secrets than were known in the past five millennia.
Through these new astronomical discoveries one fact is becoming increasingly obvious: we are here not by chance. The position of our planet, the distance to the Moon and its precise size, the Earth’s axis inclination, the proximity and size of Jupiter (which like a football quarterback guards us from various space wanderers), the velocity of space acceleration, the balance in the number of electrons and protons, our Sun’s exact location in our own hundred billion star galaxy the Milky Way, and many other factors . . . all these point to a wise and powerful -- but also very caring -- designer of the universe. A designer who, in human terms, has clearly invested a great deal of effort to ensure our survival on this good old sphere. There are just too many “coincidences” to be explained away as occurring only by chance. Consider one example.
You often read in the newspaper of someone winning the lottery jackpot. “Lucky guy”, is likely your only comment. No real surprise that someone happened to pick all the right numbers. After all, it happens almost every week; and if not, then the size of the money pot goes up. But what would you say if that same “lucky guy” again won the grand prize a week later? Hmmm -- I can see you raising your eyebrows –you would not believe this, were it not here, right in front of your eyes, printed in black and white (as if that makes it true!). Well, someone was definitely born lucky - you mutter through your teeth, and turn to another page. But wait. What if that same person wins the lottery again the very next week?
Wait just one minute, mister, you would certainly think. Joe Q. Public wasn’t born yesterday. You think you could pull this trick and we won’t notice it? It’s obvious this game is fixed. That winner is probably related to the director of the lottery corporation, with the two of them now splitting the profit. No way! Only over my dead body!
So . . . you were willing to accept the possibility of coincidence after the second lottery drawing. But just three times in a row was too much to believe. Common sense kicked in, and you became certain that the game results were fixed. However, this example of a fraudulent lottery game is child’s play when compared with a number of cosmic “coincidences” that have recently come to light. Anyone would have to be crazy to believe that they could happen just by accident.
Throughout this book a number of “hard to believe” cosmic coincidences will be presented. One such example is the relationship between two space constants: the electromagnetic force and the force of gravity. These two values are crucial for the existence of stellar systems. If the electromagnetic force should be increased by only 1 over 10 to the exponent of 40 (the explanation of this term in a moment), there would be only stars the size of our Sun. Conversely, if the gravitational force should become greater than the electromagnetic force by that same negligible amount, we would have only huge stars. Okay, but really, who cares? The stars are pretty far away. What does it matter if they are all big or all small? It matters because we must have stars in both size ranges, in order to ensure our very existence. Bulky stars are necessary to sustain life since the thermonuclear explosions in their wombs are the main source of important chemical elements, without which there would be no life. On the other hand, somewhat smaller stars, like our Sun, are also extremely crucial for our survival, since only they can produce heat in a steady, stable manner, enabling life on a nearby planet. Thus, the existence of both types of stars is critical for our survival. This was only possible to achieve by an extremely careful adjustment of the balance between the two forces mentioned, the electromagnetic force, and the gravitational force. What is the balance as the ratio of 1 to 1 over 10 to the exponent of 40? First of all, 10 to the exponent 40, (10 40) is the number 1 followed by 40 zeroes. When after the number 1 you write six zeroes, it’s called a million. Write instead nine zeroes, and you have a billion; twelve zeroes is a trillion, and so on. But the number one followed by 40 zeroes? That huge number has no name at all, nor is it possible to imagine it in concrete terms. Perhaps we should use an example.
Imagine a pile of coins covering the entire European continent, and reaching all the way to the Moon. It’s rather unlikely that we would ever be able to spend so much money, but for our illustration it’s still not enough. So, try to imagine (I couldn’t) a billion (that is, a thousand million) piles like that. There is just nothing that money could not buy you (other than health and happiness). However, with this imaginary treasure we will not go shopping, but it will help us to better comprehend, to some extent, that incredible balance between the electromagnetic and gravitational force. If we were to add only one coin to that countless heap, the electromagnetic force would prevail. This would prevent the existence of those so badly needed large stars. And if we were to remove just one penny from that vast pile of money (and, say, pocket it), the balance would be disturbed in the opposite direction. The heavenly scale would immediately react to that negligibly small loss of balance, and tip to the other side, preventing the existence of smaller stars. Thus, even that slight increase in gravity would make it impossible for our Sun to exist.
It may be somewhat clearer now that it takes an incredibly accurate balance between these two forces for humanity to exist. A coincidence? That would be the same as if our “lucky guy”, by purchasing just one lottery ticket every week, grabs the jackpot every Saturday without fail, for a full fifty years! Only a fool would say that was just a coincidence. That fictitious example with a pile of coins is no different than that of the fishy lottery. I believe nobody needs to be convinced that coincidences of that level are simply impossible. It becomes obvious that some very wise designer has deliberately adjusted the extraordinarily precise alignment between the electromagnetic force and the gravitational force, in order to create one of many necessary conditions that allow for our existence on the Earth. And this is just one of many examples of such impossible “coincidences” you will find later in the book.
Some may now object by claiming that no designer was required, as all that exists is merely a result of the natural selection process. That argument may be, to some extent, valid; but only if the universe has always existed. In that case, nature would have had enough time to go through all possible combinations, and select this one. (A completely separate issue is the question of whether or not lifeless, mindless matter can make logical conclusions). However, there was just not enough time to test each possibility and choose the best in just 13.7 billion years. You see, it has been calculated, (and recently confirmed by the cosmic signal measurements) that the universe was not always around, but was born 13.7 billion years ago, in what is called The Big Bang.
Until less than a century ago, it was an accepted view in the scientific community that the universe had no beginning. The first one who started to question that view was Einstein, while working on his Theory of Relativity. His calculations were showing that the universe actually did have a beginning. However, in order to avoid looking ridiculous in the eyes of his colleagues (who were at that time convinced that the universe had no birthday, but was simply always there), Einstein invented a “fudge factor” and put it into his equations, thereby deliberately distorting the actual outcome. However, he should be given credit for later having enough courage to publicly admit “the biggest blunder of his life”, as he called it. In subsequent years, the discovery and analysis of cosmic radio signals has shown that all matter, space, and even time itself, came about in an instant, 13.7 billion years ago, through the titanic explosion of an unimaginably small dot, smaller than a needlepoint, thus practically out of nothing. The greatest tribute for this discovery, in the form of the Nobel Prize for Physics, was recently awarded for this achievement to two American astrophysicists, John Mather and George Smoot, in December of 2006.
In order for this subject to be understandable to readers not versed in astronomical and physical sciences, an introductory section was prepared. It briefly covers the basics of astronomy and provides answers to questions such as: Is there a beginning and an end of the universe? How many of us are zooming through the solar system? Who is turning around whom? How large is the cosmos? How and when was it created? For ease of reading, mathematical calculations have held to a bare minimum.
The first part of the book, therefore, serves as an aid to a better understanding of the second part, which will, through numerous examples,
