Good Heavens! The Human Side of Astronomy

If there are highly intelligent beings out there in the cosmos somewhere and they have perfected overcoming the impossible odds and dangers of interstellar and intergalactic travel, why do they always crash here on Earth? And is it even possible for such beings to defy the known laws of physics? On part two of our conversation with astrophysicist and author Dr. Hugh Ross of Reasons to Believe, we finish up our conversation about aliens, UFOs, and UAPs, and the problems they pose for a naturalistic worldview.  We also discuss some of the recent findings of the James Webb Space Telescope and how Dr. Ross interprets some of these discoveries in light of Scripture and modern cosmology. A fascinating chat you don't want to miss! Be praying for Dan. At the end of September, he will be traveling to the worldwide Mecca of all alien and UFO phenomena, Roswell, New Mexico. Dan will be handing out fliers about the podcasts and hopefully start some meaningful conversations with people he meets there! Astrophysicist and author Hugh Ross is founder and senior scholar of Reasons to Believe, an organization that researches and communicates how discoveries about nature harmonize with the words of the Bible. His books include The Creator and the Cosmos, Why the Universe Is the Way It Is, Improbable Planet, and Designed to the Core. https://www.Reasons.org  Also, be sure to check out many of our other helpful resources on UFOs and aliens! Podcast episode on ancient aliens: Good Heavens! Ancient Aliens? No. Watchman Fellowship https://www.watchman.org Wayne's article on ancient aliens: https://creationanswers.net/reviews/ancientaliens_pseudoarch.htm Dan's article about "Alien Theology": https://thestoryofthecosmos.substack.com/p/alien-theology Watchman Fellowship profiles on alien cults: Heaven's Gate https://www.watchman.org/profiles/pdf/heavensgateprofile.pdf Raelians https://www.watchman.org/profiles/pdf/raelianprofile.pdf Urantia Book https://www.watchman.org/profiles/pdf/urantiaprofile.pdf Previous Good Heavens! episodes with Gary Bates on UFOs Part One: https://goodheavens.podbean.com/e/aliens-ufos-and-the-bible-part-1-with-gary-bates/ Part Two: https://goodheavens.podbean.com/e/aliens-ufos-and-the-bible-part-2-with-gary-bates/ Daniel’s interview with Sasha Sagan, the daughter of the late planetary astronomer Carl Sagan A Conversation with Sasha Sagan https://youtu.be/0vQYDLeecN8   Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.  To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens.  This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.

Astrophysicist Dr. Hugh Ross discusses the resurgence of interest in UFOs, UAPs, and aliens. He explores the nature of UFO phenomena, questioning their physical existence and the lack of evidence for government possession of alien spacecraft. The podcast also covers deception tactics used by alleged extraterrestrial beings, explores the focus of alien stories in denying aspects of Christianity, and discusses the potential impact of discovering extraterrestrial life on the faith.

Be sure to catch the Perseid Meteor Shower this weekend (Aug. 12-13, 2023) , weather permitting! If the weather is bad or you can't see them, however, hopefully this episode will be the next best thing! What is a meteor shower, anyway? What do they mean? Where can you see them? Wayne and Dan attempt to answer these and other burning questions about this weekend's Perseid fireworks! Come and see!  Wayne's article on comets.   Dan's article on the Perseids.    Previous Good Heavens! Episodes on Meteors and Comets Meteors (Sept. 2021) Comets Part 1 (Jan 2021)   Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.  To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens.  This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.

If extraterrestrial life existed, how would it impact our faith in Christ? What would it look like? Would it be something like bacteria, plants or animals, or something more resembling intelligent agents like ourselves? Is the Earth specially designed to host biological life or are there other "Earth-like" planets in the universe today? This is part two of our special combined broadcast of Apologetics Profile and Good Heavens! with cosmologist and author Dr. Jeff Zweerink of Reasons to Believe. If you have friends or family interested in the question of extraterrestrial life, you don't want to miss this episode. Show Notes Jeff's book "Is There Life Out There?" https://www.amazon.com/There-Life-Out/dp/1886653003 Previous interview with Jeff on Is There Life Out There? https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/is-there-life-out-there-interview-with-jeff-zweerink/ Good Heavens Podcast episode (Feb. 2022): https://goodheavens.podbean.com/e/chariots-of-the-gods-no/ Watchman Fellowship https://www.watchman.org Wayne's article on ancient aliens: https://creationanswers.net/reviews/ancientaliens_pseudoarch.htm Ancient Aliens Debunked (Video by Chris White. 3 hrs, 10 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9w-i5oZqaQ Website by Chris White.  Has some references related to topics in the video above. https://www.ancientaliensdebunked.com Bible scholar Michael Heiser - Ancient Aliens Debunked https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5dER45rkGk See also this website by Michael Heiser. http://SitchinIsWrong.com Watchman Fellowship profiles on alien cults: Heaven's Gate https://www.watchman.org/profiles/pdf/heavensgateprofile.pdf Raelians https://www.watchman.org/profiles/pdf/raelianprofile.pdf Previous Good Heavens! episodes with Gary Bates on UFOs Part One: https://goodheavens.podbean.com/e/aliens-ufos-and-the-bible-part-1-with-gary-bates/ Part Two: https://goodheavens.podbean.com/e/aliens-ufos-and-the-bible-part-2-with-gary-bates/ Daniel’s interview with Sasha Sagan A Conversation with Sasha Sagan https://youtu.be/0vQYDLeecN8   Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.  To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens.  This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.

We have been asking the question as long as we have been able to look up at the stars. Is there life out there in the cosmos? What would it be like? What are the implications for us if there is? And especially, how might extraterrestrial life impact our understanding of the Bible and of the Christian faith? What might extraterrestrial life have to do with Jesus of Nazareth? There is presently no evidence for ET. So why are we talking about it? Find out from an expert cosmologist who has asked this question himself. Dr. Jeff Zweerink of Reasons to Believe joins us to talk with us about his 2017 book Is There Life Out There? The answer may surprise you. Show Notes Jeff's book "Is There Life Out There?" https://www.amazon.com/There-Life-Out/dp/1886653003 Previous interview with Jeff on Is There Life Out There? https://coldcasechristianity.com/writings/is-there-life-out-there-interview-with-jeff-zweerink/ Good Heavens Podcast episode (Feb. 2022): https://goodheavens.podbean.com/e/chariots-of-the-gods-no/ Watchman Fellowship https://www.watchman.org Wayne's article on ancient aliens: https://creationanswers.net/reviews/ancientaliens_pseudoarch.htm Ancient Aliens Debunked (Video by Chris White. 3 hrs, 10 min) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9w-i5oZqaQ Website by Chris White.  Has some references related to topics in the video above. https://www.ancientaliensdebunked.com Bible scholar Michael Heiser - Ancient Aliens Debunked https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5dER45rkGk See also this website by Michael Heiser. http://SitchinIsWrong.com Watchman Fellowship profiles on alien cults: Heaven's Gate https://www.watchman.org/profiles/pdf/heavensgateprofile.pdf Raelians https://www.watchman.org/profiles/pdf/raelianprofile.pdf Previous Good Heavens! episodes with Gary Bates on UFOs Part One: https://goodheavens.podbean.com/e/aliens-ufos-and-the-bible-part-1-with-gary-bates/ Part Two: https://goodheavens.podbean.com/e/aliens-ufos-and-the-bible-part-2-with-gary-bates/ Daniel’s interview with Sasha Sagan A Conversation with Sasha Sagan https://youtu.be/0vQYDLeecN8   Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.  To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens.  This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.

This is part two of our two-part episode on the wondrous world of exoplanets. On this episode Wayne and Dan explore a "super Saturn" with a ring system of over 110,000,000 million miles in diameter. If this planet were where our Saturn is located, we could easily see the rings with the naked eye. They would appear four to five times larger than the full moon! We'll also be looking at the darkest, blackest exoplanet discovered to date. Just a tad larger than our own Jupiter, It has baffled astronomers ever since its discovery. No one really knows why it's so dark. How do these marvels help us to better appreciate and marvel at what God has done?  Come and see as we explore these wondrous worlds on this episode of Good Heavens! Links for more information: Alien world is blacker than coal (TrES-2b) https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/08/alien-world-is-blacker-than-coal/ Super-Saturn: astronomers find a massive ring system around an exoplanet https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/184/super-saturn-astronomers-find-a-massive-ring-system-around-an-exoplanet/   Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.  To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens.  This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.  

Discover the fascinating world of exoplanets with Wayne and Dan. They discuss the Kepler Space Telescope's role in finding over 5,000 known exoplanets since the 1990s. The T.O.I. 178 multi-planetary system, consisting of six interlocked exoplanets with varying compositions, is explored, along with the concept of intelligent life and mathematical resonance. They also delve into the limitations of science, the purpose of the universe, and the unique characteristics of the wobbly planet Kepler 413B.

The James Webb Space Telescope continues to make headlines with its marvelous head-scratching discoveries. On this episode, Wayne and Dan explore a recent JWST unexpected discovery of a disc and multiple rings around the star Fomalhaut. This discovery promises to challenge current theories about how stars and planets form. Wayne and Dan not only discuss the science, but also how we see the star pointing to our unique and special place in the cosmos, all for the glory of God in Christ.  Dan's article on fish, faith, and the fantastic findings of Fomalhaut.  Wayne's article on the mysteries of Fomalhaut.  More on the science of Fomalhaut https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2023/webb-looks-for-fomalhaut-s-asteroid-belt-and-finds-much-more https://earthsky.org/space/fomalhaut-b-not-an-exoplanet-instead-a-dust-cloud/ Astronomer Paul Kalas explains why he still thinks there is an exoplanet at Fomalhaut. https://w.astro.berkeley.edu/~kalas/index.php/fomalhaut/   Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.  To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens.  This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.

(Galactic image in the thumbnail - NASA - the James Webb Space Telescope Cartwheel galaxy, previously imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope). Galaxies, we might say, are kings of the cosmos. Their splendor and size has really only come to be known in the last 100 years, since Edwin Hubble finally determined that Andromeda, and many other galaxies just like it, were not just nebulae in our own universe. Hubble's telescope, the Hooker Telescope atop Mt. Wilson in California, was the largest of its day. But it's main mirror was only 100 inches. We say "only" because the collective surface area of the new James Webb Space Telescope, made up of 18 individual mirrors, is 21 feet, four inches!  And what it has thus far captured is nothing short of astonishing, like being in the presence of royalty. On this episode, Wayne and Dan discuss some unsolved mysteries of star and galaxy formation and just how Webb's new galactic discoveries only serve to deepen the mystery and threaten to make scientists completely rewrite their assumptions about how stars and galaxies form! Come and see! Some stuff we talked about during the episode. Stellar streams Geraint Lewis's work on stellar streams New JWST discoveries of distant galaxies. Galaxy basics, NASA.  Wayne's article on galaxies.  Dan's article on galaxies and our place in the cosmos.  Watchman.org   Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.  To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens.  This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.

Good Heavens! Dwarfs (not dwarves) have stolen Pluto's planetary status! Who are these mischievous entities? Why did they steal from Pluto? Where are they, exactly? And what do dwarfs, dancing, and astronomy have to do with each other?  Join Wayne and Dan for this educational adventure in exploring these recently discovered miscreants of the solar system! Hopefully they've answered all of the perplexing questions on this episode. If not, it's still a fun chat about what's out there and how it all points to the glory of God in Christ.  Easter episodes mentioned at the end of the broadcast: https://goodheavens.podbean.com/e/for-signs-and-for-seasons-calendars-of-the-ancient-world/ https://goodheavens.podbean.com/e/the-sun-moon-and-time-calendars-part-2/ https://goodheavens.podbean.com/e/the-lamb-of-god-the-passover-in-the-gospels/   Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms.  To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens.  This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.