Earlier today, I had the privilege of catching up with an old friend. As we took time to catch up on life, I was asked a question I have never been asked before, “What motivates you to explore faith and science?” The question was surprisingly hard to answer, thinking of the many things that draw me to both theology and science. At one point of the conversation, I shared that one of the driving factors for me is the constant call to mystery, delving deeper and deeper into the truths of the world we live in and the God we love. In particular, I noted that one of the big mistakes I often see being made by hyper literalist Christians and Neo-Atheist Scientists is that both presume to know all that is necessary to make definitive claims about God’s existence and/or how the world actually works. The healthy approach to these questions is to embrace intellectual and spiritual humility, realizing that most contributions to human knowledge on God and the world are very small at best. It is likely that even the best of scientific theory or theological visions will be shown to be insufficient or in error with time. Nevertheless, these “small” contributions are necessary to advance one of the greatest conversations of human history: The exploration of truth, trying to understand our beginning, end, meaning, and purpose.
Credit: New Horizons Image of Pluto – NASAToday, NASA has shared the latest information on Pluto that was produced by the New Horizons Mission. Similar to the conversation with my friend, the report explains that there is a great many surprises about Pluto that we never would have known unless NASA took the risk to traveled to this magnificent Dwarf Planet. It reminds me that these surprises don’t lead the world to question science, but invites all of us to a deeper knowledge of the world we live in. Below are the top findings that the New Horizons team have discovered about Pluto. (Note: Many of the surface items that are referenced in this list are called “informal.” This designation is due to the fact that these names of features have yet to be formally approved by the International Astronomical Union.)
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The age-dating of Pluto’s surface through crater counts has revealed that Pluto has been geologically active throughout the past 4 billion years. Further, the surface of Pluto’s informally-named Sputnik Planum, a massive ice plain larger than Texas, is devoid of any detectable craters and estimated to be geologically young – no more than 10 million years old.
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Pluto’s moon Charon has been discovered to have an ancient surface. As an example, the great equatorial expanse of smooth plains on Charon informally named Vulcan Planum (home of the “moated mountains” informally named Kubrick and Clarke Mons) is likely a vast cryovolcanic flow or flows that erupted onto Charon’s surface about 4 billion years ago. These flows are likely related to the freezing of an internal ocean that globally ruptured Charon’s crust.
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The distribution of compositional units on Pluto’s surface – from nitrogen-rich, to methane-rich, to water-rich – has been found to be surprisingly complex, creating puzzles for understanding Pluto’s climate and geologic history. The variations in surface composition on Pluto are unprecedented elsewhere in the outer solar system.
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Pluto’s upper atmospheric temperature has been found to be much colder (by about 70 degrees Fahrenheit) than had been thought from Earth-based studies, with important implications for its atmospheric escape rate. Why the atmosphere is colder is a mystery.
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Composition profiles for numerous important species in Pluto’s atmosphere (including molecular nitrogen, methane, acetylene, ethylene and ethane) have been measured as a function of altitude for the first time.
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Also for the first time, a plausible mechanism for forming Pluto’s atmospheric haze layers has been found. This mechanism involves the concentration of haze particles by atmospheric buoyancy waves (called “gravity waves” by atmospheric scientists), created by winds blowing over Pluto’s mountainous topography.
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Before the flyby, the presence of Pluto’s four small moons raised concerns about debris hazards in the system. But the Venetia Burney Student Dust Counter only counted a single dust particle within five days of the flyby. This is similar to the density of dust particles in free space in the outer solar system — about 6 particles per cubic mile — showing that the region around Pluto is, in fact, not filled with debris.
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New Horizons’ charged-particle instruments revealed that the interaction region between the solar wind and Pluto’s atmosphere is confined on the dayside of Pluto to within 6 Pluto radii, about 4,500 miles (7,000 kilometers). This is much smaller than expected before the flyby, and is likely due to the reduced atmospheric escape rate found from modeling of ultraviolet atmospheric occultation data.
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The high albedos (reflectiveness) of Pluto’s small satellites – about 50 to 80 percent – are entirely different from the much lower albedos of the small bodies in the general Kuiper Belt population, which range from about 5 to 20 percent. This difference lends further support to the idea that these satellites were not captured from the general Kuiper Belt population, but instead formed by agglomeration in a disk of material produced in the aftermath of the giant collision that created the entire Pluto satellite system.
Credit: New Horizons Image of Pluto – NASAReading over this list of discoveries provides a fascinating example of how coming to know something through science is like pealing an onion. Right when you think you have come to the truth of something, you find layer upon layer upon layer of new discoveries that need to be explored. Theology, in many ways, is no different in its exploration of God. Yes, all has been revealed through Jesus Christ, but the exploration of what this revelation means is a lifelong journey of “pealing” layer upon layer to deepen our understanding of God and the world. In light of this, science and theology emerge as the never ending exploration of truth, inviting all of us to humbly enter this conversation of awe and wonder.
In conclusion, I find no better summary of exploring the great mysteries of our world than the words of Curt Niebur from NASA, referenced at the end of today’s news release: “This is why we explore,”… “The many discoveries from New Horizons represent the best of humankind and inspire us to continue the journey of exploration to the solar system and beyond.” Let us give thanks that God has allowed us to live in a time of great discovery. And my these discoveries become the backdrop for future generations to continue this great discussion, deepening our love of God and the world we live in.
