QUESTION:

Why would God put a little dipper and a big dipper in our night skies? Why would God put the North Star directly over the axis of this earth so that it is the only star that never moves during the night?

Answer:

God created the universe, galaxies and stars. As for constellations, these are creations of human imagination. Different cultures have seen different patterns and different constellations in what scientists would see as random location of stars in the sky. I do not believe that there is any heavenly message in the random position of stars in the skies. Of course, they are not completely random. There is a clear pattern and shape to the Milky Way galaxy, caused by the force of gravity, angular momentum and the like, but as far as I know, there is nothing about the constellations which shows evidence of God “placing” any particular star in place. As for the North Star, this star in not exactly at true north. It is just the closest bright star to true north in the sky, so is conveniently used to find north. Besides, the tilt of the earth precesses over time. This is a fancy scientific way of saying that the spin of the earth moves like a top. As a top spins rapidly on a tilted axis, it also rotates slowly. This is the result of torque and angular momentum. The result is that the direction of true north moves slowly over a time span of several thousand years through the “zodiac”. So, true north sometimes points closer, and sometimes farther from the North Star. For this reason, I do not see any divine message in the location of the stars in the sky.

Sorry if this disappoints you, but it is what I believe the data points to.

John Oakes