Seas on the Moon
Job 26:9
“He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.”
The Moon is the only object in the night sky whose surface features can be studied from the Earth without the need for a telescope. One might think that a Full Moon would be the best time to observe, but, in fact, the brightness and glare make it difficult to make out all the features. Crescents and half-moons are better, and many images of the lunar surface seen in books and on the internet are actually composites of two half-moons, rather than a full moon shot.
The most obvious feature of the Moon’s earthward-facing side are the large gray areas known as maria. This is the Latin word for seas, and at one time, it was thought that these could actually be water-filled seas. We now know that they are gray plains which scatter less incident sunlight than the mountains and craters, and, hence, appear darker. They appear to be volcanic in origin, having been formed by basaltic flows. Evolutionary astronomers believe that these lava flows happened hundreds of millions of years after a period of intense bombardment; yet, that bombardment caused the lava flows. Their problem is the existence of ghost craters – craters filled in by mare formation, but still visible in outline. Yet, they believe this cratering took place over a long period of time.
In short, the formation of the Moon’s maria is much more consistent with the biblical account of the Moon’s creation on the Fourth Day.
Prayer: Thank You, Lord, that we can explain the universe around us when we start by believing Your word. Amen.
Author: Paul F. Taylor
Ref: Psarris, S., What you are not being told about Astronomy Volume 1 (approx. 30 minute mark), < https://creationastronomy.com >, accessed 12/28/2018. Image: Mare Australis, NASA, Public Domain.
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