Earth’s Space Storm Shield
Recent reseach about space reveal new scientific discoveries presenting that our Earth and the universe are created from nothing. New observations from a NASA spacecraft revealed that the Earth’s outer athmosphere acts like a heat shield by absorbing energy from space storms.
Scientific observations reveal that a layer in the Earth’s outer atmosphere acts like a shield by absorbing energy from space storms which reduces their ability to heat the lower athmosphere. This way this layer fulfills a mission of vital importance for the survival of life on Earth.
However, it imposes a heavy toll for its services by creating a billion-degree cloud of electrified gas, or plasma, that surrounds our planet. The plasma cloud is so ferociously hot, its particles act like radiation, occasionally disrupting satellites in mid to high orbits.
Although past space missions gave provisional evidence for this behavior, IMAGE (NASA's Imager for Magnetopause to Aurora Global Exploration) provides the first global picture of the active role Earth's ionosphere plays in space storms, which is very different from the earlier view that the solar wind itself supplied the energetic particles responsible for these storms.
Space shield in action
The Earth's space storm shield is a tenuous layer of the outer atmosphere (outer ionosphere) between 300-1,000 kilometers high that includes electrically charged atoms. "Just as a heat shield sacrifices itself by allowing its outer layers to slough off during the fiery reentry of a spacecraft, Earth's shield absorbs space storm energy by throwing some of its charged particles into space," said Stephen Fuselier of the Lockheed-Martin Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, Calif., who is lead author of the first of two papers on this discovery to be published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
Our world is protected from space storms by this miraculous system based on extremly delicate balances. This special system surely did not come into existence by itself. It is our All Mighty Allah Who created this perfect system in the universe.
Another threat the storm shield protects us from is the sun winds. These winds that blow with 400 kps are made up of electrically charged particles that rapidly pass through the Earth’s magnetic field. During this voyage a tremendous electric current of millions of ampers come into being. This electric current moves towards the magnetic field lines which are invisible to the eye and, especially on the polar regions, trillions of watt of energy are pumped to the athmosphere.
In the absence of storm shield of the Earth, this heat coming from a huge electric current would render life on Earth impossible. The magnetic field of the world prevents the direct striking of sun winds to our atmosphere and the erosions that occur in time.
By means of the unique system our Lord creates the sun winds strike magnetosphere and enclose our planet. These explosions reach a greater speed and density with the explosions in the Sun and the force of the collision attain even greater dimensions with the contribution of space storms. Our Earth that is exposed to this intense storm bombardment is protected by means of this shield, which is one of the proofs of Allah’s superior creation.
The Skies are a protected ceiling
The protective structure of the atmosphere may not occur to the mind of the majority of people who look at the heavens. However our atmosphere acts almost as a conscious being that struggles to protect our world. All scientific observations affirm that life on Earth is protected by this feature of the atmosphere. This in turn shows us that with its flawless creation, Allah gave the atmosphere to our service.
Another point that deserves mention here is the fact that this perfect system Allah created in the atmosphere is also proclaimed in the Qur’an. In one verse of the Qur’an Allah relates this important feature of the atmosphere which is discovered by the technology of the 21st century:
We made the sky a preserved and protected roof yet still they turn away from Our Signs. (Surat al-Anbiya’: 32)
Another important feature of the atmosphere is its system of reflecting.
The two outermost layers of the atmosphere are the ionosphere and magnetosphere. Ionosphere reflects the radio waves coming from the Earth back to the Earth and ensures that broadcasts are received from far distances. Magnetosphere, on the other hand, collects the harmful radioactive particles emanating from the Sun and other stars and send them back to the space before reaching the Earth. All these reveal that there is a very perfect system of reflection in the atmosphere.
That the best environment is laid for the survival of life on Earth is a proof of Allah’s flawless and harmonious creation. In the Qur’an Allah states that He is the Owner of everything in the world and everything submits to Him. In the Surat al-Baqara Allah relates thus:
No, everything in the heavens and earth belongs to Him. Everything is obedient to Him (Surat al-Baqara, 116-117)