The very first website I ever visited was NASA.com (.gov?) in the early 90s.

But we still have to shake religions before we really start to open our minds at what IS out there.

Some day...

And there are still people saying there is no God.
He is the Master of the Universe.
And to think the same God that made this knows You by name.....

the other way around, Rob, I think religion and spirituality started when our ancestors began to look into the stars ...

We don't have to shake anything except the people that take the bible literally, like the 7 day creation, which some people use to support their untruthful religion theories.

This is the perfect example of narrow minded human thinking.

Tell me how long a human day (earth rotation) should be for any form of mater or for every place at any speed in universe and then I will tell you if the universe can or can't be built on 7 days.

The typical human brain cannot expand 15 feet beyond the vision of its host.

We will destory our selves quite soon (War, terrorism, Enviroment - global warming that is starting to get out of control ahead of time) long before we have the ability to see the stars...

What wonders exist out there.... we are nothing more than a Virus - killing our host (earth) with pure stupidity.

Chances of seeing 2100... not much.

You seem to take the Leninist stance that science and religion are incompatible. Galileo Galilei often considered the father of modern astronomy was a devout Roman Catholic. To him understanding our world was to understand God. I'm not here trying to force religion on anybody, but its seems unfair to accuse religion for lack of scientific progress.

"But we still have to shake religions before we really start to open our minds at what IS out there."



That is one of the most ignorant things I have ever read, congrats...

stem cells anyone? anyone?

So you'll be making sure never to have kids, then?

How about billions. :P

Galileo Galilei was imprisoned for proposing that the earth moved around the sun. "The proposition that the sun is in the center of the world and immovable from its place is absurd, philosophically false, and formally heretical; because it is expressly contrary to Holy Scriptures".

How exactly do religion and science move hand in hand, again? If one is complacent with the idea of leaving people to die simply because the one thinks it is contrary to religious morale, one is no better than a caveman who sacrifices his own son to the big bad mountain which spits fire.

Individuals should neither accept nor reject ideas proposed as truth without recourse to knowledge and reason. Thus, people should strive to build their beliefs on the basis of facts, scientific inquiry, and logical principles, independent of the factual/logical fallacies and intellectually-limiting effects of authority, cognitive bias, conventional wisdom, popular culture, prejudice, sectarianism, tradition, urban legend and all other dogmatic or otherwise fallacious principles. When applied to religion, the philosophy of a modern mind holds that, given presently-known facts, established scientific theories, and logical principles, there is insufficient evidence to support the existence of supernatural phenomena.

If it was not due to the ignorance we so hold dear, we would have a colony on Mars by now. Or a Mass Driver on the moon ^_^

Wtf? The planet is perfectly fine...We're going to blow our asses up is what you mean...We pose no threat at all to the world...Not even the slightest.

In contrast to the myriad of solar systems on the Hubble image, our host planet is precisely far enough from the sun to allow life; a bit closer would be death by fire, and a bit farther would be death by freezing. It turns on its axis precisely long enough to allow plant life enough sun so as not to burn up, nor too much night so as not to freeze. It is precisely tilted on its axis to allow for seasonal change and thus planting and sowing of crops at northern and southern lattitudes. It's size, it's mass and so forth is precisely right for gravity's important role in all biological processes. The atmosphere has the precise amount of oxygen, nitrogen, etc. to sustain life. A few percentage points of more oxygen would cause burnout, and less would slow the bio-processes. It is all in balance, notwithstanding man-made greenhouse gasses and resulting ozone problems, which threaten to disturb the many delicate balances of nature on our planet. To the atheist who sees himself as enlightened and not subject to the "darkness" of religion, all of this is just happenstance, lucky circumstances, which the universe is big enough to allow some repetition out there. The person of faith, on the other hand, believes that an intelligent and all-wise creator is behind the creation of the many delicate balances of our planet, even one of which, were it to fail, would take all our lives along with it. Life is a gift. To echo Opicu's comment, spirituality and religion are just a response to the awe that the creation inspires. The shaking started a long while ago, and continues every day.

Let's get rid of the religion known as Liberalism, while we're at it. I prefer One Big God to a bunch of little self-proclaimed ones.

Getting back to the matter at hand, that's an impressive photo for an old hunk floating out in space...

all the "precisely's" are due to the weeding out of those that could not evolve and adapt to the conditions, not deliberately set by a superior being to accommodate the "lesser" beings on earth... we know the physical conditions of our world (the axis tilt, atmosphere composition, rate of rotation, distance from our host, etc.) were more or less established long before life existed on earth. therefore, it's life that had adapted to these conditions rather than their being set to accommodate life. those that could not adapt suffered extinction and those fit enough survived on these... any change to these conditions could upset life that was established on them, simple as that.

I agree with Barlog. Most of us are living in denial and pretend that the world is perfect. We might not blow ourselves up, but we are a threat to nature and the world itself. You watch too much TV without realizing whats really happening in the world.

Jeff you are right although most of you consider everything spiritual as being a religion. It is extremely important to underline and differentiate a believer and a religion. I am a strong believer in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross although I hate religion and all this. Let me explain something extremely critical. Religion is about what can man do for God, Christianity (believers in Christ) is really about what God did for man. When Jesus died on the cross he explicitely said: everything is done/accomplished. We now has to live according to his sacrifice. Simply love because we were love and search deeply for his will into our lives. Once again, religion is what can man do for God, Christianity is all about what God did for man and simply getting to know God.

Have a good day

This is amuzing. We're presented with an image of the spendor of the universe and the first comment is that religion must be destroyed. Followed by a defense of faith in God, followed a blow-by-blow commentary on the self destruction of the human race.

I'm not sure how astronomy brings out the worst in us. I am quite convined there is evil in this world and 'religion' doesn't have the monopoly on it.

These images show us how the universe creates other stars and planets too by itself. This process takes millions years. Maybe the creator made the universe working in that way. God offered part of it's own unlimited energy in order to create mass. Energy can't be created from 0, therefore there is a source somewhere. Finally i believe that even if people change the climate caused from global warming and ozone distraction the species on this planet will adapt to the environment. The creator gave us the gift of free will to do what is best in order to survive. No one else (Creator) will save this planet except if people decide to do so.

Nicolas, I totally agree. In religion we make "God" into our image. By faith, and I also am a believer in Jesus Christ, we receive what God has done through Christ to bridge the gap. Thanks for sharing your faith!

I am a firm beleiver in JC. I also beleive in evolution to a point. The bible never said that God created the world in 7 days and it stayed just like that for all these years. Time doesn't really mean anything to an omnipotent being. Something had to happen to all the creatures that we have fossils of. Some creatures are close enough to have arrived from older extinct creatures through evolution. All they had to do was adapt. Humans adapt every day. How about adapting they way humans think about intelligent design or devine intervention? Why couldn't God create evolution among his beloved creatures? 7 "God" days could have been millions of years in Earth time. And what exactly determines a day when there is no light as when everything began? You have to remember that the first chapters in the bible were written by a man who lived after what had happened.

But on the other hand...I know we didn't evolve from monkeys...or there'd be new species of mankind from the monkeys we do have available. They've had just as much time to evolve as we have.

B&L, I beleive in the big bang theory for the creation of the universe...God said it and BANG it happened!

Wellcome to Europe, Will, here a billion is a million of millions not a thousand of millions ;)

The Heavens declare the glory of God; the sky's proclain the works of His hand's: Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display Gods knowedge: Bible Psalms 19:1&2

We are a part of God.

Stop arguing over something no one can prove or disprove. Claiming there is an all powerful person who created everything holds the same weight as me claiming there is a toga-wearing monkey eating space bananas 1.45789 miles inside the Sun. No one can prove or disprove that claim so stop prematurely ejaculating unsound conclusions.

Ps. That image reminds me of Fruitloops. I like Fruitloops. Yes, I do.

We see what happened - our "present" passes as we sleep - to awake is the thing.

Solve all problems by deleting the money god - why do we support disease and starvation.

I welcome all of your personal quests for knowledge - you be mystics. Never seize power greater for your purpose.

Grade 1 reader - The 4th Way - Ouspensky (Gurdjieff)

Remember yourself, you are the son; and as the sun you are Him.

Religion is a business - see Pagels - The Gnostic Gospels.

To commune with the Spirit requires only that you listen to what has been trying to get your attention.

Nice millions old pix - we play catchup to the masters' plans - you think you can change that?

Money is the illusion, and if were free of that, we would all do what we know is good, and end the deliberate prolongation of disease. People suffer cos they can't buy something better, and the doctors and pharmaco's and the economists keep us slaves against our natural will - do you like going to work? or would you rather end suffering?

Bomb and kill - for what purpose? More? There is no lack.

Knock and the door will be opened to You.

Jesus came not to bring peace.

You be of him who is bright, and so you are bright.

That is, perhaps, the most bizarre train of thought I've ever attempted to follow.

While I think I managed to pull some bits of wisdom from your words, I cannot bring myself to condem the "worship of money", as you seem to view it, as the source of disease, starvation, war, and suffering. But, then again, I'm a capitalist. I tend to take issue with someone when they suggest that if we somehow free ourselves of our desire for money, we could all stop going to work, and suffering would end. If we all stopped going to work, those of us who actually do work, then we'd all just stand around looking at each other, and indeed all suffering would end in a month or two when everyone dies of starvation.

Perhaps you are suggesting the only work we should do is gathering food for ourselves and our family. Things worked that way at one point...before we invented stuff like the wheel and the alphabet.

You got one thing right: Jesus came not to bring peace. He came to set us free from sin.