It was revealed this week that last September scientists heard the universe make a noise. Up till now what we knew of it was gleaned from what we could see with a telescope. Now we can hear!
The hearing aid is an L shaped vacuum tube each leg being 4 KM long and having a laser beam inside.
The gravitational waves it is listening for were created by two burnt out stars colliding. These are popularly known as black holes which, apparently, are star tombstones!
The waves they create are invisible but were predicted by Einstein as part of his theory of relativity. As the wave passes through the cosmos it distorts time space, like the ripples created by a pebble falling into a pool, squeezing and stretching the fabric of the universe. When it passes the end of the L detectors it briefly changes the length of one of the legs by a tiny fraction and the apparatus emits a ‘chirp’!
This ‘chirp’ is too low and deep for humans to hear, (it is a B flat note, 57 octaves below middle C), and comes from the sound waves that moved out from an explosion caused by two black holes colliding and becoming a supermassive black hole in the galaxy NGC 1275.
So, provided you have the gear, astrologists can now hear as well as see what is going on in the galaxy! There are plenty of these black holes resulting from the death of stars so we can expect lots more excitement from our science buffs. If you will pardon the pun – watch this space!
It may becoming more apparent why, in the creation account in Genesis, it is recorded “He also made the stars” (chapter1 verse 16). The stars are part of the creation that St Paul tells us is groaning under the curse as it waits for the last person to be redeemed (Romans chapter 8 verses 22-23).
St Paul goes on to develop the cosmic dimension of salvation when writing about Jesus. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
Then addressing his readers he adds, “and you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister”(Colossians chapter 1 verses 15-23).
How great is our God? The Psalmist, King David, was in no doubt when he penned Psalm 19.
“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun, which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them, and there is nothing hidden from its heat” (verses 1-6).
Our gracious God permits scientists to make discoveries but the greatest discovery of all is that He loves and in Jesus has shown us the depth of that love. Put your trust in Jesus.