The Earth Archives

April 10, 2026April 10, 2026

Return From the Moon

The astronauts of Artemis 2 have made their successful return from the Moon. I am sure that we will soon learn new things about the Moon and space flight. The plan is to land people on the Moon as early as two years from now.

This week, we have been looking back at information we have posted about the Moon over the last several years. Our Moon is more than 50 times more massive relative to our planet than the moons of any other planets in our solar system. Because of that, its gravitational pull affects life on Earth. Its braking power has slowed Earth’s rotation rate to give us 24-hour days. Longer days would cause day-to-night temperature extremes, and shorter days would produce extreme climate fluctuations. The Moon also stabilizes the tilt of Earth’s axis, which is essential for a stable climate.

The size and albedo (reflectivity) of the Moon provide the optimum nighttime illumination for nocturnal animals. Its size allows it to periodically eclipse the Sun, giving scientists much to learn about the Sun’s corona. The bottom line is that, according to astrophysicist Hugh Ross, for a planet to host advanced life requires a planet-moon system “with virtually identical” to ours, and it “must orbit a star virtually identical to the Sun.”

We can be thankful that God has given us the exact Moon that we have. I am sure that when astronauts return from the Moon, they will be glad that we live on planet Earth. Click HERE to learn a lesson in perspective from the Moon, written by John N. Clayton.

April 9, 2026April 9, 2026

A Solar Eclipse from Space

The Moon is just the right size and at the right distance from Earth to give us perfect solar eclipses. Tomorrow is the day when Artemis 2, with its crew of four, is scheduled to return to Earth. While on their journey around the Moon, they witnessed a solar eclipse from space. It was not the same as seeing a solar eclipse from Earth because the Moon was much closer to them than it is to us on Earth. Because of that, the Moon’s shadow was larger, but the astronauts could still see the Sun’s corona.

Earth comes between the Sun and the Moon two to four times per year, casting a shadow on the lunar surface. Total lunar eclipses are less common than partial or penumbral eclipses, but they are more interesting to watch. According to legend, CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS USED A TOTAL LUNAR ECLIPSE to get the supplies he needed from the people of Jamaica. Whether full or partial, lunar eclipses can serve to remind us of HOW ESSENTIAL OUR MOON IS.

It was a rare and interesting experience for the astronauts to travel around the Moon and observe a solar eclipse from space, but I’m sure they will be excited to return home. They will be bringing back new information about our natural satellite, and the more we learn, the more we see evidence of God’s design.

April 7, 2026April 7, 2026

How Many Moons in Our Solar System?

As I write this, four Artemis 2 astronauts are on their way back to Earth after making a trip around the Moon. Until they make their planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego, California, on Friday, April 10, 2026, I want to look back at what we’ve written about our amazing natural satellite. Our Moon is very unique—unlike any other moon—in both size and number. There are how many moons in our solar system? You can see from THIS ARTICLE that the number of confirmed moons keeps changing.

Will the number of confirmed moons change again in the future? Probably, but we know that Earth has only one Moon, and it is just the right SIZE and MASS.

So, there are how many moons in our solar system? If you count all the moons orbiting the planets, the total is approximately 430. That number is subject to change, but there is only one that is just right, and I am sure God designed it that way.

March 25, 2026March 25, 2026

The Benefits of Sunlight

It’s springtime, and one of the great things about this season is that it gives us more daylight hours. The benefits of sunlight and its warmth help plants grow, making everything feel new. In Genesis 1:14, we read that God cleared the air to make the lights in the sky visible, so they could separate day from night and serve as signs for seasons, days, and years. Animals rely on the Sun, Moon, and stars to know when to breed and when and how to migrate. Plants need sunlight for photosynthesis, which produces oxygen that humans and animals need.

The benefits of sunlight include both our physical and mental health. Sunlight regulates our circadian rhythm, the biological clock that controls sleep, appetite, and hormone production. Daylight boosts serotonin levels, signaling it’s time to wake up. Spending time outside in the sunlight helps our bodies produce vitamin D, which may help protect against dementia, type 2 diabetes, and other chronic illnesses.

After a long, dark winter, going outside to enjoy the sunshine and fresh air makes us feel refreshed. Even sitting near a window with sunlight streaming in improves our mood. Light therapy is sometimes used to treat depression, especially seasonal depression during the winter months. While we consider the benefits of sunlight, we need to remember that excessive direct exposure to ultraviolet light can lead to skin cancer, cataracts, and macular degeneration.

Genesis 1:15 states that the “lights in the expanse of the sky” were meant to “give light on the earth.” John 1:4-5 tells us Jesus came to bring true light to the world. We could not live without the benefits of sunlight, and I wouldn’t want to live in a world without Jesus, who came to bring us light and life. John also reminds us that Jesus created the light and everything else that exists. (See John 1:1-14.)

March 16, 2026March 15, 2026

Water Is Unlike Any Other Substance

My astronomy students were always amazed to learn the basic physics fact that water exists in 22 different forms throughout the solar system, and that water is unlike any other substance on planet Earth. A simple example of this is to consider why a lake freezes, with ice on top and liquid water underneath. When most substances cool, they become denser, but at 4 degrees Celsius, water starts to violate that rule and becomes less dense.

Every elementary student knows that water can exist as vapor, liquid, or solid (ice). On Earth, water boils at 100 degrees C when the air pressure is 100 kilopascals. (A Pascal is 1 newton per square meter, and there are roughly 4.45 Newtons in a pound). At the same air pressure, water freezes at 0 degrees C. If you drop the air pressure to 100 Pascals, ice turns into water vapor, skipping the liquid phase altogether. One more point of interest to astronomers is that if the pressure is extreme–over 100 gigapascals–water will exist as ice regardless of the temperature.

As space probes visit other planets and their moons, they measure temperatures. Not only do the temperatures tell us about these bodies, but the shapes of ice crystals on them can tell us about the conditions there. Natural water ice crystals on Earth are hexagonal, but since water is unlike any other substance, scientists in the lab have forced ice crystals to take six different shapes. Depending on the temperature and pressure, they can be cubic, tetragonal, orthorhombic, rhombohedral, and monoclinic.

It has been said that the more we know about the creation, the closer we get to the creator. Because water is unlike any other substance, its structure allows a lake to freeze on the surface while life continues under the ice. The presence of water on other planets and their moons throughout the solar system enables the clockwork precision that allows Earth to endure for centuries with great stability. We learn about all of this through the facts of science discovered by human minds. Genesis 1:1 not only tells us that there was a beginning to time, space, and matter/energy, but we now know that the “heavens” includes God’s miracle glue that holds it all together–water.

Reference: March 2026 issue of Scientific American (pages 12-13)

February 16, 2026February 11, 2026

Milankovitch Cycles and Life on Earth

It should come as no surprise that the amount of sunlight reaching our planet influences our climate. Serbian mathematician and astronomer Milutin Milankovitch theorized that fluctuations in Earth’s climate are caused by changes in the amount of sunlight the planet receives, and that these changes follow specific cycles. Milankovitch calculated these cycles over the last 600,000 years and suggested they are responsible for ice ages and subsequent warmer interglacial periods. Geologists examining sediment layers in areas that were once ancient ocean beds confirmed the existence of Milankovitch cycles.

The amount of sunlight reaching Earth depends on three parameters that change over long time scales: the tilt of Earth’s axis, the eccentricity of its orbit, and the precession (wobble) of its axis. Because of the tilt of Earth’s axis, we experience seasons. Earth’s orbit is nearly circular but slightly elliptical, so its distance from the Sun varies. The precession of Earth’s axis is a slight wobble over time, similar to the wobbling of a spinning top.

Earth’s orbit is more circular than those of any other planet in our solar system. Because of this, the length of our seasons is approximately equal, but over long periods, these can change. The tilt of our planet’s axis is 23.4°, but it has varied in past ages from 22.1° to 24.5°. The precession of Earth’s axis also shifts over extended timescales. All three factors influence Earth’s climate because they alter the amount of sunlight reaching its surface.

The climate changes driven by these three factors are known as Milankovitch Cycles. The mathematician/astronomer calculated these cycles, and geologists have confirmed his calculations through examination of sediment layers from ancient ocean beds. The last Ice Age occurred about 20,000 years ago, when woolly mammoths roamed on ice sheets covering much of North America, Europe, and Asia. Over the past 10,000 years, the climate has remained remarkably stable, enabling the development of advanced civilizations.

As scientists study exoplanets beyond our solar system, they seek to determine their Milankovitch cycles because these cycles are another critical factor in assessing whether a planet can support advanced life. Mars has Milankovitch cycles that are far more extreme than Earth’s, which limits its potential to sustain life. Without the stabilizing influence of our relatively large Moon, Earth’s axis could oscillate up to 30°, leading to severe climate fluctuations. The more we learn about our unique planet, the more evident it becomes that God has finely tuned it to meet all our needs.

Reference: space.com

February 3, 2026January 31, 2026

Habitable Worlds Observatory

In a quest to detect life on a planet outside of our solar system, NASA has awarded three-year contracts to seven different companies to address the engineering challenges of a new precision space telescope. Since 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope has been capturing images of the universe in infrared light. Prior to that, the Hubble Space Telescope provided us with a deeper understanding of the secrets of space in the visible-light spectrum. The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is designed to pursue a different goal.

The HWO will be NASA’s most powerful space telescope, aiming to find signs of life in the universe. It will analyze light passing through the atmospheres of distant planets orbiting stars hundreds or even thousands of light-years away. Doing this will require a coronagraph thousands of times more powerful than any built before. A coronagraph is an instrument that blocks out the light from the Sun or other stars to reveal the faint atmospheres of exoplanets. It must also be repairable in space if any stray micrometeoroids impact its surface. The optical system must be stable within the width of a single atom. The precision required for the Habitable Worlds Observatory telescope surpasses any current technology.

This telescope must be far more advanced than the Webb Space Telescope, and you may recall the challenges and costs associated with that project. The goal is to have the Habitable Worlds Observatory ready for launch by the late 2030s or early 2040s. Jared Isaacman, the NASA administrator, stated that this is “exactly the kind of bold, forward-leaning science that only NASA can undertake.”

If the project succeeds in demonstrating that life could potentially exist on a planet outside our solar system, what then? If the planet is thousands of light-years away, we would be observing what it was like thousands of years ago. It will also take that long for us to beam a message to it, and if there are intelligent beings there, it will take an equal amount of time for them to respond. Traveling to such a planet would take humans many times longer, since it’s impossible to travel faster than a small fraction of light speed. Furthermore, even if we see signs that life could exist on a distant planet, we still won’t know for sure if life actually does.

One thing we can be certain of is that the project will take a lot of time and cost a lot of money. However, Isaacman says, “We intend to move with urgency.” In other words, there is an “urgent” desire to find out if there is life or any sentient beings beyond our planet. The truth is, there is a Being out there who has communicated with us, and He has even come to our planet to show us how to live and to redeem us from our sins. Perhaps the greatest urgency is for us to communicate with and come into a right relationship with Him.

References: space.com and youtube.com

January 22, 2026January 17, 2026

Space Travel Brain Shifting

Space travel can change your brain in more ways than one. We have mentioned the “overview effect” that people experience when looking down on planet Earth from space. It can open a person’s mind to the realization that we are small and that we depend on the components for survival that God has provided on this planet. New research indicates that space travel and weightlessness can also affect your physical brain. You could call it space travel brain shifting.

Brain MRI scans of 26 astronauts and 24 non-astronauts, conducted by Rachel Seidler and others at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), revealed how microgravity affects human brain anatomy. Their research showed that the astronauts’ brains shifted backward and upward while also rotating upward. The effects could still be detected months after returning to Earth. They analyzed MRIs from 15 astronauts before and after spaceflight, and from 11 others after returning. Twenty-four other volunteers participated in a long-duration head-down tilt bed experiment.

There was a measurable change in how the astronauts’ brains fit inside their skulls depending on how long they spent in space. The maximum displacement was 2.52 millimeters. The bed rest control group did not show marked changes. The question is how the space travel brain shifting affects performance after returning to Earth. The astronauts did experience balance issues, apparently due to effects on the inner ear and sensory regions of the brain.

The bottom line is that the study showed that physical shifts in the astronauts’ brains lasted up to six months. The study is concerned about “the long-lasting effects of spaceflight on neuroanatomy.” Again, we are reminded of how much we depend on the components for survival that God has provided on this planet.

Reference: space.com

January 12, 2026December 31, 2025

Water Stewardship in America

What is the most vital compound for human survival on Earth? The answer is water. We see water shortages in underdeveloped countries, and we know that water was a major concern for every nation in ancient times. The Roman government built massive aqueducts to transport water to its people, and ancient Israel’s kings survived by constructing tunnels and digging wells. How is our water stewardship in America?

How much water does it take to run an average home in America? The answer is 109,500 gallons per year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The University of Montana reports it takes between 109,000 and 136,000 gallons of water to produce a ton of alfalfa hay for cattle feed. One gallon of milk requires 1000 gallons of water, but most of that goes toward growing the cattle feed. Producing a quarter-pound hamburger patty consumes 450 gallons of water, most of which is used to feed and water the cattle.

A significant portion of the water used in agriculture comes from wells in the Midwest, known as the “grain belt.” The Cambrian-Ordovician deep sandstone aquifer underlies this region. According to Wikipedia, “The water from the aquifer is being pumped up and drained by agriculture, commercial, and residential use that is unsustainable.” Many wells are drying up, and additional wells are being drilled deeper to meet the demands.

God told Adam, “Take care of the garden, dress it and keep it” (Genesis 2:15). Recently, humans have not been following that command. In some areas, injection wells are used to dispose of waste, often injecting it into the same aquifers that supply our drinking water. Can we become more efficient in our water use? There’s no doubt that we need to.

The teachings of Christ urge us to serve and care for others. Providing food and water to those in need is part of that. Christianity isn’t about church buildings or political activism. Taking care of the garden involves responsible water stewardship. God has given us the resources and wisdom to address this issue. We must live out Christian principles of love and service to others, and humanity’s future survival depends on teaching these principles to our youth.

January 5, 2026December 30, 2025

Planet Earth is a Very Special Place

People often dream of leaving Earth and exploring or establishing residency elsewhere in the universe. Whether it is Star Wars, Star Trek, or The Martian Chronicles, entertainment media suggest that soon, humans won’t be limited to the planet on which we were born. What these people may not realize is that planet Earth is a very special place, carefully designed to support and protect life from deadly forces.

The Sun provides the heat, light, and energy essential for life on Earth, but its nuclear processes also release energy that can be harmful. Stars in other parts of our galaxy emit radiation capable of ionizing atoms in living cells, destroying them. Some of these radiation forms can be easily blocked—beta and alpha particles can be stopped by plastic, glass, or aluminum. But higher-energy radiation, like gamma rays, X-rays, and high-energy particles such as protons, neutrons, and HZEs (high-energy ions), requires heavy shielding like lead, concrete, or thick layers of water. Of course, building shields of such materials around a spaceship isn’t practical.

Scientists are exploring ways to use magnetism or exotic energy sources to solve this problem—and they may succeed someday. The point is that planet Earth is a very special place, beyond what most people understand. The author of the Genesis account had to describe creation in a way ancient shepherds could understand, yet one that scientists in 2026 couldn’t dismiss as just an old myth.

Genesis 1:1 in Hebrew reads, “reshith elohim bara shamayim erets.” The ancient shepherd would read “In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth.” A scientist reading these words in 2026 would understand that the author was describing a beginning to time, caused by an intelligence outside of space and time, that created a planet with water so carbon-based life could live on it.” Planet Earth is a very special place.

Reference: American Scientist, January/February 2026, pages 40-47. For more on the language of Genesis 1, go to “God’s Revelation in His Rocks and in His Word,” on doesgodexist.org.