Astronomy

According to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary astronomy is "the study of objects and matter outside the earth's atmosphere and of their physical and chemical properties." It has been studied since ancient times, forming a major part of the religions of many early civilizations such as the Egyptians and the Aztecs. The great stone henge at Stonehenge in England is also thought to be an astronomical observatory. The handing down of complex astronomical teachings shows these early civilizations must have had formalized systems of education.

Astronomy was crucial to the development of safe and accurate navigation for ships, and observations of the movement of heavenly bodies helped lead to the theories we now call physics. In fact, much of astronomy today relies physics, thus many astronomers are considered astrophysicists.

Young Earth Creationism View

Young earth creationists scientists state that the first law of thermodynamics and second law of thermodynamics argue against an eternal universe and they also claim that these laws point to the universe being supernaturally created. Young earth creationist scientists assert that the theory of evolution has had considerable influence on fields outside of biology and this includes the field of astronomy. For example, it is common for astronomers to refer to the "evolution of the universe". Young earth creationist scientists believe the evolutionary view has had a negative effect on science of astronomy and that materialistic explanations of the the origins of various astronomical bodies are insufficient and counter evidence. For example, these scientists cite various examples from the scientific literature in order to demonstrate that materialistic ideas in astronomy have failed to have any explanatory power in regards to various astronomical bodies:

““...most every prediction by theorists about planetary formation has been wrong.” Scott Tremaine, as quoted by Richard A. Kerr, “Jupiters Like Our Own Await Planet Hunters,” Science, Vol. 295, 25 January 2002, p. 605.

“We don’t understand how a single star forms, yet we want to understand how 10 billion stars form.” Carlos Frenk, as quoted by Robert Irion, “Surveys Scour the Cosmic Deep,” Science, Vol. 303, 19 March 2004, p. 1750.

“We cannot even show convincingly how galaxies, stars, planets, and life arose in the present universe.” Michael Rowan-Robinson, “Review of the Accidental Universe,” New Scientist, Vol. 97, 20 January 1983, p. 186.

These scientists also advance a number of reasons for the earth and universe being approximately 6,000 years old, and raise a number of objections to claims of an extremely old age for the earth and the universe. In addition, young earth creationist scientists contest the Big Bang Theory stating that it is scientifically unsound.

EXTERNAL LINKS

The NASA Homepage
The NASA Planetary Photojournal
American Astronomical Society
British Astronomical Association
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