All human beings have similar organs, but each organ has qualities unique to itself and to the person it belongs to. Research has revealed that even some of the genes of monozygotic twins are different [1]. As opposed to the previous assumption that “when it comes to DNA, every cell in the body is essentially identical to every other cell,” it has been found that each cell has a DNA of its own [2]. This uniqueness originates from the fact that the order and number of molecules and proteins are different, which is valid for atoms and sub-atom particles as well. Having spent countless hours on microscopes and spectroscopes, a university professor of mine once said, “I witnessed different structures of iron atom each time I observed one. We even need to produce a separate periodic table for the iron element alone.”

We also witness that particles have been created uniquely, just like human beings are. From the micro universe (one millionth of a meter) down to femto universe (one quadrillionth of a meter), each particle is called a boson or fermion. When particles are examined to find out in what conditions they resemble each other in the femto universe, doors of a new world will be opened in terms of knowledge and contemplation. According to this new perspective, while the things and events are sometimes explained through mathematical equations and formulations, they are sometimes explained through experiments of thought trying to attain the truth behind them. Pauli exclusion principle is one such experiment.

Pauli Principle

There are around 380 sub-atomic particles [3]. In atomic and subatomic dimensions, two fermions (e.g. two electrons) of an atom cannot have the same set of quantum numbers. Wolfgang Pauli first explained this principle in 1925 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1945 after experiments proved that the theory was correct. This theory has gone down in history as the Pauli Exclusion Principle.

The motion equations of subatomic particles are expressed by their magnetic states. Pauli said that none of the electrons of an atom can share the same quantum state at the same time. In other words, two electrons in the same atom cannot share the physical features such as magnetism, motion, position and velocity in the same state [2].

In addition to the three quantum numbers (principal, subordinate, and magnetic quantum numbers) described so far, Pauli defined a quantum number for the spin of a fermion (e.g. electron). The spin quantum number is related to the rotation of the electron around its axis because an electron rotates around its own axis as it rotates around the atomic nucleus. According to the Pauli Principle, if an orbit has an electron with a spin of 1/2, an electron with a spin of -1/2 can be placed in the same orbit. If we assume that the spin of an electron rotating clockwise is 1/2 the spin of an electron rotating counterclockwise will be -1/2. Thus, with Pauli’s contribution, four quantum numbers were defined for subatomic particles and it was stated that even if the other three quantum numbers were the same, electrons with different spin quantum numbers could circulate in the same orbit.

The Pauli Principle shows that atoms are not identical. This principle also applies to solid crystals, that is, the materials we use daily. The Principle is also able to explain the fact that the ores that make up the element are different, and the fact that there are different elements in the periodic table. With this principle, important properties of superconductors have been discovered.

In 1927, based on the Pauli Principle, German physicist Karl Werner Heisenberg showed that it is not possible to measure the physical properties of a particle, such as the position and momentum, at the same time and that these results can only be expressed with uncertain probability and statistics [5].

This uniqueness also manifests itself in the space we call the macro world. Stars consisting of only neutrons are called neutron stars. A neutron star is very dense: its mass is 2–3 times that of the Sun, but only about 10 km in diameter. A neutron star should theoretically collapse into a black hole, but this does not happen. The reason for this, it has been discovered, is that neutrons that cannot share the same position prevent collapse and that neutron stars remain in balance [6].

The universe has been created with balance, and everything, from the minutest particles to the stars in the outer space, follows their particular courses to maintain the order.

References

1. scientificamerican.com/article/identical-twins-exhibit-d/
2. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090715131449.htm
3. lbl.gov/2017/listings/contents_listings.html
4. wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Pauli
5. phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/uncer.html
6. phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/pauli.html

“It is He who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon; all (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its orbit with its own motion.”  (Quran 21:33)

Almost everyone – depending on his or her age, experience, and education level – is aware of certain facts about nature. We know that the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west; water boils at 100 centigrade; humans have five basic senses; birds can find their way back after migrating thousands of miles; and many more. Likewise, laws of thermodynamics, laws of motion, universal law of gravitation, and laws of planetary motion are among the many tools scientists use to explain how nature and the universe work. In the same context, whether or not we are conscious of it, there is this ubiquitous fact of “revolving, rotating, and circling” in the universe in relation to science, religion, and culture. From the Milky Way, sun, planets, and moons to human eyes, circling is everywhere in the universe. Also, it’s imprinted everywhere in the natural world. Giving examples from scientific, spiritual, and social life, this article aims to inquire the “revolving, rotating, and circling” phenomenon to see if it has any implications for humanity.

Rotation of planets

Earth is one of the eight planets in our solar system, all of which orbit the sun, a giant burning star. We know from astronomy that the sun can fit more than one million Earths inside it. Throughout human history, stargazers have realized that all these planets move in a systematic way. The planets orbit due to the immense gravitational pull generated by the sun. Even though the rate may change, each planet rotates around the sun and on its own axis, an imaginary line running through the center of every planet. Also, there are more than one hundred terrestrial, gas, and dwarf moons that revolve around the planets. Every planet, except Mercury and Venus has at least one moon. For example, the Earth has only one Moon (Luna) which orbits around Earth every 29 days; on the other hand, Jupiter has at least 67 moons such as Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa in orbit around it. In addition, our solar system is swarming with different types of bodies (e.g. comets, meteors, asteroids, and space dust) that rotate around the sun along with Earth. Furthermore, it is believed that the Sun is one of about 200 billion stars (maybe more) just in our galaxy, the Milky Way. Galaxies move and gravitationally pull each other, and they do so while rotating around a center. That is, nothing is truly at rest. (1)

Orbiting an atom

In the 1920s, scientists of quantum mechanics discovered that an atom acts like a small solar system. While planets circle elliptically around the sun, electrons rotate around the atom’s nucleus in diffuse, cloud-like waves; these are known as orbitals since they tell us only the probability of detecting the electron at various places within the atom (Choe 2004). These orbitals can blend together to constitute a clump-like “wave packet” that includes the electrons and does rotate around the nucleus. It looks like this quantum phenomenon seems to support rotation in the universe. (2)

The circulation of blood

Doubtless, the heart is one of the most vital and fascinating organs in the human body. It incessantly pumps fresh blood with necessary nutrients throughout the body so that we can survive. Even though it is as big as your fist, it works like a powerhouse by expanding and contracting 100,000 times each day, pumping approximately five quarts of blood per minute, around 2,000 gallons every day. While the heart beats, it pumps blood through blood vessels in the circulatory system to every area of the human body, which takes about 20 seconds to circulate all over the vascular system. It is reported that the blood travels approximately 12,000 miles per day – nearly half the distance of the Equator (24,902 miles). Blood circulation is vital and fundamental to human life: it not only transfers fresh oxygen and nutrients to organs, but also carries away waste such as carbon dioxide from the organs, which is necessary to maintain a healthy life. (3, 4)

Five stages in the human life cycle

Similar to the cycle of four seasons (spring, summer, fall, and winter) in a year, the human life cycle has five or six different stages (Birth, infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood). Human life begins as a single tiny cell, not bigger than a mustard seed, in a mother’s womb. After nine months, circa 40 weeks of pregnancy, the mother gives birth to a newborn. During the first year of infancy, the baby is entirely dependent on the parents’ care, but babies develop very quickly to independency. Childhood includes a period from age 4 to 13, when children learn to eat with utensils, dress and undress without assistance, make friends, play with other kids, and other things. Adolescence is the when a child develops into an adult, when teenagers undergo a rapid transformation of their bodies known as puberty. After the age 20, the human body reaches peak fitness and fertility by stopping development and growth. As we age in adulthood, it takes our body a longer time to repair itself and we become less efficient in many skills. (5)

Circling and prayer

It looks like that this one important pillar of Islam reminds us of the spinning motion in the universe, atoms, the circulatory system, and the life cycle. According to Islamic scholars, millions of pilgrims circulating the Holy Ka’ba in Mecca represents the deep reverence in Oneness of Almighty God. It is believed that these seven compulsory circumambulations of the Ka’ba (the most sacred site in Islam) include individual and social meanings like solidarity and maintaining unity. One explanation as to why Muslims circle the Holy Ka’ba seven times, is the Qur’anic verse that describes the sky above as of seven layers:

“The seven heavens and the earth and whatever is in them exalt Him. And there is not a thing except that it exalts [God] by His praise, but you do not understand their [way of] exalting. Indeed, He is ever Forbearing and Forgiving” (Al-Isra17:44).

It is known in Islam that the spiritual part of the human being includes seven different souls known as nafs. Therefore, every circumambulation of the Holy Ka’ba is meant to move from one spiritual level to the next in order to reach and complete the final expectation to turn our self (nafs) from meat and bone into a more delicate, sensitive, and loving form of soul, one even superior to the Angels. This act of circling the House of God, the Holy Ka’ba, shows how man is sincerely, spiritually, and lovingly attached to the divine.

Conclusion

The planets circle the sun, electrons circle the nucleus in an atom, blood circles the human body, pilgrims circumambulate Holy Ka’ba, and seasons and life cycles circle. There are many more examples of circling in the universe. Even though we cannot see all of them with the naked eye, the entire cosmos, ranging from invisible particles to the moons, planets, stars, and galaxies, are in rotation. Remember that all these rotations happen in accordance with the laws that govern the nature. There is no free choice in any of it.

People are members of this infinite universe, and, unlike planets, electrons, flowers, and cells, they can reason and decide, since we are blessed with free will. As Muslims circumambulate the House of God, this pulling motion between the Ka’ba and pilgrims escalates divine love by changing spiritual dimensions in a way similar to moths flying and circling a light source. Without doubt, a visit to the House of God is an obligatory and praised pillar of Islam, but I believe that the Merciful God wants us also to circle many other divine values and social qualities to deserve His love, mercy, and grace. As long as we circumambulate these highly valued vital qualities such as prayer, selflessness, charity, affection, forgiveness, respect, love, truth, compassion, modesty, patience, and all other good qualities, they will pull us closer both to each other and to Almighty God. Ignoring circling these divine and social qualities would be as if Earth left its orbit.

References

• https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/review/dr-marc-space/solar-systems-in-galaxy.html
• “A Tiny Solar System After All,” April 7, 2004. Rev. Focus13, 15. https://physics.aps.org/story/v13/st15
• “Amazing Heart Facts” in Arkansas Heart Hospital. https://www.arheart.com/heart-health/amazing-heart-facts/
• Jody Braverman, “The Human Life Cycle Stages” www.livestrong.com
• “Growing Older,” in Dorling Kindersley, findout!

Our sun is a single star system, but using new technology, scientists are discovering double – and even triple! – star systems

The planets of the sun revolve around a single star, just like the planets in many systems. Revolving around a single star is the general principle, but scientists have recently discovered planets that revolve around two stars, without causing any irregularities. Planets that revolve around two stars are accepted as a new class of planets and according to calculations their numbers in the Milky Way galaxy are estimated to reach at least ten million.

How can this be possible? A planet traveling around two stars enters the gravitational field of each star during its motion, and its velocity and orbit constantly changes.

If stars can shade (eclipse) each other, it is possible for one planet to shade one or two stars. When this event takes place, the planet and stars orbit on the same plane. This intersection on the same orbital plane means that the planet and star have passed in front of each other; we can measure this due to a reduction in the amount of light emitted by the star. If the distance between the two stars is too long, these stars act as if they are isolated from each other. In that moment, the planet that is moving on one of the star’s orbits does not feel the effect of the other star. These are called S-type planets and dozens of them have been discovered in the last decade.

Interesting events take place when stars get close to each other. In such cases, the time required for stars to make a complete revolution around each other is described in days or weeks. The ability of a planet to move in “braided pathways”^[1] that will allow a stable orbit around two stars that are so close to each other cannot be a coincidental event without fine adjustments.

S-type systems are only one type of double-star systems. In P-type systems, the planet revolves around the two stars simultaneously. For this type of planet to travel in a stable orbit, the orbital distance from the stars must be longer than a critical distance. If it is closer than this critical distance, the planet’s orbit becomes progressively unstable, and it is either pulled towards one of the two stars and collides, or gets thrown into outer space. This critical distance is 2/3 of the star’s magnitude.

In a system of a single star and planet, the transit of the planet occurs as if the light makes a periodic movement, such as when a light house rotates around itself. These passes allow us to detect stars. Double-star planet systems are another example of this. It is not easy to estimate the movement of an object consisting of three elements. In a single-star system, the star’s movements are stable; thus, it is easy to estimate the movement of a planet. Yet in a double-star system, the distance between the two stars is much shorter than their distances to the planet; for this reason, these stars revolve at a higher speed around each other than the planet revolves around them. This means that the planet’s rotation is difficult to predict.

As a result, the planetary movement of a double-star system will not be periodical; different than that of a single-star system, the time of transit passes will vary according to the relative motion of the planet to the star. If the planet and the star it revolves around are moving in the same direction, the transit pass time will be longer; but if the star is located at the other half portion of the orbit and traveling in the opposite direction, the transit passing time will be much shorter.

The Kepler spacecraft and telescope that NASA launched in March 2009 is designed for detecting planets that cause reductions in the light of stars when they are passing in front of them. Today, more than two thousand twin star systems that display eclipses have been discovered. Two planets that revolve around stars eclipsing each other every 7.5 days were discovered and called the Kepler-47 system. Along with these double star systems, a triple-star system has been discovered through the Kepler telescope; the properties of this system are extraordinary.

Among these, planet Kepler-47b of the inner region completes its voyage around its stars in less than 50 days. In addition, this planet, which is not visible directly, is predicted to be a very hot planet. Since a foggy layer inhibiting its visualization is found to have formed as the result of methane gas combusting in its hot atmosphere. Kepler-47b, which is three times bigger than the Earth’s radius, is the smallest planet among those that have been discovered in two-star systems.

The planet Kepler-47c of the outer region completes its one full tour around its twin stars in 303 days and it moves in a region that is described as the habitable zone in the Milky Way galaxy. There can be liquid water present on the surface of a planet in the habitable zone. However, just being in this zone does not totally mean that the place is suitable for life. Kepler-47c is predicted to be slightly bigger than Neptune and to have an atmosphere composed of thin and bright water-vapor cloud.

Reference

William F. Welsh, Laurance R. Doyle, “Worlds with Two Suns,” Scientific American, October 2013, pp. 40-47.

S- And P- type planets traveling around two stars

Kepler-47c exists in the habitable zone and liquid water is predicted to be present on its surface.

A representative image of the Kepler 16a/b based on acquired data.

^[1] The Qur’anic verse “By the heaven full of braided pathways, surely you are in contradicting views”(Adh-Dhariyat, 51:7-8) sounds like pointing to this phenomenon.

a

It is possible to ask many more such questions. Astronomer Neil F. Comins, from Maine University, explained in his book, What If the Moon Didn’t Exist, the scenarios humankind would have faced if the Moon hadn’t existed. According to Comins, one of the millions of reasons why Earth is the only planet (known to us) to have life is the delicate balance between the Earth and the Moon. No occurrence in the universe is a coincidence, thus the Moon has been created as a balance factor. This balance is so sensitive that it is possible to say that there would be no life on Earth if it weren’t for the Moon.

The Moon, a sphere that has no atmosphere, and has a surface covered with craters, dust and rocks, is the Earth’s only satellite. The radius of the Moon is about one fourth of that of the Earth’s, its volume is about 1/50 of the Earth’s, and its mass is about 1/81 of the Earth’s. The Moon is around 240,000 miles from the Earth’s center and it takes 29.5 days to complete its orbit around the Earth. Even though we do not know for sure how the Moon came into being, the currently accepted theory asserts that a planet about 10 times lighter than the Earth, which astronomers call “Thiea,” crashed into Earth and a part of that planet broke apart and fell into space. This part (having lost its shape and most of its mass) crashed into Earth again after orbiting the Earth. In this second crash, the metal center of “Theia” fused into the center of the Earth while the outer shell’s light rocks scattered into space. In time, these little rocks fused to form the Moon. At first, the Moon orbited the Earth with a distance of only 14,000 miles, but in time this distance increased into an average of 240,000 miles.

The Moon’s largest effect on Earth is the tide. According to the law of universal gravitation, any two objects in the universe pull each other, and the force of this pull is in direct proportion to the objects’ masses and in inverse proportion to the square of the distance between the objects. The gravitational pull between the Earth and the Moon causes the seas and the oceans on Earth to either rise or subside. This effect is called the tide, which changes between high tide and low tide according to the Moon’s position. One third of all tide effects on Earth are caused by the Sun’s pull and the rest is caused by the Moon’s.

The Moon gets 1.57 inches farther from the Earth every year due to the tide. It is known that the time taken for the Earth to turn around its axis completely (1 day) increases by 0.02 milliseconds every year so that this distancing effect can be countered and the angular momentum of the Earth and the Moon can be sustained. It is also known that the time taken for the Earth to turn around its axis was 8 hours when the Moon was first created, and that it increased to 24 hours since then. If the Moon had not been created, there wouldn’t have been any tide and because of that, one day would still be 8 hours. That would mean that the Earth would be spinning around its axis about 3 times faster than its current speed. A greater spinning speed of a planet might mean stronger winds on its surface. For example, Jupiter and Saturn spin around their axes very fast and have about ten hours in a day. This causes winds with speeds up to 300 miles/hour at the east-west direction on their surfaces. The dust storms that occur in the atmospheres of these planets are caused by these winds and can be seen from the Earth with a telescope.

Without the Moon, the Earth would have spun faster, causing a faster heat exchange among the air, seas and land. This, in turn, would have caused hurricanes in the east-west direction on the face of the Earth with speeds up to 100 miles/hour. Such conditions would have been very inconvenient to all complex life forms including human beings. Even simple tasks like speaking or listening could have been very difficult or even impossible. Since a day would have been eight hours, this would have caused a mismatch between the biological clock of living things – including human beings – and the flow of the day, resulting in biological complications. Without the Moon, the high tide would have been very weak, again causing a very inconvenient environment for sea creatures.

The Moon also has a role in keeping the Earth’s axis at a 23.5 angle. It is known that the seasons result from this and allows the right amount of sunlight to the equator and the poles, creating a climate appropriate for life. Another known effect of the Moon on the Earth is that it reflects the Sun’s light and heats up the Earth by 32.36°F (0.2°C). The Moon also serves as a shield against space rocks, and if it had not been for the Moon many more rocks and meteors would have hit the Earth.

Most of the cosmic rays that come from space are neutralized by the Earth’s magnetic field. Few of these rays reach the Earth and causes chemical reactions. Without the Moon, the core of the Earth would have spun faster along with the Earth itself. With the core of the Earth spinning faster, the magnetic field would have been much stronger. This would have caused huge changes in the atmosphere. Besides, some bacteria and animals that use the magnetic field to find their way (such as sea turtles, salmon, eels, pigeons, and migratory birds) would have been negatively affected. Consequently, many ecosystems, as we know them today, would have been different.

Another significant service of the Moon to our lives is that, like the Sun, it has been used as a calendar throughout human history. Muslims today observe their Ramadan fast according to their hijri calendar which is based on lunar measurement of time.

The Moon is the largest satellite that we know, in proportion to the size of the planet it is attracted by (the Moon’s mass measures 1.23 % of the Earth’s mass). The size of the Moon plays a critical role in the sensitive balance of our ecosystem. When the relationship between the Earth and the Moon is examined carefully, one could easily conclude that the Moon has been created specially for the life on Earth by the One Who “has made the heavens high and set up the balance” with a gentle measure, a great cause and benefit, and was given to the service of humankind.

Notes

1. Neil Comins. What If the Moon Didn’t Exist? Voyages to Earths That Might Have Been, New York: HarperCollins, 1993.
2. “The Sun and the Moon are by an exact calculation” (Quran 55:5).
3. Marcus Chown. “The Planet That Stalked the Earth,” New Scientist, August 14, 2004, pp. 27–30.
4. Paul D. Spudis. “Moon,” World Book Online Reference Center, NASA, 2004.
5. Tony Phillips, “What Neil & Buzz Left on the Moon,” Science, NASA 2004.
6. Richard Ray, “Ocean Tides and the Earth’s Rotation,” IERS, 2001.
7. Comins 1993.
8. Paul J. Henney, www.astronomytoday.com
9. John Gribbin, “A Mysterious Monthly Temperature Cycle,” New Scientist, pp. 18, January 28, 1995.
10. “We have obscured the sign of the night, and We have made the sign of the day illuminating to see, that you may seek bounty from your Lord and that you may know the computation of (time) the years and reckoning…” (Isra 17:12). This verse has been interpreted as to refer to the moon and the sun. “… He has made the night for repose, and the sun and the moon a means for reckoning (the divisions of time)…” (An’am 6:96) also refers to this fact. See Ali Unal, The Qur’an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English, Tughra Books, 2008, p. 294, 570–71.
11. Quran 55:7.

For a long time astronomers have talked about the nine planets orbiting the Sun. These nine heavenly bodies have always been more special than other objects orbiting the Sun, such as asteroids and comets. The nine planets are larger than others; you can see some of them in the sky even with the naked eye if you know where to look. In September 2003, astronomer Mike Brown of Caltech and his colleagues announced the discovery of a new object in the sky, then named 2003 UB313 Eris, which is 27% larger than Pluto. This made astronomers reconsider the definition of a planet, thereby making Pluto and Eris two of the new category of objects orbiting the Sun dubbed “dwarf planets.”

While astronomers are engaged in the debate on planet definitions, astrophysicists still have not agreed about how planets were created. In fact, the journal Science recently put the birth of planets on the list of the top 125 questions scientists will tackle in the next quarter century.1 The comment ended with: “Planetary systems around other stars should provide clues.”

The reason scientists are interested in extrasolar planets- planets orbiting other stars, or exoplanets in short- is not limited to their curiosity about how planets were created. The second major motive for exoplanet research is the attempt to detect another “habitable” planet. NASA’s Origins Program,2 for example, is attempting to answer the question, “Are there worlds like the Earth around nearby stars? If so, are they habitable, and is life as we know it present there?” This is one of the major questions the new field of astrobiology is striving to answer.

In this article, we give an overview of planets and exoplanets with an emphasis on the critical conditions for life on a planet.

Planets and Exoplanets

The International Astronomical Union’s 2006 definition of a planet states that a planet is a celestial body that (1) is in orbit around a star, (2) has sufficient mass so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round shape) but is not itself a star, and (3) has “cleared the neighborhood” around its orbit.

According to this definition, Pluto is indeed not a planet as its “moon” Charon is half the size of Pluto, whereas the moons of all other planets are much smaller than their respective parent planets. In addition, Pluto’s orbit is not as “clean” as the orbits of other planets.

Having introduced the new planet definition, we want to emphasize the first and foremost condition: a planet has to be in orbit around a star-not around the Sun. According to NASA Jet Propulsion Lab’s PlanetQuest website, as of August 2007, about 250 exoplanets in 99 planetary systems have been discovered. (The site exoplanets.org gives 228 planets around nearby stars.)

Discovery of solar planets is not too challenging: you take a clear picture of the same portion of the sky periodically, and compare the successive pictures. If you see an object that changes its position, then you can be sure that it is an object orbiting the Sun. Because stars are very far away compared to bodies orbiting the Sun, they seem stationary relative to us.

To give a sense of how far the stars are from us, think of the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, which is 4.3 light years away. One light year is the distance light travels in one year, which is 5.88 million million miles. If you fly a supersonic jet-a jet that can break the sound barrier (765 mph), such as the SR-713 or the MiG-25R, which can reach three times the speed of sound in the air-you would have to fly for about 1 million years nonstop to arrive at the nearest star. The most distant planet, Uranus, is about 0.002 million million miles away from the Sun, which is more than 12,000 times closer than Proxima Centauri-your trip to Uranus with a supersonic jet will take only about 80 years.

Exoplanets are as far away as stars. Therefore, it is impossible to detect them using the simple picture-the-sky method utilized for the solar planets. Every star with planets in its orbit is affected by the mass of the planets. This causes the star to sway back and forth. With extremely sensitive instruments measuring the Doppler shift in the frequency of light received from the star, the effect of the planet on the star can be detected.4 Another method is called astrometry: precise measurement of the positions of the stars relative to very distant stars, which appear stationary because they are far away. Small movements of the star because of the presence of planets can be detected.5

Direct optical detection of exoplanets is extremely hard, as they do not give off their own light. In the presence of the bright star, the planet becomes totally invisible. There are a few solutions. In the transit method, a planet blocks some of the star’s light as it transits past the star.6 Sensitive instruments can detect such small dips in the brightness of the stars. Also, interferometric detection7 can be used to detect the extremely weak light from the planet. Another optical detection method is called the “choronograph,” which is used to physically block the glare of the parent star, exposing the planet.

How are planets created?

The motion of a planet around the Sun can be described using two conservation laws-conservation of energy and conservation of angular momentum. Based on the understanding of orbital mechanics and the well-known laws of motion (first published in their entirety by Newton), it has become routine to place satellites in orbit around different planets to conduct various studies. Although science has been quite successful in describing planetary motion, we still do not know how planets were created. The conservation laws mentioned above do not determine the number, orbits, rotation directions, sizes, or type-rocky or gas giant-of planets. Initial conditions play a significant role; initial mass distribution around the star, the size of the particles orbiting the star during the early stages of the star’s life, and the initial orbits of these particles-when considered with the laws of motion, conservation laws, and the law of gravitational attraction-result in different planet-creation scenarios.

There are currently two main theories of planet creation, the gravitational instability and core accretion theories. In the gravitational instability theory, planets form during a rapid collapse of a dense cloud. In the core accretion theory, planets start as small rock-ice cores that grow as they gravitationally acquire additional mass.8 By detecting planets recently created around different stars, scientists hope to test these theories.

Search for life on exoplanets

Diverse life forms on the Earth are taken for granted. The average individual does not think much about the inner workings of life and the conditions that make life possible on the Earth.

Earth is a rocky planet that contains heavier elements, such as silicon, iron, and so on. We know that heavier elements were created during the supernova explosions,9 which comprised a few generations of stars, and therefore more than a few billion years. In a galaxy that is very young, one does not expect there will have been enough supernova explosions to produce heavy elements.

In an old galaxy, however, one does not expect to see radioactive elements. Thus, the planets that form in an old galaxy might be as dead as the moon because there will not be enough radioactive fuel. The Milky Way, our galaxy, is neither very young nor very old. Note that ages of galaxies and stars are in the order of billions of years-our sun is estimated to have been created about 4.6 billion years ago, and it is a middle–aged star.

In the Milky Way, our sun is placed at just the right spot, about halfway from the center.10 At the core of our galaxy, the density of stars is so high that they collide with each other. At the outer extremities, at the rim of the galaxy, the star density is too low to generate the heavier elements that make up planets as very few supernova explosions are expected.11

The orbits of all planets are elliptical, but very close to being circles. This is very significant for a planet if life is to prosper. Eccentricity is a measure of the elliptical shape of an orbit. A perfect circular orbit has an eccentricity of 0 (zero), and as the eccentricity comes closer to 1, the orbit becomes like a sausage. The earth’s orbit around the sun has an eccentricity of 0.067, very close to a perfect circle. If the eccentricity were to become 0.3, the average global temperature would become 73 F (23 C), compared with 58 F (14.5 C) on the Earth now, and, “some parts of the African, South American and Australian interiors heat up to 140 F (60 C)” when the Earth passes closest to the Sun,” according to Darren Williams and his colleagues of Pennsylvania State University.12 On an orbit with eccentricity of 0.4, the average temperature would increase to 86 F (30 C). Given the current scientific opinion on global warming and how catastrophic conditions could become because of a few degrees increase due to increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, you can imagine how unbearable the Earth would become for many complex life forms. Therefore, for a planet to bear life on its surface, its orbit must be at an optimum range of distances from the parent star, which is dubbed the “habitable zone.”

All planetary orbits around the Sun-not only that of the Earth-are nearly circular, and they do not cross each other’s orbits. If there were a number of planets with highly eccentric orbits around the Sun, some of them would cross the Earth’s orbit increasing the probability of a collision.

Obviously, a planet with life as we know it on Earth would need to be a rocky planet. In the solar system only four planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) are rocky planets; the other four (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) are gas giants.

The existence of gas giants, Jupiter being the largest of all, appears to be very important, too. Meteorite collision is a likely Doomsday scenario for the inhabitants of the Earth. In fact, meteorite collisions are cited as the main cause of the extinction of many species from the face of Earth in its several billion-year history.13 Jupiter is about 5au away from the Sun-1au is the mean Earth–Sun distance, nearly 150 million km-and as the most massive planet it plays a critical role in protecting the Earth from meteorites and comets.

In addition to all these astronomical conditions, the Earth has a magnetic belt that protects it from charged particles ejected from the Sun and other bodies. The Earth has an atmosphere,14 and the presence of water is absolutely critical for life.15

Of the almost three hundred exoplanets so far identified, most of them are gas giants as massive as Jupiter-more than 300 Earth masses. Therefore, scientists do not expect a glimpse of life on them. Recently, Christophe Lovis of the University of Geneva and his colleagues reported three low-mass planets orbiting the nearby star HD 69830, described as “hot-Neptunes” or “super-Earths”, as their masses are from 5–20 times the mass of the Earth. Scientists predict that two of these planets may be rocky planets based on theoretical calculations.16 For more conclusive results, however, telescopes with much higher resolutions are needed. Such telescopes are expected to be operational within a decade.

In conclusion, research interest in exoplanets originates from questions about the mechanism of planet creation, and the attempt to find planets where life can exist as we experience it on our blue planet. We do not know whether we will be able locate other worlds similar to the Earth with their own inhabitants. One thing we know, however, is that life is only possible through a great many critical conditions acting together in stars and planets as well as in cells and molecules. Life is very special indeed. Although the existence of other planetary systems suggests that our solar system is not as unique as once thought, with its “blue” planet -a planet that can support biological life-it still seems absolutely unique. Many scientists think, however, that with better tools and methods it is only a matter of time before we locate an Earth-like exoplanet. Time will prove or disprove their predictions.

Dr. Ertan Salik is an Assistant Prof. of Physics at California State Polytechnic Univ, Pomona. As well as teaching and conducting physics research Dr. Salik is currently involved in many education programs.

Notes

1. Science, Vol. 309, No. 5731, pp. 1–204 (2005).

2. NASA Origins program: http://origins.jpl.nasa.gov and http://origins.stsci.edu/

3. http://www.sr-71.org/ Accessed 2008-07-26.

4. Struve, Otto. “Proposal for a project of high-precision stellar radial velocity work”, The Observatory 72 (1952): 199–200, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doppler_spectroscopy Accessed 2008-07-26.

5. http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/extrasolar_planets/extrasolar/astrometry.html Accessed 2008-07-26.

6. Charbonneau, D.; T. Brown; A. Burrows; G. Laughlin (2006). “When Extraslar Planets Transit Their Parent Stars”. Protostars and Planets V, University of Arizona Press.

7. Exoplanet detection using a nulling interferometer, Manuel P. Cagigal and Vidal F. Canales, Optics Express, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2 July 2001.

8. http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/news/giantRockyCore.cfm Accessed 2008-07-26.

9. Gedik, Nuh. “Supernova Explosions and a Miracle of The Qur’an,” The Fountain, April-June 2006.

10. Weed, William Speed. “Circles of Life,” Discovery, November 2002.

11. See Charbonneau 2006.

12. Weed, 2002.

13. Gonullu, Omer Said. “The Message of Meteorites,” The Fountain, January–March 2005.

14. Cakmak, Osman. “A Journey in the Atmosphere,” The Fountain, January–March 2002.

15. Gedik, Nuh. “The Miracles of Water,” The Fountain, January–March 2005.

16. Lovis, Christophe et al. Nature, 441, 305–309 (18 May 2006).

It is We Who have built the universe with (Our creative) power, and, verily, it is We Who are steadily expanding it. (Qur’an 51:47)

In astronomical terms, this is a very short distance. It is estimated that within our own solar system the distance between the Sun and Pluto, the ninth and usually farthest planet from the Sun, is about 4.6 billion miles (7.4 billion kilometers) at aphelion (the point of the orbit that is farthest from the sun). It may be hard to believe that the Sun, Pluto, and all the intra-planetary bodies were once one giant mass. But this is what the Solar Nebular theory, the most popular account for the creation of solar systems, postulates.

The Solar Nebular Theory & the Holy Qur’an

According to the Solar Nebular theory, the emergence of a solar system begins with cosmic gas. A large cloud of gas and dust (a nebula) – believed to have initially come into existence through a slow process of conglomeration – slowly starts to lose peripheral matter as it slowly rotates. This collapse, as the theory goes, happens gradually as the force of gravity pulls the nebular matter inward (toward its center of gravity), overpowering the force of expansion due to gas pressure.

As the cloud collapses, it starts to spin faster in conformance with the Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum. The combination of the increased spin and the attraction of gravity cause the nebula to flatten into a spinning pancake-like structure with a bulge at the center. Slowly, the heavier regions within this evolving structure begin to contract gravitationally and condense. Eventually, the sun forms the center and planets form around it, rotating in the same direction and along the same plan (with exceptions, for example, in our solar system, Venus, Mercury, and Pluto spin “backward” – perhaps due to collisions during the formation stage). The centripetal force, a corollary to gravitational force, prevents the planets from drifting out of orbit. It is a very delicate balance.2

It is reported that Kant and Laplace presented the Solar Nebular hypothesis in the eighteenth century³Yet, this hypothesis that consists firstly of the coalescing of planetesimals* to form the solar nebular cloud, and then the differentiating of this cloud into planets, appears to have been referred to in the Qur’an since the seventh century. For example, in 71:14, God may be alluding to the phased nature of the birth of the Solar System. Verses 15 and 16 are further quoted to give the context of this Qur’anic revelation, i.e. the creation of the Solar System:

Seeing that it is He that has created you in diverse stages? See you not how Allah has created the seven heavens one above another? And made the moon a light in their midst, and made the sun as a (Glorious) Lamp? (71:14-16)

In 41:11 there is a verse about stage one – the formation of the nebular cloud; and, in 21:30 about stage two – the cleavage of the nebular cloud into our solar system:

Then He comprehended in His design the sky, and it had been (as) smoke: He said to it and to the earth:

“Come you together, willingly or unwillingly.” They said: “We do come (together), in willing obedience.” (41:11)

Have the unbelievers not beheld that the heavens and the earth were a solid mass, then We separated them . . . (21:30)

The Arabic word sama (plural samawat) is routinely translated as meaning “heaven” (also sometimes as firmament) in the mainstream translations of the Qur’an. However, in our context here, sky would be a more accurate term. [The Qur’an refers to Heaven itself (the place where good deeds will be rewarded) as either Janna or Firdaws, but never as sama.]

On several occasions, the Qur’an refers to seven skies (seven heavens) being stacked one above the other (as if in levels), for example, in 71:15, as quoted above. There is no consensus among Muslim scholars as to where these seven heavens lie. But if we look at our solar system we find that it consists of an average sized star that we call the Sun and nine planets orbiting the Sun. These planets in outreaching order are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. “Above” the Earth, therefore, there are six planets and seven interplanetary skies; there are also seven orbits, beginning with the Earth’s orbit, up to Pluto’s orbit.

In my opinion, however, the seven skies oft-noted in the Qur’an refer to these seven interplanetary “skies,” and not to the orbits. The Qur’an is rather explicit when reference is made to celestial orbits, and the Arabic word falak (aptly translated as orbit) is then used:

It is not permitted to the Sun to catch up the Moon, nor can the Night outstrip the Day: Each (just) floats along in (its own) orbit (according to Law). (36:40)

The fact that the sun “swims” in its own orbit – at the formidable speed of about 140 miles per second (225 km per second) – was finally realized in the 1910s when the American astronomer Harlow Shapley characterized our existence in the universe⁴Humanity was in for an “astronomical” surprise.

Our sun, it turned out, is but one of over 100 billion stars that make up our galaxy (the Milky Way) and that rotate around the galactic center (the center of our galaxy) in a near circular orbit. Most of these stars are closer to the galactic center than our sun. The distance from the center of our galaxy to the Sun is about 26,000 light-years (a light-year is about 6 trillion miles or 9.5 trillion kilometers and it is the distance that light travels in a year). The Milky Way itself measures about 100,000 light-years across.5 

It is not permitted to the Sun to catch up the Moon, nor can the Night outstrip the Day: Each (just) floats along in (its own) orbit (according to Law). (Qur’an 36:40)

This discovery closed the chapter on the heliocentric (sun-centered) model of the universe as popularized by Nicolai Copernicus in the sixteenth century and which held sway until well into the twentieth century. We live in an average-size solar system in a universe that is comprised of a potentially infinite number of galaxies.

My point is that most of the cosmological revelations in the Qur’an pertain to the creation of our solar system. Conventionally, 21:30, for example, is often ascribed to the Big Bang theory for the creation of the universe. It seems to me that these verses may be interpreted as referring to the creation of our solar system. Yet, all cognitively defensible interpretations of the holy text are equally valid. This is a component of the miraculous nature of the Qur’an – its fixed text but flexible interpretation. And, I would argue, the same can be said for the Bible.

Relativity

So, in this spirit, let us resume our celestial reflections. Could it be that the six-day creation account found in both the Bible and the Qur’an starts here (i.e., six days for the formation of the Solar System or even our galaxy and not necessarily for the creation of the whole universe)? Which begs the question, are these days necessarily days as we know them? Is it explicitly stated in either of the holy books that a day is necessarily made up of twenty-four hours? The answer is no. Let us review two key verses from each book. Cross-referencing between the two holy books is not unwarranted. Muslims believe that it is the same God who revealed both books.

He Who created the heavens and the earth and all that is between, in six days, and is firmly established on the Throne (of Authority) . . . (Qur’an 25:59)

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Bible, KJV Genesis 1:1)

Reference is made to the creation of “the earth.” There is no compelling reason to assume that the six-day narrative pertains to the creation of the whole universe. Reference may be to the creation of the Solar System or just the Galaxy. Second, there is no particular reason to theorize that the six days are days as we know them now.

Let us ask a simple question here, what is a day? It is the time it takes the Earth to revolve around its axis (24 hours). Given that the Milky Way is a gigantic spiral disk with a bright, central bulge, what would be a day for our galaxy? The time for it to revolve around its axis (galactic center) is estimated to be 225 million years.6

It is estimated that up until now the Sun has completed 20 revolutions around the galactic center – that is a time span of 4.5 billion years (the estimated age of our planet); or, if we look at it in another way, 20 days. Six days in this sense, therefore, is equivalent to 1.35 billion years. We must also wonder whether the time it takes the Earth to revolve around its axis has been twenty-four hours since “day one.” Ultimately, time is a relative measurement.

Einstein’s 1905 theory of time and space, Special Relativity, proposed that distance and time are not absolute. The ticking rate of a clock and the length of a “yardstick” depend on the motion of the observer. The closer you approach the speed of light – about 186,000 miles per second or 300,000 kilometers per second – the slower your watch seems to be ticking relative to others. Another way to put it is, the faster you travel through space, the slower you travel through time. Imagine a vehicle capable of such maneuvering – this is, in effect, a time machine.7

It may not be very helpful to think about this too much, but if you have seen Paramount Pictures’ 2002 sci-fi movie Clockstoppers, imagine: you, moving at a speed approaching the speed of light, would see everyone else as if they were the ones functioning in “hypertime.” This notion of a “hasty” human attitude is reiterated in the Qur’an; and, the whole idea of time relativity is also suggested several times in the Qur’an. Two examples follow. When looked at in the light of Relativity, these verses make perfect sense and are quite revealing:

Yet they ask you to hasten on the Punishment! But God will not fail in His Promise. Verily a Day in the sight of your Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning. (22:47)

The angels and the spirit ascend unto him in a Day the measure whereof is (as) fifty thousand years. (70:4)

Further, Relativity posits time and space as being one insolvable unit called space-time, as the fabric of the universe, as it were. As such, time and space as we know them only started from the moment the universe was conceived… with a “big bang.”

The Big Bang Theory

The Big Bang theory (BBT) is the most popular scientific theory on the origin of the universe. Its most popular version, the -inflationary universe,- presented by Alan H. Guth in 1980, postulates that the universe was created some fifteen billion years ago in an escalatory manner from a cosmic explosion of a -Primary Nebula- (singularity) – that is, an infinitely condensed matter – that cast matter in all directions. The theory holds for an initial expansion rate faster than the speed of light⁸Guth”s inflationary notion came into being in order to account for the fact that if the initial explosion was linear, as held the traditional version of the theory, first theorized by George Lemaitre in 1927, it would not explain the differential interstellar and intergalactic distances. The distances are such that some celestial regions could never have been in proximity at any point in time if the expansion had always simply proceeded at the speed of light⁹The big bang could not have happened at a particular place in the universe, because before it happened, as the theory goes, there was no universe. Rather, there was nothing, except for the singularity which started it all. Quantum mechanics tries to explain how, before spacetime, subatomic particles in this singularity interacted to produce an unfathomable amount of energy which was the initial spark of creation. It is believed that every particle has its anti-particle (as every matter has its anti-matter) that is a complete opposite (for example, in charge, spin, etc.). When these two antagonists meet, they annihilate each other in a tremendous burst of energy that would humble a nuclear explosion. Einstein”s famous relativity equation E=mc2 (where E denotes Energy, M mass and C the speed of light) suggests that energy and matter are interchangeable. Thus, matter was created from this primary explosion which kicked off a rapid expansion of space, and (we think) space has been expanding ever since. In the early 1920s, Edwin Hubble observed that galaxies were moving away from each other at a rate proportional to the distance between them. As galaxies moved away from us, the light they emitted was red-shifted. That is, light waves shifted to longer wavelengths (a phenomenon known as the Doppler Effect). The faster the object moved, the greater the shift. From these observations, Hubble formulated the Hubble”s Law, which helped cosmologists determine the age of the universe, and proved that the universe was expanding¹⁰The Qur’an explicitly foretold this fact: It is We Who have built the universe with (Our creative) power, and, verily, it is We Who are steadily expanding it. (51:47)¹¹The BBT also predicted the existence of residual cosmic background radiation (the glow leftover from the explosion itself). This radiation was discovered in 1964 by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, who later won the Nobel Prize for their discovery.12

Omega & the Universe

If the universe is expanding, then it inevitably emerged from an ever-smaller mass. Go back long enough (to time zero) and you have the singularity that exploded with a -big bang,- By the same token, Einstein”s 1915 theory of General Relativity offers the antithesis scenario for the BBT. If the gravitational force pulling the matter of a massive star inward exceeds that of its gas pressure, it will collapse onto itself creating a -black hole.- Does a similar -black- fate await the universe? In Stephen Hawking’s Universe documentary, Hawking contends that the concept can be extrapolated to the whole universe. If the universe has too much matter, it will eventually collapse onto itself under the influence of its own gravitational force. This bleak scenario is called the Big Crunch. By contrast, if the universe has too little matter, it will continue to expand indefinitely stretching ever thinner and colder. This bleak scenario is called the Big Chill. If the amount of matter present (i.e. the average density of our universe) is equal to a certain hypothetical value, the -critical density,- a state of perfect balance occurs, leading eventually (albeit hypothetically) to a static universe. The ratio of the average density to the critical density is known as Omega. In a state of perfect balance, corresponding to a flat geometry of the spacetime -fabric of the universe,- Omega equals one¹³Now imagine if in the instance following the big bang, Omega was anything but one. The universe would have either quickly collapsed onto itself (Omega >1), or quickly headed to a big chill (Omega <1). This predicament is known as the Flatness Problem. Guth”s inflationary notion again comes to the rescue. It posits that the initial rapid expansion caused spacetime to flatten, forcing Omega toward one, regardless of what its initial value actually was. In other words, even if the pre-inflation spacetime was curved like a sphere (Omega>1) or hyperbolic like a saddle (Omega<1), the initial expansion thrust forced it into flatness (zero curvature). As it stands, we can only detect too little matter in the universe and our best estimates of Omega lie well below one. We have observed that not only is the universe expanding, it is doing so at increasing rates. Is the universal matter being slowly transformed into energy, thus driving us faster toward the Big Chill? To counter this bleak scenario and in their quest for idealism (Omega equals one), scientists are on the look out for some undetectable -dark matter- that would tip the scales. In the final analysis, it is generally believed that the universe is infinite in time and space and is destined to expand forever. But things get murky when we talk about forever. How long is forever? We can conceptualize what eternity means, even though we cannot comprehend it. Can we say the same of God?

The Convergence of Philosophy, Religion & Science

With this debate of an expanding universe comes the open/closed universe debate, with all its philosophical and scientific controversies. The consensus among scientists is that this is an open universe, expanding and not limited in space. This means that astrophysicists cannot apply the laws of thermodynamics to help decipher the mysteries of the universe, as these only apply to closed systems. Of special interest is the Second Law of Thermodynamics (Law of Increased Entropy), which states: -Energy spontaneously tends to flow only from being concentrated in one place to becoming diffused or dispersed and spread out.-¹⁴Thus, had the universe been closed, the Primary Nebula could not have formed or existed in the first place, unless -someone- had introduced it into the system. Moreover, the mathematical precision that governs the universe certainly defies the Law of Increased Entropy. To admit creation, one has to first admit the existence of a moment when the universe did not exist. Both science (especially the BBT) and religion agree on this point. Science says energy can neither be created nor destroyed (Principle of Conservation of Energy), or simply put, nothing comes from nothing. So, there must have been a master source of energy and matter that started it all: where did the primary nebula come from? I employed the investigation philosophy employed by the fictitious detective character Sherlock Holmes while reflecting on this celestial quandary: when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. I came up with the following argument that vindicates the existence of God: If there is nothing in the universe, then the existence of God is not required. But there is something. And since nothing comes from nothing, there was an original very first something. This very first something is the originator of everything else; and it is a unity. It must be the most supreme something to ever exist because it needs nothing else to originate. And since it was there first, before everything else, before time itself, and its existence is independent of anything else, it will therefore be there after everything else. And since nothing can overwhelm it, it is omnipotent. And since it exists in no defined locality, it is omnipresent. This most supreme something is God, the originator and creator of everything else.

Conclusion

Whether you choose to believe cosmological theories, no matter how skeptical you are, you must concede that there was an originator for everything. The precision and order (and can we dismiss the mesmerizing wonder of the cosmos?) that govern our solar system and sustain the universe is indicative of an omnipotent guardian. In fact, the very laws of physics are clarion proof of order, not randomness. Order needs a maintainer. God gave us ample revelations; His holy books are too accurate to be dismissed as coincidental. Above all, He gave us intelligence, curiosity and the power to reason. The inquisitive mind of the human and our insatiable appetite for knowledge promise magnificent scientific breakthroughs to unimagined realms and dimensions. We have come a long way since the last opposition. But we are still crawling, attempting to decipher the complex and exquisite codes of the universe and life.

Footnotes

1. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/allabout/nightsky/nightsky03.html
2. http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/solarsys/ nebular.html
3. http://home.earthlink.net/~meteordust/wsn3F06.html
4. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/hawking/programs/html/prog-content_1-4.html
5. http://www.seds.org/messier/more/mw.html
6. http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2001/AngelaChan.shtml
7. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/einstein/relativity/ index.html
8. http://superstringtheory.com/cosmo/cosmo41.html
9. http://islamonline.net/English/Science/2002/10/ article11.shtml
10. http://www.edwinhubble.com/hubble_bio_001.htm
11. http://www.creationofuniverse.com/html/ equilibrium01.html
12. http://www.physicscentral.com/action/action-01-4b.html
13. http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/Cyberia/Cosmos/ FlatnessProblem.html
14. http://www.secondlaw.com/two.html * planetesimals: Any of innumerable small bodies thought to have orbited the sun during the formation of the planets.

This universalistic spirit is explicit in Article I/l of the 1967 Space Treaty: ‘The exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries… and [outer space] shall be the province of all mankind’. Two years after the Treaty was formally signed, the American astronauts broadcast the same message from the moon. When Neil A. Armstrong landed on the moon, he saw the new frontier as open not only to space-faring states, but to all mankind: ‘one small step for man, leap for mankind.’

In the quarter century since then, the rapid growth of aerospace technology, thanks to the Cold War between the then two super powers, has led to remarkable achievements and technological spin-offs. However, for most of that period space technology and science were largely focused or directed to the production of weapons of mass destruction. The end of the Cold War should herald a new era in which existing aerospace technology will only be used for ‘the benefit of all mankind’ and only ‘for peaceful purposes’ (Walter, 1985, pp.l20).

In the new post Cold War the Russians and the Americans, once rivals, have begun to pool their brain power and hardware with the aim of building space stations in orbit around the earth, then on the moon, finally on Mars (Time, 19 April 1993, pp.62-3). The European Space Agency (ESA) has already laid down its long-term space programmes that are to lead Europe’s space efforts into the 21st century (Von der Dunk, 1989, p.426). Japan, China, Brazil, India, Israel and even Australia have achieved significant satellite technology and launching capability through independent efforts (for an account of those programmes, see Gatland, 1989). They all aim to explore and exploit the natural resources and potential usage of space.

Within ‘peaceful’ uses and exploration of outer space, there are a wide range of possible activities related to scientific research and experimentation, remote sensing, telecommunications and commercial aerospace manufacturing (Tennen, 1979). It is worth considering the benefits that God, the All-Mighty, has made available to man in space.

A) Satellites

The first major benefit is satellite communication. Telecommunication and especially direct broadcasting satellites can only be located in an exceptional orbit known as the geostationary satellite orbit (the GSO). This orbit is a three-dimensional corridor lying on the equatorial plane, at a distance 36,000 km (22,300 miles) above the surface of the earth. The importance of this orbit is that satellites rotate in the same direction as the earth does every 24 hours. That is to say, if satellites follow an equatorial path in the direction of the earth’s rotation, they will appear to remain fixed at the same spot above the equator.

The GSO facilities those services such as direct broadcasting satellites, navigational aids and solar energy stations which require round-the-clock coverage of a given area of earth (Wihlborg and Wijkman, 1979, pp.2S-6). The great advantage of the GSO for communication purposes is that one satellite can observe approximately 40 per cent of the surface of the planet, which means that three satellites are enough for global coverage.

However, the GSO is a physically limited natural resource. Satellites located in orbital slots wander around 100 miles horizontally. Hence, once a satellite occupies a spot in the orbit, it precludes the use of the same slot by any other since slots are located in a three-dimensional tube with a total length of 150,000 miles, the GSO only has room for 1,500 such slots with a zero probability of collision.

However, no one knows exactly how many satellites can occupy the GSO. The orbit is expected, in the very near future, to be used for the gathering and transmission of solar energy from very large space objects to earth by microwave or laser beams (Christol, 1980-81). This will increase the problem of orbital slot scarcity and bring about contentious debates about use of the GSO. There are at present around some three hundred satellites in orbit so the congestion does not present a problem for the time being. However, in the decades to come the GSO will be saturated and there will be no ‘slot’ to locate a new satellite.

Since few states have satellites in the GSO, telecommunication via satellites is a very lucrative business. The overwhelming number of satellites are owned and run by the handful of technologically advanced states. Hence, they earn very significant amounts of money out of these activities. The full-time use of one single channel is around US$ 200,000 per month. A satellite transmitting 100 million message units, for example, earns $1 million each day.

Apart from broadcasting and communication satellites, there are observation satellites rotating vertically and horizontally around the world keeping their owners informed about weather, ocean conditions, catastrophes, pollution levels, atmospheric changes, the kinds and conditions of agricultural crops, the position of hidden minerals and fossil fuels (Schneider, 1986).

B) Mining

The samples collected by the Apollo showed that lunar soil contains, as percentages, 41.3 oxygen, 21.6 silicon, 15.3 iron, 5.4 aluminium, 6.8 magnesium, 0.1 potassium. There are also traceable amounts of sodium, sulphur, hydrogen, nitrogen, copper, zinc and lead in the samples collected (Bille, 1990, p.109). Out of these lunar materials, various minerals and metals, alloys, cement, electrical conductors, glass, silicone resins, rocket propellants and numerous industrial chemicals could be produced. One study concluded that hydrogen and oxygen, stored in lunar rocks, could be used to make air, water and rocket fuel. It is also said that the moon is rich in helium-3, which, almost non-existent on earth, may be usable as an ideal fuel for fusion power plants because of its low radioactivity (ibid., p.110).

Apart from the moon’s rich resources, asteroids are seen as extremely valuable celestial bodies. Scientists have found that there are dozens of mineral-rich asteroids circumnavigating the earth. These asteroids are on average 500 metres across and made of solid nickel-iron. Just one such asteroid could possibly meet years of global demand for these elements. Scientists reckon that asteroids within the vicinity of the earth contain abundant amounts of nitrogen, hydrogen and free metals. It is technologically feasible to process these asteroids on an industrial scale in outer space, more easily than exploitation of the moon’s resources. Such extraterrestrial production could avert earthbound pollution and potential conflicts over scarce earth resources (Condora, 1984, p.178). It was estimated in the 1980s that an asteroid could be worth five billion dollars. It is also projected that asteroids would be processed in outer space for extraterrestrial construction of space stations.

C) Space manufacture 

Although satellite communications and remote sensing are already very profitable commercial enterprises, space manufacturing is thought to have even greater commercial potential. As space is a relatively dust-free, micro gravity environment, it offers a unique laboratory setting for the development and processing of some complicated chemicals, pharmaceuticals, semi-conductor crystals, glass and metal alloys-indeed, production under micro gravity conditions is estimated to be up to 500 hundred times that possible on earth and with a degree of purity unobtainable on earth (Jericho and McCracken, 1986, p.802).The potential market sales for such products is reckoned at around $20 billion annually.

Additionally the relatively uncontaminated space environment is an ideal place for growing crystals used in computers, optoelectronics and ultrasonic equipment; for developing floride glass used in laser and fibre optic applications; and for producing new metal alloys as well as metals of higher purity and structural uniformity (ibid., p.803). In sum, the horizons for potential use of space are immeasurable.

The Islamic countries and space activities

Our concern is to find out what the Muslims are doing or not doing in the face of the continued progress of the space-faring Christians (NASA, ESA), the Jews (Israel), the Buddhists (People’s Republic of China, Japan), the Hindus (India). It was declared at the beginning of the ‘space age’ that space would be a province all mankind. However, it is apparent that it is only the technologically advanced non-Muslim states who are ploughing in huge sums of money into aerospace technology and enjoying the benefits of the outer space environment. Muslims in general seem unaware of the fact that it is enjoined upon them to keep abreast of the latest science and technology and to be as equipped as the non-Muslims. For example, in Sura al-Mulk, God directs our attention to the Heavens:

‘He who created the seven one above another: you will see no want of proportion in the creation of the Most Gracious, so turn your sight again: Do you see any flaw? Again turn your vision a second time; your sight will return to you dim and discomfited, in a state worn out’ (67.3-4. See also 7.54; 13.2; 21.33; 36.40;51.7; 81.15.)

In the light of this encouragement, the Arab Muslims, from very the beginning of Islamic civilization reached the highest degree in astronomy. While the pre-Renaissance Christians thought the world flat, Muslims realized that it must be round and that it rotates on its axis. The Muslims in the Abbasid period detected many stars and constellations and gave names to them which are still used (See, for more information, Sharh al-Mawaqif and Ma‘rifatname by Ibrahim Haqqi of Erzurum; also, al-Hayat by Nur al-Din Batruji,d.1185).

Until the decline of the Ottoman Empire, Islamic scholars had been for centuries at the leading edge of study in astronomy as well as other pure and applied sciences. Even as late as the last 19th century, astronomy was an essential subject in the curriculums of the Ottoman colleges. However, some narrow-minded Muslims decried the teaching of scientific knowledge in schools and prevented Muslims from education. Their efforts were one (though not the only) reason for the relative decline of the Oriental world. This attitude degenerated further into the sinister view that any non-Muslim knowledge or equipment makes a person an unbeliever.

Vestiges of this barbarism remain to this day. To give an anecdote: I know of an imam who was recently accused by some peasants of being an unbeliever simply for informing them during a sermon delivered in their village that human beings had landed on the moon.

On the other side, Western propaganda has persistently labelled Islam as ‘backward’ and ‘unenlightened’, and imposed a feeling of inferiority among many Muslims-so that they find themselves thinking-‘The non-Muslims have walked on the moon, while we still walk barefoot on the earth.’ For over a century and a half, Muslims have been deliberately kept behind Western achievements. But the trust (amana) that God has bestowed upon mankind is most particularly the responsibility of the believers, the Muslims. Are we ready to live up to it?

God declares in the Qur’an: Before this We wrote in the Psalms, after the Message (given to Moses ): My servants, the righteous, shall inherit the earth. No one should doubt that one day this truth guaranteed by God’s oath will come true. An eminent Islamic scholar has read this verse to mean that the human stewardship will not be confined to the earth. Rather, those who become the trustees and masters of the earth will also rule over the remotest parts of the skies (Sahin, 1993). Naturally, such rule depends upon qualifications and quality. It is essential therefore that Muslims acquire the qualities demanded by the only Owner of the heavens and the earth. Even, this promise will come true to the degree that Muslims do acquire the requisite qualities (ibid.).

Are the Muslims indeed striving to get the requisite qualities? To a certain degree, yes. After the emancipation from the years of colonization, Islamic countries (particularly Indonesia, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran) began to educate their own experts in sophisticated technology. But colonization has been followed by a brain drain. Thus, it is reported that there are considerable numbers of Turkish scientists working in NASA’s space programmes.

With regard to space technology, there are incipient attempts by the Islamic countries. One such attempt is the Arab Satellite Communication Organization (ARABSAT). The Charter of the Organization was signed by twenty one Arab States in 1976. ARABSAT is intended to fulfil the aspirations of the Arabs have their own satellite system as a tool for socio-economic development of the region and for bringing about the transfer of technology. The ARABSAT space segment is composed of two satellites launched in 1985 and 1992, and located on the GSO at 19’E and 26’E respectively. But the organization does not have its own launching pads. Hence, it is dependent upon either the European Ariane or the US Space Shuttle. In addition to this, two Turkish Satellites will soon be sent to the GSO. TURKSAT project will be an important milestone in the communication of Turkic and Islamic countries.

Surely, the achievements of ARABSAT and TURKSAT are not promising in terms of scope and infrastructure. Islamic countries need to pool their scientific, technological and, more importantly, financial resources to set up an Islamic aerospace organization. Arab petro-dollars are wasted in Western banks when they could be channelled into this potentially lucrative area. The break-up of the USSR is an extremely good opportunity for the fledging Turkic Republics to collaborate with other Islamic states. The launch pads of the former Soviet Union were set up in Kazakhstan. Today the Kazakhs are waiting for customers. In the CIS, as Mikhail Osin said: ‘the pay of those who build spaceships is lower than that of a floor sweeper’ (Lemonick, 1993). The petrol-rich Arab countries could and should attract the space-engineers of Muslim states to work in the establishment of Muslim space programmes…

In conclusion, unless Muslims are prepared to face up to the necessities of the post-industrial era and to the requirements of a new century by investing their wealth on intellectual property and technology, never will the present Muslims walk on the moon, while the Christians will be left free to exploit the resources of the Universe not for the benefit of all mankind, but their own benefit at the expense of others. But, when God’s promised time due, the Crescent will surely embrace the stars.

References

• BILLE, M.A. (1991) ‘The law of space resources: exploiting the final frontier’ in Fauchnan and Mayniak (1991).
• CHRISTOL, C.Q. (1980-81) ‘International space law and use of natural resources: solar energy’, Revue Belge de Droit Internationale, 15, pp.28-52.
• CONDORA, C. (1984) ‘Outer space like the sea and air, whose frontier? Incredible potential with inscrutable obstacles’, Houston Journal of international Law, 6, pp.175-96.
• FAUCHNAN, B. and MAYNIAK, G. (eds) (1991) Space Manufacturing: Energy Materials from Space, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
• GATLAND, K. (1989) Space Diary, Crescent Books, New York.
• JERICHO, E. & MCCRACKEN, D.G (1986) ‘Space law: is it the last legal frontier?’ Journal of Law and Commerce, 51, pp.791-808.
• LEMONICK, (1993) ‘NASA’s plea: Help’ Time (April 19), p.63
• SAHIN, M.F. (1993) ‘Yeryuzu Mirascilari’ (The inheritors of the earth) Yeni Umit, 19, pp.l-2.(in Turkish)
• SCHNEIDER, A.R.H. (1986)’Remote sensing of the earth from space’ Environmental Policy and Law, 16 (2), pp.50-9.
• TENNEN, L.I. (1979) ‘Outer space: a preserve for all humankind’, Houston Journal of International Law, 1, pp.145-58.
• UNITED NATIONS (1992) ‘Space Activities of the United Nations and International Organizations’, UNO, New York
• Von der DUNK, F.G. (1989) ‘ESA and EC: two captains on one spaceship?’ Proceedings of the 32nd Colloquium on the Law of Outer Space, pp.426-35.
• WELTER, D., (1985) ‘The peaceful purpose standart of the common heritage of mankind principle in outer space law’ ASILS International Law Journal, 9, pp.117-146.
• WHITE, W.N. (1991), ‘Mining law for outer space’ in Fauchnan and Mayniak 1991.
• WIHLBORG, C.G., & WIJKMAN, P.M. (1979) ‘Outer space resources in efficient and equitable use; new frontiers for old principles’ The Journal of Law and Economics, pp.23-43.

Surely every person at some time looks up at the sun and moon and the brilliant stars and asks, who positioned all these so perfectly on the face of the sky’?

People have always marvelled at the stars and planets. But they have not always realized that there is a harmony in their positions and movements, a law and order, as indeed in the whole universe. For example, seen from the perspective of the ancient Greek astronomers, celestial bodies in the universe are aimless objects. That seems to be the implication of the term ‘planet’ which means ‘wandering’. The Greeks may have thought the ‘wandering stars’ or ‘planets’ moved in unstable orbits, more or less randomly.

The ancient astronomers’ judgement was not founded upon the Oneness of the Creator Who orders everything in the universe. Inevitably they did not have a clear grasp of the orderliness of the macro-cosmos and did not seek it.

The Qur’an revealed many centuries ago that it is Allah who created the heavenly bodies and put them into their peculiar orbits. There is nothing in the Islamic teachings that argues the view that phenomena or events are random.

Do they not look at the sky above them, how We have built it and adorned , and there are no flaws in it. (50.6)

We have built above you seven strong (heavens) and placed therein a blazing lamp. (78.12)

The ‘blazing lamp’ referred to is the sun.

People have always been fascinated by the thousands of gleaming lights sprinkled across the night sky. Today many enjoy looking into the heavens and learning about the patterns and positions of the stars, and discovering what stars can tell us about our universe as a whole. From our planet, if very high buildings and city lights permit, we can see about 6,000 stars with the naked eye. They change in colour, size, and brilliance.

We are near enough to one particular star, the sun, to find out many details about what these celestial bodies are made of and how they function. A star is composed of gases and other substances compressed together under the force of gravity. The pressure at the core of a forming star is sufficiently intense to initiate nuclear reactions that begin generating energy. During this process, matter is converted into energy, releasing large quantities of heat and light.

The sun may not catch up the moon, nor may the night outstrip the day. Each one is moving smoothly in its own orbit ( 36.40). Here an essential fact is clearly stated, namely the existence of the solar and lunar orbits. At the time of the Revelation, it was generally believed that the sun orbited a motionless earth. This, the geocentric system, had held sway from the early second century (the time of Ptolemy). It continued to do so until the sixteenth century. Fourteen centuries ago, the Qur’an directed the inhabitants of the Arabian Peninsula and, through them, all of mankind, towards the truth. The demonstration of the existence and details of the solar and lunar orbits is one of the recent achievements of modern astronomy.

Those who do not believe in One Creator maintain that everything comes about by chance. They do not realize that every creature in motion, from minute particles to the planets, displays on itself the stamp of the Eternal and of His Unity. Also, by reason of its movement, each of them, in some sense, takes possession of all the places in which it travels in the name of Unity, thus including them in the property of its Owner. As for those creatures not in motion, each of them, from plants to the fixed stars, is like a seal of Unity that shows the place in which it is situated to be the letter of its Maker. That is to say, each flower and fruit is a stamp and seal of unity that demonstrates, in the name of Unity, that its habitat and native place is the letter of its Maker. What all that inter-connectednes means is that one who does not have all the stars within his command does not have command over a single small particle either.

There are two other verses in the Qur’an about the sun and the moon and their usefulness to human beings, not only as light, but also as points of reference for space and time:

Allah subjected the night and the day for you, the sun and the moon. The stars are in subjection to His Command. Verily in this are signs for people who are wise. (16.12)

Allah is the One Who made the sun a lamp and the moon a light and ordained for it mansions, so that you might know the number of years and the reckoning (of the time).

Allah created this in truth. He explains the signs in detail for people who know (10.5)

The solar system comprises the sun and the nine planets that orbit it. The closest to the sun is the planet Mercury, at an average distance of 58 million km; the farthest, Pluto, is 5,900 million km from the sun. The closer a planet is to the sun, the shorter the time taken to complete its orbit. Thus, Mercury takes only 88 earth days to go round it, while Pluto orbits the sun only once in 248 earth years. Absolute time and distance are nowadays both measured in terms of light speed–a metre, for example, can be defined as the distance the light travels in a certain ‘space’ of time, in fact, 0.000000003335640952 seconds.

It is hard to think of the sun as a passing event. Nevertheless, its ‘term’ is fixed–the Qur’an is explicit on this point: And the sun runs its course for a period fixed for it (36.38). So, how long has the sun left to run? Astronomers nowadays calculate about 4.5 billion more years in its present state. It will still have nearly the same surface temperature (6.000 °C) and yellowish colour that it has now but it will appear about twice as bright because it will be about 60 percent bigger. Its next 4.5 billion years will have begun to take their toll on the sun’s nuclear fuel supply. What then? We don’t really know. Any calculations we make can only be made on the basis of theory.

The sun is full of gases composed of two thousand trillion tons (2×103 kg) of matter,

with the remains of other elements. For every million atoms of hydrogen there are about 85,000 helium atoms and only about 1,000 of any other kind. Pressure from all that mass compressing into the centre of the sun is high enough for the hydrogen atoms to fuse in the core to form helium. This simultaneously creates new energy which keeps the sun from collapsing further and provides the energy that allows it to (or makes it) shine. A series of nuclear fusion reactions, whose end result is the conversion of hydrogen to helium, happen on a vast scale and release very great amounts of energy in the form of heat, light, X-rays and so on. A part of this reaction must be the release of so-called neutrinos. Neutrinos are particles that interact so little with other matter that they can probably float through entire galaxies without being affected. They exist but have no mass nor any other physical property, which is like saying that they simultaneously exist and do not exist: we know they must be around by the way the movement of other (‘real’) particles is affected. If the theory about the way that the sun shines is correct, the sun should be producing about 180×1036 neutrinos each second. Obviously, only a small portion of these neutrinos will come in the earth’s direction.

The sun generates magnetic fields deep in its interior. Through mechanisms not yet fully understood, some of these fields erupt periodically through the sun’s surface, the photosphere. The high temperature and structure of the corona are produced by energy pumped from the photosphere up into the outer layer of the sun’s atmosphere along these magnetic fields.

The sun has been fusing hydrogen into helium throughout its present lifetime of 4.5 billion years, using up less than half of the available hydrogen in its core. By another 4.5 billion years, 90 percent of the available hydrogen in the core will have been converted into helium. Serious questions about the fusion rate in the sun still remain, but according to one theory, the humans of the future will face a sun that is running out of core hydrogen.

When that happens, the gas temperature and pressure will drop and the interior of the sun will collapse under the weight of the surrounding mass. The pressure in the collapsing gas will build up sufficiently for a rind of hydrogen to start burning around the core, now helium. This fusion will provide an outward force on the outermost layers of the sun, pushing them farther out than they are now. The surface of the sun will expand outward until it reaches the orbit of Venus.

Finally, this hydrogen outside the core will run out. The core of the sun will continue to contract, trying to replace the heat no longer generated by hydrogen burning. When the internal temperatures reach 100 million Kelvins, the helium (generated by the hydrogen burning) will itself start to burn. This will happen quickly, forming a carbon-rich core. Around this burned-out core, helium burning will start, and then the rind of hydrogen also will start to burn. The vast energy released by both rinds will push the sun’s outer layers further out until they reach the orbit of Jupiter. Earth will then be ‘inside’ the sun. The temperature on the surface of earth, around 6.5 billion years from now, will be around 30,000 Kelvins, and everything organic will be burned to a crisp.

Intelligent beings on earth 5 or 6 billion years from now, if any, would face the pressure to leave earth and, indeed, the solar system. They would need to have colonized planets around younger (therefore more stable) stars in order to survive. It is likely that humans in the near future will move off the earth in search of mineralogical and economic gain, whereas the future beings of our speculation will move off in order to save the species. The ageing sun will give future life a focus and a goal. And then, if we may be permitted to use the expression, a sort of Doomsday will have happened: certainly, the sun will have run to the end of its appointed (muslaqarr) time.

SOURCES

• ASIMOV, I. (1993) Explorig the Earth and the Cosmos, Allen Lane.
• Astronomy January 1992: March 1993.
• BUCAILLE,M.(1987) TheBible, The Qur’an and Science. Taj Company, Delhi.
• GRIBBIN, M. & Gribbin J. (1992) Too Hot to Handle? Corgi, UK.
• JONES, B. (1991) Planets, Brian Trodd Publishing House Ltd.
• JONES, B. (1992) The Night Sky, Salamander Books Ltd.
• MATTHEWS, R. (1993) The Mind of God, Virgin Books.
• NURSI, S. (1987) The Thirty-Second Word from the Risale-Nur Collection.
• NURBAKI, H. (1989) Verses from the Glorious Qur’an and the Facts of Science T.D.V.. Ankara