When is a coincidence no longer a coincidence? How much careful orchestration is required to provide the phenomenon exhibited by our magnificent moon?
The moon is about one quarter the size of earth, proportionally the largest planet to moon pairing in our solar system, and indeed in much of the known universe – how odd.
The sun itself is gigantic, about a million earths could fit into the sun! It just so happens that the sun is 400 times wider than the moon BUT the moon is 400 times closer allowing for the moon to eclipse the sun perfectly – how odd.
The sun, moon, and earth sit on the same plane, called an ecliptic, and all line up in a straight line, a phenomenon called syzygy – how odd.
The moon is “tidal locked” with the earth, also called synchronous rotation, it takes the moon 27 days to orbit the earth, coincidentally it also makes a perfect rotation every 27 days, this is why we always see the same side of the moon, it never changes – how odd.
Did you know there are two high tides and two low tides, but why? The earth and moon do not rotate around at a central point between them, nor the center of the earth, but at a point within the earth closer to the moon.
Visualize this – a mom and daughter holding hands and spinning around in a circle. The mom is roughly 4 times the weight and size of the child, their gravitational center is not the bullseye in the center of their encircled arms, but rather somewhere much closer to the larger, heavier mother. Hypothetically, as the pair spin their hair floats outward, but more so in the smaller child than the parent, this represents the tidal offsets, why we see two tides, and why the earth side tide is smaller than the moon side tide. Without these tides, our climate would stagnate resulting in a snow globe; those perfectly orchestrated tides, not too high, not too low, keep our planet, and us, alive – how odd.
There are two types of solar eclipses, annular and total. Annular eclipses occur when the moon is just a little further away in its orbit, causing a partial eclipse – an enormous fiery ring.
The other eclipse, called a total eclipse, perfectly blocks out the sun’s powerful photon parade, and we are able to see, with the naked eye, the sun’s own atmosphere, called the corona, a huge streaming cascade of a faint but brilliant white light, staring back at you like the iris of an eye.
At the last few moments of the eclipse, the sun’s corona faces earth while the moon is still blocking out the sun’s rays – the eye is met with the most pleasing pearl white light one could imagine, a gorgeous spectacle that is more spiritual than tangible or describable, something bigger than all of us.
The fact that we can look up, have eyes to see, and minds to appreciate, is an unfathomable series of variables that need to be aligned perfectly to happen. What are the odds that this universe was an accident? That’s its laws are void of engineering, input, intelligence? What are the odds?
The eclipse brought millions of people together to appreciate the splendor of the synchronicity, the clockwork, the display, the orchestrated event. The universe is amazing, it was created by a designer with not just quantifiable properties, such as the speed of light, or the fine tuning of gravity and electromagnetism, but with qualifiable properties as well.
The universe isn’t just a cold mathematically improbability – it has qualities that are thoughtful. Sunsets are wild in appearance, the northern lights are shocking, curry is dreamy, the laughter of a child, the embrace of a mother, the loyalty of dog – who thought of that? How can I thank them?
I will thank them by fighting for truth and preserving this beautiful creation for yours and mine.
Enjoy and be grateful while we are here, respect this creation and perpetuate its goodness.
We want Truth and we want PEACE.
T Gunnar Balstad, Esq. & Mark Bishofsky
this is both compelling and uplifting. I know I can use a little optimism right now. Thanks!