, energy, space and time). If from ``nothing``, how is it ever possible if we remember the law of conservation of matter and energy. The very birth of matter, energy, space and time is beyond the realm of science itself, because science will not consider anything which is else than these four components, and it is where the solo domain of God starts.
Regarding the apparent absence of the new stars in between the rings, could it be something to do with the ripple effect? There might be young stars there but the ripple effect might have accumulated the dark matter there...or it might have some effect on the distribution of the young stars (though this is less likely). Or it might be possible that some compression effect is responsible for the formation of arms by giving birth to new stars, which is confined to specific distributions in the disc of a galaxy, which we see as arms. There can be many explanations.

Dr. Muhammad Akbar Hussain Siddiqui

Re: # 3

Why should I?
As the faithfuls say, ``It is matter of faith``, isn`t it?

Re: # 2
what I wrote was something I read - plus those were estimates plus kindly give me the explaination of your theory of `theres no God` ?

Re: # 1

You have no idea what you are talking about. Trillion years are equal to a thousand billion years and Universe is merely 15 billion years old. There is no God, there never was and there never will be. The Universe will collapse in a big crunch back to Singularity from where it once emerged. Matter is deceptive, merely sum total of spinning energy fields.

I read somewhere that the sun ( getting colder ) is actually dying & that the earth has some trillion years to go when the rotation pattern of earth will be tilted .
Allah ( suban-o-talah ) created this perfect system where everyones & everything(s) roles are defined - Humans are slowly but surely embarked on a journey to find other worlds & we all be lucky if we see another world in our life time but I am sure in centuries to come humans will be there where we will find answers .