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Stars
And Biblical Creation
The Stars of Heaven Confirm Biblical Creation
by Dr. Jason Lisle
Most universities teach that stars formed from collapsing clouds
of hydrogen gas billions of years ago and that stars continue to form today.
Most people are unaware that there are serious scientific
problems with such notions.
A careful examination of the evidence confirms that stars are
not billions of years old.
The properties of stars do not suggest an evolutionary origin;
rather, they reveal the power and majesty of the Lord.
When we peer into a clear autumn night sky and see thousands of
nuclear furnaces shining like tiny gems suspended in the expanse of heaven, we
should be reminded that the universe is thousands — not billions — of years
old, and was supernaturally created by Almighty God.
As we examine the properties of stars, we will find that they
are what we would expect from Scripture.
Stars Differ in Glory
Let's begin by exploring some of the properties of stars and how
these confirm biblical teachings.
1 Corinthians 15:41 states that one star differs
from another star in glory. Although there are over one hundred billion stars
in our galaxy, each one is unique.
Even to the unaided eye, stars differ one from another in color
and in brightness.
Stars Differ in Color
Stars range in color from red to blue. The color of a star
indicates the surface temperature, spanning from 3,000 to 40,000 Kelvin.1
The coolest stars are red. Hotter stars are orange, then yellow,
white, and finally blue.
Our sun is intermediate, with a surface temperature of around
6,000 Kelvin.2
Stars Differ in Brightness
Stars range in brightness as well as color. The intrinsic
brightness (how bright a star really is) is determined by both the temperature
and size of the star.
Hot blue stars shine brighter than cool red stars of equal size.
Big stars (“supergiants”) shine brighter than little stars (“dwarfs”) of equal
temperature.
This is because large stars have more surface area.
The range of the intrinsic brightness of stars is incredible.
The faint red dwarf star Proxima Centauri shines 20,000 times fainter than the
sun, whereas the blue supergiant Deneb shines 200,000 times brighter!3
The apparent brightness of a star (how bright it looks in our
night sky) depends on both its distance and its intrinsic brightness.
So, the brightest stars we can see are either nearby or very bright
intrinsically. Since over 99% of the stars we see in the night sky are
intrinsically brighter than the sun, you might think that the sun is fainter
than most other stars.4
But this isn't so. The vast majority of stars in the universe
are actually fainter than the sun; in fact forty-seven of the fifty nearest
stars are fainter.5
In our night sky, we see more of the rare, extremely bright
stars simply because they are much easier to see than the faint ones.
Stars Were of Supernatural Origin
The properties of stars also confirm the biblical teaching that
these objects were supernaturally created.
Stars are made almost entirely of hydrogen and helium gas; these
are the two lightest and most common elements.
The combined mass from all this gas gives the star a
gravitational field much stronger than earth's. This gravity prevents the gas
from dispersing into space.
DESPITE CLAIMS TO THE CONTRARY, WE'VE
NEVER SEEN A STAR FORMING.
Secular astronomers believe that stars form spontaneously from
the collapse of a nebula.
A nebula is an enormous “cloud” of extremely low-density
hydrogen and helium gas. If there were a way to compress such gas, then its own
gravity would keep it together — a star would form.
However, such compression would be very difficult to accomplish
because gas has a tendency to expand, not contract.
In fact, if a gas cloud were to begin to be compressed, it would
drastically increase its pressure, magnetic field, and rotation speed.6
All of these factors would strongly resist any further
compression. The compression of a nebula would be stopped long before any star
could form.
Therefore, many creation scientists are convinced that stars
cannot form spontaneously under normal circumstances.
And despite claims to the contrary, we've never seen a star
forming.7
Star formation seems to be nothing more than a secular attempt
to explain the universe without invoking God.
However, the Bible tells us that the stars did not form by
themselves; God supernaturally created them on the fourth day of creation (Genesis 1:14-19).
Stars Are Young
BLUE STARS COULD LAST ONLY A FEW
MILLION YEARS AT MOST; HOWEVER, THEY ARE FOUND IN SPIRAL GALAXIES THOUGHT TO BE
BILLIONS OF YEARS OLD.
Stars also confirm that creation was relatively recent, not
billions of years ago.
Of all the stars, blue stars present the biggest challenge for
those who believe in an old universe.8 They
are the most luminous and massive type of star.
Although they have more fuel available, they expend it much more
quickly than their yellow or red counterparts. For this reason, blue stars
cannot shine very long (by secular time scales).
Astronomers estimate that hot blue stars could last a few
million years at most. Yet blue stars are found throughout the arms of
virtually all spiral galaxies, such as ours, which secular astronomers
postulate to be billions of years old.
The commonness of blue stars verifies that they were
supernaturally created in the recent past.
These hot, luminous stars confirm that the universe is
young—much younger than the 13.7 billion years assumed by the secular models.
The “Missing” Population III Stars
The composition of stars also goes against the predictions of secular
(evolutionary) origins scenarios.
Though the main components of a star are hydrogen and helium,
there are also trace amounts of heavier elements — called metals.
(In astronomy, any element heavier than helium is called a
“metal.”)
Stars like the sun consist of only about 2% metals (the rest
being hydrogen and helium); these stars are called “population I” stars and are
found primarily in the disk of spiral galaxies.
Some stars have even fewer metals, perhaps only one
one-hundredth the amount found in the sun. These are called population II
stars; they can be found in globular clusters and in elliptical galaxies.
According to the secular model, there should be a third class of
stars — population III, which have essentially no metals at all.9
The reason is that the big bang is supposed to have produced
only hydrogen and helium;10 the
heavier elements, like carbon and oxygen, were supposedly produced in the
central core of the first stars and dispersed into space when some of those
stars exploded.
Therefore, the first stars should have no heavy elements at all
at their surface.11
Yet no population III stars have yet been discovered. It's a
perplexing problem for those who hold to the big bang. But it's totally
consistent with biblical creation.
The properties of stars confirm that biblical history is true.
Stars differ in glory, just as the Bible teaches.
Secular models of star formation are riddled with theoretical
difficulties, and we have yet to see a star form spontaneously.
Blue stars cannot last billions of years, yet they are common in
spiral galaxies, confirming that these galaxies are young.
Stars are a heavenly reminder that the universe was
supernaturally created, just as the Bible declares!
Footnotes
1.
This range is about 7,200 to 36,000°F.
2.
This is nearly 11,000°F.
3.
This estimate depends on the exact distance to the star, which
is uncertain.
4.
Based on a random sampling of stars under 6th magnitude from the
Hipparcos Catalogue.
5.
The three exceptions are Alpha Centauri (A), Sirius (A), and
Procyon (A).
6.
Angular momentum is a conserved quantity. So, if the size is
decreased, the angular velocity must increase.
7.
Sometimes astronomers refer to “star-forming regions” very
matter-of-factly. The layman might assume that astronomers are actually seeing
stars form in such regions, but this is not so. Such regions contain hot blue
stars, which astronomers assume have formed from a collapsing cloud in the
recent past.
8.
Specifically, this refers to “main sequence” stars. The main
sequence is a concept in which both a star's surface temperature and luminosity
are determined entirely by its mass. Roughly 90% of stars lie on the main
sequence. Other stars lie “above” (they have higher luminosity than) main
sequence stars by varying degrees.
9.
Other than trace amounts of lithium.
10.
And trace amounts of lithium.
11.
Current techniques (such as spectroscopy) can only determine the
surface composition of a star. The surface composition of population III stars
should be metal-free since models indicate that the surface does not mix with
the core.
Dr.
Jason Lisle
Astrophysicist,
Author, Speaker
Dr.
Lisle graduated summa cum laude from Ohio Wesleyan University where
he double-majored in physics and astronomy, and minored in mathematics. He did
graduate work at the University of Colorado where he earned a Master’s degree
and a PhD in Astrophysics. While there, Dr Lisle used the SOHO spacecraft to
investigate motions on the surface of the sun as well as solar magnetism and subsurface
weather. His thesis was entitled “Probing the Dynamics of Solar
Supergranulation and its Interaction with Magnetism.” Among other things, he
discovered a previously unknown polar alignment of supergranules (solar
convection cells), and discovered evidence of solar giant cells. He has also
authored a number of papers in both secular and creation literature.
Answers
in Genesis
is an apologetics (i.e., Christianity-defending) ministry, dedicated to
enabling Christians to defend their faith and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively.
We focus particularly
on providing answers to questions surrounding the book of Genesis, as it is the
most-attacked book of the Bible. We also desire to train others to develop a
biblical worldview, and seek to expose the bankruptcy of evolutionary ideas,
and its bedfellow, a “millions of years old” earth (and even older universe).
AiG
teaches that “facts” don’t speak for themselves, but must be interpreted. That
is, there aren’t separate sets of “evidences” for evolution and
creation—we all deal with the same evidence (we all live on the same earth,
have the same fossils, observe the same animals, etc.). The difference lies in
how we interpret what we study. The Bible—the “history book of the
universe”—provides a reliable, eye-witness account of the beginning of all
things, and can be trusted to tell the truth in all areas it touches on.
Therefore, we are able to use it to help us make sense of this present world.
When properly understood, the “evidence” confirms the biblical account.
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