The most recent studies of the makeup of the cosmos suggest to us that only 4% of the cosmos is made up of ordinary matter; 26% is made up of what is called exotic dark matter, and 70% of what is called dark energy (see Scientific American, January, 2001, pages 37-53).
http://www.doesgodexist.org/MarApr02/MakingGodHuman.htmlWHAT IS THE COSMOS MADE OF? The changes that have taken place in our understanding of the makeup of the cosmos is incredible. When I graduated from college in 1959, the cosmos was made up of atoms and parts of atoms that were observable in the laboratory. Binding energy particles like neutrinos had been mathematically predicted, but really not observed. In the 1980s it became obvious that there was matter in the cosmos that had not been observed, but which held the cosmos together. Called dark matter, this material's nature still is debated, but it is obvious that it exists in some form. In 1998 it became apparent that the cosmos is accelerating in its motion; and within the past three years experimental evidence does not leave any doubt that this is in fact happening. The Space Telescope Science Institute has just released this picture of the cosmos:
.03% Heavy Elements--elements created by nuclear fusion that we and our planet are made of.
.3% Neutrinos--particles with very small masses that permeate space.
.5%` Stars--gaseous balls ignited by gravitational pressure, producing nuclear fusion.
4% Free hydrogen and helium--gas floating in interstellar space.
30% Dark Matter--unseen matter that holds the cosmos together.
65% Dark Energy--undetermined force of the cosmos that expands and accelerates the cosmos
We would suggest that this picture speaks highly of the complexity of the cosmos, a complexity that denies chance and speaks highly of how special a place we live in.
--Reference: USA Today, June 4, 2001, page 7D
http://doesgodexist.org/SepOct01/NewsNotes.htmlGhost Galaxies.When discussing the evidence that the Creation did not happen by chance, one area that has enormous bearing is how many conditions in space have to be exactly right. An excellent example of this is the fact that not all galaxies are the same. Our galaxy is a spiral type b galaxy. What that means is that our galaxy has arms wound with medium tightness and has enormous amounts of interstellar matter--lots of material to make planets out of.
The most abundant kind of galaxy in space is the elliptical galaxy. Over 80% of all galaxies in space are elliptical galaxies--but elliptical galaxies have very little interstellar material! There is nothing to make a planet out of in an elliptical galaxy. We would not look for life in a place like that.
New studies by astronomers have shown a new type of galaxy called a ghost galaxy. These galaxies contain few, if any, stars at all. They seem to be made up of dark matter and perhaps a few dim stars. These objects are smaller than our Milky Way, but they show that conditions for a planet that can sustain life are even more difficult than man has previously understood. (Reference: Science News, Vol. 155, January 30, 1999, page 79.)
http://www.doesgodexist.org/JulAug99/NewsNotes.htmlNew Understandings of the composition of the cosmos.New tools of astronomy have given mankind a much better picture of the cosmos in which we live. These devices measure things that cannot be seen by the naked eye and tell us more about how the cosmos holds together. Our direct observation of ordinary matter called baryonic matter such as protons and electrons shows us that it makes up only 5% of the mass of the universe. The number of particles of this form of matter is consistently being measured at 1078 (or one with 78 zeros after it). Microwave telescope observations are telling us that .005% of the cosmos is made up of radiation by mass, and neutrinos are being measured to make up .3%. Cold dark matter that holds galaxies together makes up 25% of the mass of the cosmos, but scientists are unsure what it is made up of. The acceleration of the expansion of the cosmos tells us that dark energy makes up 70% of the cosmos, and extensive research is going on to see what the nature of this energy is. All of this is showing that much of what we have understood about the makeup of the cosmos was greatly oversimplified, and the design features that allow it to exist are even larger than we imagined.
--Reference: Scientific American, March 2003, page 48-59.
http://www.doesgodexist.org/MayJun03/NewsNotes.html
