Faith Versus Science: Is the Bible Ignorant of Stellar Evolution?

The Bible teaches that an omniscient and omnipotent Creator Being created the universe and our entire physical reality in six days. This includes galaxies, stars, nebulae, black holes, planets, and all the other objects we can observe in the night sky. But is this true? Is the biblical account of the creation and existence of these celestial objects presented in a factual manner? In this article we shall look at the birth, life and death of stars, the branch of astrophysics called stellar evolution, and compare the proven knowledge and evidence from this field with the claims of the Bible, to verify which source is correct and accurate, and which one is unsupported and false.

We have learned in a previous article published on this website by this same author, that a star is a ball of hydrogen gas that is undergoing a self-sustaining thermonuclear reaction. The closest star to our earth is the sun. It is only due to how close we are to it that makes us think it is a different kind of object. If we were to travel far enough away from it we would observe it as any other twinkling object in the night sky. The second closest star to us is one that has been named Alpha Centauri, it is 4 light years from our location, in other words if we were to travel at the speed of light it would take us 4 years to reach that location. The mechanisms of the thermonuclear reaction and the products that it yields such as heat, light and other elements have been described in detail in the field of stellar nucleosynthesis. Readers are encouraged to review an earlier article on that topic by this author that was published on Ghanaweb.

So the first question is how are stars born or created? As we have learned before, the most abundant substance in the universe is hydrogen. The reason why hydrogen is well explained by the Big Bang Theory. This hydrogen exists in clusters of gas called molecular clouds. The reason for the clustering is gravity or gravitational attraction. As more and more gas gets attracted and accumulated uneven pressures and temperatures develop in certain regions of the cloud. At such excessive temperatures and pressures individual atoms fuse to form helium and release energy. This process is called nuclear fusion. Thus a star is born at that location of the molecular cloud where the temperature and pressure were enough to propagate the self-sustaining thermonuclear reactions. The object thus formed is called a protostar. This process is going on all over the universe as we speak. The reason we don?t observe it here on earth is that the distance to the nearest molecular cloud is too far for us to observe it with the naked eye. However if we use a telescope we can observe some of these clouds in space. In the field of observational astronomy the general word for clouds in space is nebula. The Orion nebula is visible from most locations in the northern hemisphere. In the US in the month of October the constellation Orion is directly overhead at around 5:00am and the Orion nebula can be observed with an amateur telescope or even binoculars. So this is one star forming region in our galaxy, and there are millions if not billions throughout the observable universe creating new stars almost every day.

The mass of the protostar at the moment it springs to life is the sole determining factor as to how long the star will live, in other words how long the self sustaining nuclear fusion will last. For an average size star like or sun the life span is around 10 billion years. For much higher mass stars the reaction progresses more rapidly, therefore more massive stars live shorter and die in a few million years.

So what exactly happens to the protostar? As we know not all infants make it to adulthood. For stars adulthood is called the main sequence. And just like infants not all protostars make it to the main sequence. Stars of mass 8% or less than that of our sun never become main sequence stars. They are called brown dwarfs and they simply do not have enough mass to sustain the needed thermonuclear reactions, and fade away in a few hundreds of millions of years. More massive protostars with mass up to 1 solar mass are able to generate temperatures of over 10 million degrees in their core and begin the proton-proton chain reaction which enables the star to stabilize and thus begin the main sequence phase (adulthood) which lasts for 6 to 8 billion years. Our sun is estimated at age 5 billion years and is therefore currently about halfway through its main sequence phase.

Maturity As the hydrogen gas that fuels the star gets consumed and begins to finish, a number of things may happen based on the initial mass of the star. For stars around 0.5 solar mass, once the hydrogen is finished the star ceases to produce any new energy. The star simply diffuses its remaining heat into space over several millions of years and fades into oblivion. Such stars at this stage are called red dwarfs. One example is Proxima Centauri, a nearby star to our sun.

For average size stars like our sun the hydrogen fusion reactions result in the buildup of helium in the core of the star. This results in an increase in the gravitational pressures because helium is more massive than hydrogen. In order to maintain the balance the star will burn even more hydrogen causing the star to gradually become hotter, and expand in terms of volume. For our sun this process will begin in around 2 million years from now. This will have a profound impact on life on earth. When the hydrogen is finally finished, the sun will begin to fuse helium which will result in much hotter temperatures than that of hydrogen fusion. This will cause the sun to become redder and its volume will bloat and reach the current orbit of Jupiter. This is called the red giant phase. For earth these elevated temperatures will mean the end of all life if any are still in existence at that point. The atmosphere will be blown away and the oceans will boil off into space. Some have claimed that the only way for life to be sustained is that it evolves to be able to live permanently underground. Others like Stephen Hawking are advocating for humans to leave this solar system and colonize other habitable planets that may be out there. Sadly the religious fundamentalists twisted Dr Hawking?s statement to say that he was talking about meeting Jesus so everybody should repent. What a shame that Christians would lie and twist someone?s statements that had nothing to do with their fairy tale gods and phantoms. The red giant phase is estimated to last for a billion years after which all the helium will be consumed and for stars of this size no further fusion can take place. At that point the star will then shed its outer layers into space. An observer would no longer see a star but rather a cloud of material dispersing gradually into space, this is called a planetary nebula. The planetary nebula lasts for about 2 billion years. Once the outer layers are gone the remaining core of what was once a star will continue to glow for another 4 to 5 billion years until it fades away. This object is called a white dwarf star. Examples of red giants found in our neighborhood of the Milky Way galaxy include Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus, and Arcturus in the constellation of Bo?tes, all visible from Ghana with a low powered telescope or high powered binoculars. Examples of planetary nebula visible from Ghana by telescope-only include the famous Cats Eye nebula in the constellation Draco, and the Helix nebula in the constellation Aquarius discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding, in 1824. Maturity in more massive stars however has different endgames and consequences depending on the mass of the star. Generally the consumption of all the hydrogen results in the star now initiating the consumption of Helium to fuse into carbon, and then carbon into Neon, and so and so forth depending on the mass of the star and the pressures it can generate, forging heavier and heavier elements. In the ultimate red giant stars once silicon has fused into iron, no more fusion reactions are possible, iron is the limit of nuclear fusion in our universe. As no more fusion is occurring to counter the immense the gravitational forces now prevailing, the star undergoes core collapse. The outer layers are sucked in towards the center where they smash against the iron core and then rebound in a cataclysmic explosion called a supernova, and the entire structure of the star disintegrates and the contents are sprayed into space. During the explosion some trace amounts of the heavier-than-iron elements may form such as uranium, gold, zinc, silver, lead, and the other heavy metals. The supernova process is the source of all elements we see on earth today (except hydrogen which came from the big bang). They were all forged in stars that went supernova and scattered their contents into space that then recombined with other materials to form planets and ultimately organic molecules that lead to life.

Following the supernova the remaining part of the core of the star that may remain stable and does not get blown away is called a stellar remnant, or supernova remnant. In stars of up to 1.4 solar masses the remnant is called a neutron star. The supernova process causes the remaining protons to be converted into neutrons. Neutrons stars are excessively dense objects but very small. And they are very dangerous to us humans. If one was to approach a neutron star the excessive gravity would be strong enough to strip the individual cells from our bodies, a process known as spaghetification. Neutron stars also have extreme cyclical magnetic fields. Gases coming into contact with such magnetic fields glow as if they are pulsating. Such objects are called pulsars. The first neutron star-plusar system was identified in 1967 by team consisting of two British Anthony Hewish and Jocelyn Bell, and Nigerian Samuel Okoye. Sadly only Hewish was awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery in 1974. The Crab nebula in the constellation Taurus is a pulsar and is visible from Ghana with a telescope. The other type of remnant that occurs for stars of very high mass is called the black hole. The black hole results from a large mass being compressed into such a small space generating gravitational forces so high that not even light can escape from it, thus the name black hole. They are the most dangerous objects in the universe and they cannot be directly observed, we can only infer their presence. A black hole bumping into earth would swallow it without a trace. As of today evidence has been presented for the location of over 2,000 stellar mass black holes. We must also note that the white dwarf discussed earlier also qualifies as a stellar remnant even though it is not the result of a supernova explosion. So in summary this is the general description of the birth, life, and death of a star as based on the scientific evidence. Armed with this information we can now directly address some of the statements mentioned in the bible in an evidence-based factual manner. 1.Genesis claims the universe was created in six days. True or False? We know this is false. Stars alone take billions of years to forms. Six days is not enough time. 2. Genesis claims God separated the light from the darkness and called the light day and the darkness night, then two days later he formed stars. True or False? Absolutely false. We have day and night only because our earth rotates and changes which area faces the sun (day) and which faces the darkness of space (night), so if there is no star there is no such thing as day and night. Genesis is wrong. Also so far we have discovered several exoplanets in our galaxy, most of them do not rotate, they are in a locked orbit around their host star. As such one side continuously faces the star and there is no such thing as day and night on those planets. The same can be said for our moon, there is no day or night, one side continuously faces the sun. 3.Genesis claims a firmament was created to separate the waters above from the waters below. It also goes on to say the stars were set in the firmament to give directions. True or false? Very false. The stars are not set in the firmament, they exist separate from the earth and very great distance away. Why did Genesis not make this clear? Besides all what we call stars are not all stars. Some are stars, some are nebulae, some are planets, and some are stellar remnants, some are even galaxies. Why did the omniscient being not say this but illiterately claim they are all stars? Besides, no such thing as a firmament exists, it is simply not a real object. 4.The Book of Revelations described stars being plucked from the firmament by angels and being thrown down onto the earth to create holes out of which certain apocalyptic creatures emerge. True or False? Very false. How can a star land on earth? A star is many orders of magnitude larger than the earth. Can you throw a tipper truck onto a piece of bread and the truck makes a hole in the bread and certain beasts come out of it? Very funny. This is illiteracy and mass ignorance on display. This god apparently has no idea about the sizes of objects yet claims he created them, poof by magic. Nope. 5. The Book of Joshua narrates an event where the sun stood still after the Israelites prayed, to enable Joshua gain an advantage in a battle. True of false? Very false. The sun does not move so how could it be made to stand still? It is the earth that moves relative to the sun, and from our position we observe it as if the sun rather was moving across the sky. Or did he mean the earth stood still rather than the sun? Again god cannot get his facts straight. But even if that was the case it is still false. If the earth stood still gravity would cause it to fly head on straight into the sun and be completely destroyed. Unless some object held it place for that period. So far no evidence of this has been presented. It is a lie. 6.Age of the earth and universe. Based on the genealogy of Jesus, back to Adam suggests the age of the earth is roughly 6 to 8 thousand years old. This is false. As we have seen today, stars take millions of years at the least to form so this claim is false. Radiometric dating alone has shown that the earth alone is at least 4.3 billion years old. 7.Fune-tuned universe. This is one of the favorites of the religious, especially Christians. That the earth is fine tuned for life. Can they explain how the someday death of our sun and the extinction of all life as we know it, is evidence of a universe fine tuned for life on this particular planet? This is a statement of sheer ignorance of the facts. Even before the sun becomes a red giant the earth will become uninhabitable. Is this fine-tuning? If a human designed such a system we would fire him/ her on the spot. 8.In the creation story god says all he has done is good, otherwise perfect. Is that true? So what designer designs something that will run out of fuel and leave everybody hanging without any means of refueling and says it is a good design? I mean we cannot refuel a dying star, can we? But for those who don?t know, well yes, it is a good design, simply because they are ignorant of the facts. 9.The biblical creation story suggests the creative process is complete and no more planets, stars galaxies etc etc are being formed. Is this true? No, it is false, new stars are being created all the time, even right now as we speak, in our own galaxy and in galaxies all over the universe. Supernovae are observed almost every week in distant galaxies, this suggest new nebulae, stellar remnants and even planets and stars are also being created on a constant basis. So in that sense there is no such thing as the creation of the universe being complete. So what was the bible talking about because it did not mention that this creation and recycling of material will go on perpetually?

10. And readers can provide more examples of junk science from the Bible, So the question is, does God know astrophysics? If yes why did he sit around and do nothing whiles ignorance and false statements concerning the subject were written in his book? If not then why did he not say so and pretend to be an authority on how the earth came to be yet have no understanding of how things work in the universe? So clearly he does not know the facts of his own purported creation, therefore he is not omnipotent, therefore he is not god, and therefore there is no evidence of any god. So its time to retire these anaerobic beliefs in imaginary ancient gods and activate our brain cells to enlighten ourselves and build Ghana. The god we are praying to, if he exists, is clearly an illiterate and supporter of barbarism, but the current trend is to build a knowledge based economy, so we don?t need him anyway. Lets unite and educate ourselves and together we can eradicate ignorance from the minds of well meaning Ghanaians. Yes we can!

kwaku ba. October 20, 2010