Article in 'Creation' Magazine' Vol. 27 No. 1 2004/5 by freelance journalist and amateur asstronomer Andrew Rigg, Adv. Dip. Min.
'This year stretched the imaginations of many astronomers and cosmologists. They have discovered amazing features at the outer reaches of the universe. And they cause headaches for those with blind faith in naturalistic origin theories -including a big bang about 14 billion years ago. In January 2004, a team of astronomers announced the discovery of a massive and distant string of galaxies. By their own dating methods, they were looking at a structure within only 2 billion years of the universe's inception. Much too early for such a complex structure to have evolved naturally1........'
'In another big-bang-defying discovery, astrophysicists from Stanford University claim to have discovered one of the biggest, most distant black holes ever found1.
The super massive black hole is uninspiringly dubbed Q0906+6930 after the coordinates at which it is found. Astronomers believe it exists at the centre of an extremely distant galaxy2 in the direction of the northern hemisphere constellation Ursa Major (Great Bear). This galaxy is said to have an 'active nucleus'3.
The black hole was detected by narrow jets of high-energy particles being ejected from its poles. Such jets are only visible when they are aimed exactly in the direction of the earth, meaning these types of objects - nicknamed blazars - are only rarely observed.
The big problem presented by this blazar is its size. In big bang term, it is just too big to have formed in the 'mere' billion years since the big bang itself. The scientists behind the discovery have been challenged by its implications, 'How do you take something big enough to hold 1,000 solar systems and as heavy as all of the stars in our Milky Way galaxy put together, and quickly crunch-collapse it [in such a short period of time]?1 Of course size and maturity are not a problem when the Bible, rather than man's fallible ideas, is used as a starting point.
1. Levy. D., 'Blazar' illuminates era when stars and galaxies formed, Stanford Report, 22 June 2004.
2. Although the 'parent' galaxy has not actually been observed, many astronomers believe that supermassive black holes are directly associated with galactic nuclei. ie they are found at the centres of large galaxies. Our own galaxy is believed to have a supermassive black hole, several million times the mass of the sun at its centre. 2. Romani, R.W. Q0906+6930: The highest-redshift blazar.
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