Water found on the moon
In a monumental discovery, scientists have found water molecules on the surface of the moon. We aren’t talking lakes or even puddles (that would be ridiculous and would have been discovered long before now if they existed on the moon), but these are mere molecules of H2O, but the amount of water that exists there was also a surprise. This is, indeed, a big deal because the moon was before now thought to be barren and bone dry. Here are a couple pictures, showing how the water is concentrated on the moon’s higher elevations at the poles:
Time will tell if any other planets, say Mars, contains liquid water (a necessary component for life), but rovers have found ice on the red planet and suspect water may reside below the surface (as it seeps up, it freezes).
This raises an interesting question. Since the discovery of water is so important to finding primordial, or simple, life on other planets (and we clearly have found water on Mars, and now the Moon), if we discovered, say, a single-celled organism or a very simple multi-celled organism on another planet (many scientists now believe that we are quite likely not alone in the cosmos), I ask: what would that do to the accepted Judeo-Christian doctrine that we are the central planet in the known universe and are uniquely created? Would it blow holes in creationism? Would it diminish the accepted axioms of creationism or not? I’m curious to know.
Just like the Earth being round, and not having a firmament overhead (supported by pillars et al.), I am sure apologetics would form to explain the inconsistencies. I think of this analogy: Apologetics are to religion as epicycles are to early astronomy, both of them seem to offer explanations for observed phenomena, but systems break down under critical analysis and reason. [Well, to be fair, the latter system is no longer accepted in astronomy at all. I look forward to the day when the same can be said of fundamentalist religious cultism.]
Gustavo
27 Sep 09 at 10:56 am
Great question. I am as of this moment of the opinion that we won’t find life on other planets but I don’t see any Biblical reason why this is impossible. There is nothing in scripture that precludes that possibility (at least that I have seen).
Joshua Long
27 Sep 09 at 8:57 pm
I agree, Joshua. The Bible doesn’t necessarily make a statement one way or the other about the possibility of life elsewhere, but I’m encumbered by the tale in Genesis, which seems to imply the Earth is the center of all civilization guided by God’s plan and that humans are at the center of that plan.
I think it’s astounding (and I have a hard time comprehending it), that we are close to being able to observe with our telescopes the beginning of the universe itself. In fact, we can view objects in space as they existed millions of years ago. As this NASA article states, even with the naked eye, one can observe that
link
Telescopes go even further, and we might have closer glimpses of the beginning of all things with telescopes. Far-out stuff!
Jeremy
27 Sep 09 at 10:40 pm
Hi Gustavo,
Yeah, I was, at one time, amazed by the “firmament” theory from Genesis in my youth as an explanation of why so many people lived for so long. I suppose that’s a good analogy about epicycles, but reason has less to do with modern astronomy than does observed science and the invention of the telescope. As I told Joshua, we are very close to peering into vast recesses of time. Exciting, indeed.
Jeremy
27 Sep 09 at 10:46 pm