Monday's total solar
eclipse is really
going to be something
special to see.
But this heavenly
wonder gives us
a chance to ponder
whether it shows
us there's more to this
universe than meets the eye.
Here's Paul Strand.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Many folks believe only
in what they can see.
And since they can't see God
from their observatories,
they doubt he exists.
But others watch an
amazing phenomenon
that occurs over
Earth occasionally,
a total solar eclipse like
we'll see August 21st,
and doubt such a thing can
happen just by accident.
Astronomer and
minister Hugh Ross
of the group Reasons to
Believe finds the fit
of Earth's little moon
over the humongous sun
during a total eclipse too
exact to be mere serendipity.
He sees the designing
hand of God.
The sun is 400 times farther
away from us than the moon,
but the sun is 400 times bigger.
So that's why you get a
perfect solar eclipse.
PAUL STRAND (VOICEOVER):
On the other side,
though, is astronomer
Dr. Bethany Cobb
Kung of Washington, DC's,
George Washington University.
It's a big universe, and
there are a lot of coincidences.
So I think it's just
a random happenstance.
PAUL STRAND (VOICEOVER):
Still both the believer
and the doubter are in
awe of the coming eclipse
and what they'll see.
It's going to be
a spectacular event.
And yeah, we've got a group
of about 140 people going
with us to the desert of
Oregon to view that eclipse.
It is a pretty
astounding thing
that everything lines
up just right for us
to have this experience.
We're going to try to
get our telescopes up
on top of the hill
where people will
be able to watch the shadow
of the sun race towards us
at about 800 miles an hour.
PAUL STRAND (VOICEOVER):
The zone across America
that will see the
moon 100% block
the sun is only about
100 kilometers wide,
but no one should despair.
If you're not in
that path of totality,
there's still going to be
a partial solar eclipse
throughout the entire US.
So here in Washington,
DC, for example, the sun's
going to be about 80% blocked.
PAUL STRAND (VOICEOVER):
Kung's planning
to set up her telescope outside
on the George Washington
University campus.
And just grab anybody who
happens to be walking by
and say, hey, you want
to see a solar eclipse?
PAUL STRAND
(VOICEOVER): But she's
warning everyone they have to
wear special eclipse glasses.
The sun is so bright that
you can really damage your eye.
You can literally burn your
retina if you look at the sun
without any protection.
And it's so bright that you need
to block 99.99% of the light
in order to look at it safely.
PAUL STRAND (VOICEOVER):
Pastor Ross, meanwhile,
ponders just how many examples
of divine, precise fine tuning
he sees from the moon to the
farthest reaches of the Milky
Way, like the fact that the
mass and placement of our moon,
and all planets, comets, and
asteroids of this solar system
have to be exactly
like they are.
The entire solar system has
been highly fine-tuned to make
possible the existence
of advanced life here.
PAUL STRAND (VOICEOVER): The
California-based astronomer
points out it's like that
for the entire Milky Way.
Reasons to Believe has
calculated the probability--
854 features across the galaxy
could be so exactly fine-tuned.
Without the supernatural
intervention of the creator God
of the Bible to make advanced
life possible here on planet
Earth, and that
probability, we calculate,
must be much less than one
chance in 10 to the 1,050th
power.
That's a little
hard to visualize.
But it'd be like someone winning
a big old California lottery
150 times in a row
when they've only
bought one ticket each time.
Makes it a little hard to
believe there's no fine-tuning
designer behind all this.
Paul Strand, CBN News, reporting
from Herndon, Virginia.
