In 1948, according to an astronomer (and science fiction writer) by the name of George Gamow, "an explosion of nothing produced hydrogen and helium, which then shot outward, then turned and began circling and pushing itself into our present highly organized stars and galactic systems."  Did the universe really begin with nothing exploded and formed all the galaxies?

At out next Space Observatory Display, we will take a closer look at the possibilities and impossibilities of The Big Bang!  CLICK HERE to continue your tour:

CLICK HERE to return to the SPACE OBSERVATORY.

CLICK HERE to return to DISCOVERY PARK.

Did you know that the planet Jupiter has 63 confirmed moons?

In 1610, the well-known astronomer Galileo discovered four of the moons in his telescope.  They are called the "Galilean Moons" named after Galileo.

Saturn also has a number of moons -- 60 of them in all!

Wouldn't it be awesome to look up into the night sky and see 60 moons orbiting our earth?

But there is an important lesson to learn from all those moons on Jupiter and Saturn: they are not all orbiting in the same direction!

One third of their primary moons have retrograde (backward) motion, opposite to the rotational direction of their planets.

This casts some serious doubt on the feasibility of the "Big Bang" theory of the beginning of the universe because everything should be spinning and orbiting in the same direction!

Both Uranus and Venus rotate backward, compared to the other planets orbiting our sun.  The other seven planets rotate forward in relation to their orbit respective orbits.  This could not have happened if it all began with a BIG BANG!