The Mysterious Rings of Uranus

Genesis 1:16
"And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also."

Space probes have now reached the farthest points of our solar system, and we have learned more about the outer planets in 24 hours than astronomers learned in the past century.

For example, we have learned that all four of the outer planets are surrounded by rings. Apart from being quite beautiful, planetary rings are truly a wonder. The rings are only inches thick and comprised of dust and ice in neat bands; it is a very unlikely and unstable structure. Every astronomer knows that the forces of the solar wind, of gravity, and the unavoidable laws of physics should have destroyed a planetary ring in less than a million years. But at the same time astronomers believe that the solar system is billions of years old. How can this be?

To save the situation, astronomers have theorized that there must be small "shepherding satellites" which help hold the rings together for long periods of time. They have found satellites around Saturn and believe they may be the shepherding satellites. But now an exhaustive study of Voyager 2's data from Uranus has shown perfect rings without any "shepherding satellites." This is held to be a real mystery.

Yet, there is no mystery if the Bible is an accurate history of the entire creation, starting at the beginning, not billions but only thousands of years ago.

Photo: Hubble Space Telescope near-infrared image of Uranus showing cloud bands, rings, and moons. (PD)
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