 
The Incalculable Size of the Universe
 The
delicate balances in the magnificently large universe prove
that this flawless order came into being as the result of
God's superior creation.
American scientists have discovered the furthest planet from
the Solar System, of which our Earth is a part. According
to a report on the Internet space site, the planet, the same
size as Jupiter, revolves in a narrow orbit around a star
5,000 light years away from the Milky Way. The scientists
stated that the planet revolves around the star in as little
as 29 hours, and recorded that its surface is very hot, several
thousand degrees. Astronomers at the Harvard Smithsonian Center
located the star as the result of minute variations emitted
by the star around which it revolves. The astronomers revealed
that the planet passed in front of the star every 29 hours,
during which times there was a reduction in the amount of
light emitted by the star. The variation in that light, they
announced, was the equivalent of a mosquito passing in front
of the headlight of a car 186 miles away. Astronomers have
also so far determined more than 100 stars outside the Solar
System by this method.
The above scientific discovery indicates a very important
truth; the magnificent size of the universe!
Bearing in mind that light travels at approximately 186 411
mps, the distance it travels in 5,000 light years is beyond
human comprehension. In addition, that distance is only very
small in proportion to the size of the universe, within the
Solar System of which we are a part.
Even more astounding dimensions emerge when we consider the
size of the universe.
Let us now continue this examination in order to understand
the size of the universe... 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.
The diameter of the sun is 103 times that of the earth. To
visualize this, the planet Earth has diameter of 7581 miles.
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 919 feet 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 484, 669 miles 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 398 miles 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 our safety. (George Greenstein, The
Symbiotic Universe, p. 21)
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. (For more details, see Harun
Yahya's The
Creation of the Universe, Al-Attique Publishers Inc.,
Canada: 2000)
Doubtlessly, the design of the universe is evidence of God's
power to establish. The precise balances and all the human
beings and other creatures are the evidence of God's supreme
power and act of creation. This result discovered by modern
science is just a reworking of a truth revealed fourteen centuries
ago in the Qur'an:
Your Lord is God, Who created the heavens and the Earth
in six days and then settled Himself firmly on the Throne.
He covers the day with the night and, each pursuing the
other urgently; and the Sun and Moon and stars are subservient
to His command. Both creation and command belong to Him.
Blessed be God, the Lord of all worlds. (Qur'an, 7:54)
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