Life on Mars

Image of Mars by WikiImages from Pixabay

Is there life on Mars?

For generations, we earthlings have conjectured about the possible existence of alien life on the planet next door to us.

I’m afraid this blog can neither confirm nor deny the presence of little green men on Mars.

Scientists do tell us, however, that water once flowed on its surface.

That’s right: the Red Planet was once blue, like Earth.

So why is Mars known today as a dusty, dry, barren place, whereas Earth still has abundant supplies of water?

The key lies in Earth’s magnetic field.

A planet’s magnetic field acts as a shield, protecting its atmosphere from being blown into space by radiation from its star.

Mars once had a magnetic field of its own. But is was both farther from the Sun and smaller than Earth to begin with. Scientists theorize that over time, its molten iron core cooled, and with it the dynamo powering its magnetic field.

As Mars’ magnetic field weakened, the Sun’s solar wind slowly stripped away its atmosphere. The water which once flowed on its surface dried up, until there was nothing left but some empty channels to hint at the rivers which once coursed through them.

Simply put, Mars let its fire burn out.

I think we can learn an important lesson from our planetary neighbour.

We shouldn’t let our fire for God fizzle out.

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The Storms of Jupiter

Image of Jupiter from NASA/ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope, via Wikimedia Commons CC 4.0

Can storms be beautiful?

Yes, if you’re far enough away from them!

The most distinctive feature of the planet Jupiter, its Great Red Spot, is actually a massive storm.

Astronomers have been observing this maelstrom continuously since 1878, but it’s likely that it had been raging for centuries before that. The size of this storm is so vast that it could swallow the entire earth.

From a safe distance away here on earth, the Great Red Spot’s colourful swirls are beautiful, like marbled ice cream or the end papers of antique books. Jupiter’s storms appear to us like abstract art; indeed, images of them have appeared on everything from posters and ties to bedsheets and yoga mats.

But up close, they’re violent tempests, howling hurricanes of ammonia and water. Because Jupiter is a gaseous planet, there is no solid ground to dissipate the energy of these swirling vortexes, as would happen on earth when a hurricane makes landfall. At its edges, the Red Spots’s wind speeds can reach 270-425 mph (430-680 km/h), over twice the speed of even the most monstrous hurricane here on earth.

Do you feel like you’re in a storm like that right now?

Perhaps you’ve been enduring heartache, unemployment, illness, or loneliness.

Maybe it seems like the tempest has been raging in your life for years. Nothing seems to slow it down. From a distance, people can’t see how destructive it is to you.

The good news is that God offers hope to those in the midst of the storms of life.

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