The term “….. of
the century” conjures up reverent awe. In a culture immersed in literary
superlatives, we may have difficulty distinguishing the literary from the
literal. Consider 100-year weather,
geological, astronomical, or historical events--are they real, or are they
assigned truth status only by a journalist? Some events gain 100-year status less easily than others
because they are not subject to human judgment. Most scientists agree the Russian
meteor fall of February 15, 2013 in Chelyabinsk is not subject to opinion. It
was unanimously acclaimed as the largest recorded object to strike the earth in
over 100 years. In 1908 Earth was struck by a similar but much larger object which leveled 80 million trees over 825 square
miles in a remote region of Siberia. Neither blast caused any human deaths.
Knowledge of our
Solar System captivates many. If Earth, our own planet, fails to supply enough
fascination, there is much to know about the other seven planets—their
appearance, size, movement, and the conditions present. Most images of our
Solar System do not highlight the presence of millions of additional bodies apart
from the sun and its planets, such as asteroids and meteoroids. Technically,
asteroids are chunks of rock or metal larger than one meter in size. Meteoroids
are similar but have a diameter smaller than one meter. On the spectrum of rock
size, the Russian object was a multi-ton asteroid possibly 15 m in diameter
which entered earth’s atmosphere at a shallow angle and exploded about fifteen
miles above the surface. The blast injured over 1000 people, damaged 4000
buildings and caused over $33 million damage according to estimates, primarily
from broken glass.
A meteor strike on
this planet is an occasion triggering awesome reflection for many reasons. We
contemplate what kind of cosmos this is. In particular, in what sort of solar
system do we abide? Over one million asteroids exist larger than one km
diameter in the orbit between Mars and Jupiter. Smaller rocks exist there in
the uncounted millions. In contrast, even in the sparsely populated region of
the inner planets, there are yet tens of thousands of near earth asteroids (NEA)
which buzz the regions of Mars, Earth, Venus, and Mercury. An International
Astronomical Union (IUA) publication “A Chronology of Milestones” captivates
attention with its statistics. Of the near
earth asteroids the IAU publication states, “Due to gravitational
perturbations caused by planets as well as non-gravitational perturbations, a
continuous migration brings main belt asteroids closer to the Sun, thus
crossing the orbits of Mars, Earth, Venus, and Mercury.”
People prone to
worry could become overly concerned about earth’s sometimes violent weather
such as thunderstorms and hurricanes, earth’s periodic geologically harsh
manifestations such as volcanoes and earthquakes, and yes, even the possibility
that earth may someday receive a fatal asteroid strike such as the massive one
theorized to have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years in
the distant past. Ongoing discoveries of sizable near earth asteroids are
filling reference books as research data is added to our knowledge.
Specifically, near earth asteroids (NEA) including some deemed to be
potentially hazardous (PHA) have proliferated from 1970 to 2013 progressively,
from 27 NEA (10 PHA), to 53 (17), to 134 (42), to 877 (215), to 8694 (1221).
Potentially harmful asteroids (PHA) are defined as coming within 19.5 lunar
distances (LD) of earth (7.5 million km). It is significant to note that no
human has ever been killed by a potentially harmful asteroid (PHA) in recent
recorded history, even though we note two highly significant asteroid impacts
in 1908 and 2013.
When scientists
describe man’s Solar System abode, it is apparent that God has provided a home
on Earth which wonderfully provides for the existence of man. Asteroids and
meteoroids are part of the Solar System formed over millions of years in
preparation for the recent arrival of humans. The earth as a solid body is also
the product of a developing planet whose resources were in place when created
man first arrived. God commanded that man should subdue the earth. Man quickly
learned how to use the earth’s agricultural and mineral resources to provide
for his need of food and shelter. Genesis 1:31 is a passage which concludes the
record of the sequence of earth preparation culminating in the arrival of man.
After six days of creation events Earth was ready to provide for the needs of
man. The Earth, by God’s gracious providence, has continued to provide
resources to fulfill man’s needs up until this very moment in history.
