Podcast
Good Heavens! The Human Side of Astronomy
Hosted by goodheavens · EN
A podcast about astronomy and faith with Wayne and Dan. Making astronomy relevant and understandable.
14episodes
Episodes
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The Wonders of Venus!
2d ago01:10:22Tap to summarizeVenus is the morning and evening star, often mistaken for a plane or UFO. Named after the Greco-Roman goddess of love, Venus is anything but hospitable to human life. Tornado-like windspeeds in the upper atmosphere, a crushingly suffocating and poisonous atmosphere, a harsh, volcano-covered surface, all make us marvel and wonder. What exactly is Venus? Here on this month's Good Heavens! episode Wayne and Dan ponder aloud the mysteries and wonders of the second planet from the sun and how they think Venus points us to the glory of God in Christ. Thumbnail image from NASA: Radar Observations of Venus "This hemispheric view of Venus was created using radar observations, including images from NASA's Magellan spacecraft. Magellan imaged more than 98% of Venus. Gaps in the Magellan coverage were filled with images from the Earth-based Arecibo radar. The composite image was processed to improve contrast and to emphasize small features, and was color-coded to represent elevation. Magellan launched on May 4, 1989, and was deployed from the cargo bay of Space Shuttle Atlantis on May 5, 1989. The spacecraft orbited Venus from Aug. 10, 1990, until Oct. 13, 1994 when the spacecraft was commanded to plunge into the atmosphere of Venus." Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/USGS Good Heavens! is a production of Watchman Fellowship, Inc., Arlington, Texas. Check us out at Watchman.org FREE: We offer a FREE a subscription to our 4-page bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/Free PROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (around 700 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: www.watchman.org/Notebook SUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/Give Good Heavens! is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © 2026 Watchman Fellowship, Inc. Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms. To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens. This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.
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Get Thee Up Into the High Mountain (Isaiah 40:9)
Jun 100:28:24Tap to summarizeMountain peaks and summits make for excellent platforms for observing the glory of God. How might the summit of the dormant volcano of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, with its thirteen active telescopes operated by 11 different countries, point us to the glory of God and what God has done for us in Jesus? Thumbnail image: The James Clerk Maxwell Telescope atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The telescope is operated by the East Asian Observatory https://www.eaobservatory.org/jcmt/public/gallery/images/ Good Heavens! is a production of Watchman Fellowship, Inc., a nonprofit educational research ministry. Check out Watchman Fellowship's free Profile articles! The profiles provide an insightful analysis of beliefs, individuals, worldviews, and other religions impacting our world today. Charles DarwinNaturalismScientismDeconstructionAtheismRichard DawkinsNihilism Additional Resources: FREE: We are also offering a subscription to our 4-page bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/Free PROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (two volumes totalling over 700 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: www.watchman.org/Notebook SUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/Give Good Heavens! is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © 2026 Watchman Fellowship, Inc. Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms. To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens. This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.
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The Wonders of the Moon!
May 101:22:37Tap to summarizeThis month, Wayne and Dan go to the moon (sort of)! We talk about the historic Artemis II mission, discuss some scientific mysteries about the moon, read some moon poetry and scripture which mentions the moon. We also, hopefully, make sense of how we see the moon pointing us to the glory of God in Christ. Image credits in the thumbnail. Moon and Earth - Artemis II crew and NASA. Astronaut cake topper, Jennifer Blevins. Links n things we mentioned in the broadcast. NASA Press Conference Artemis II https://www.youtube.com/live/_43Ei9eQVww Dan's recent article on the moon. https://watchmanblog.substack.com/p/the-discarded-timepiece Artemis II photographs of the moon and earth https://www.nasa.gov/artemis-ii-multimedia/ Dan's full interview with Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke from April 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmGsoZklgcs Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms. To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens. This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.
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What in the World is a Platypus Galaxy?!
Mar 3101:27:12Tap to summarizeCome and see!Yet another discovery courtesy of the James Webb Space Telescope, something over which astronomers are presently puzzling!A star? A quasar? A galaxy? It's not something that astronomers have ever seen before. Like the Platypus, these objects are hard to categorize. How does this latest curious heavenly object remind us of the One who created them?Wayne and Dan have some ideas! Join us!Wayne's article on the PlatypusAccessible YouTube video on the Platypus Galaxies Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms. To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens. This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.
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Too Many Galaxies For God?
Feb 2300:20:33Tap to summarizeRecently, cosmologist Dr. Sean Carroll suggested that the amount of galaxies in our universe is not something we would expect if God created the universe. But how does Dr. Carroll know what we should expect a God-created universe to look like? That's a question we explore on this month's episode of Good Heavens! Come and see! The thumbnail image of this month's episode is an enormous field of galaxies, thousands of them, released by NASA and the ESA last April. You can read more about this stunning image here. With the exception of the orbs of light with diffraction spikes (stars in our own Milky Way galaxy) every dot of light is a galaxy with tens or hundreds of billions of stars! (Psalm 19:1-6; Isaiah 40:26; Gen. 1:14-16). Watch the Alex O'Connor and Sean Carroll in conversation on YouTube.+ Email us and let us know how you're enjoying the podcast! Psalm1968@gmail.com. Good Heavens! is a production of Watchman Fellowship, Inc. Visit our website today at Watchman.org. Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms. To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens. This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.
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Meerkats, Comets, and the Glory of God!
Jan 1501:14:31Tap to summarizeWhat do meerkats and comets have in common? Well, besides both being created by God, which is no small thing, you'll have to just listen to this month's episode of Good Heavens! to find out the answer! If we told you everything in the show notes, you might not end up listening! This month, Wayne and Dan give some updates on the science of interstellar comet 3i-ATLAS, talk about meerkats, stars, and a fantastic new discovery announced in December of last year that has astronomers' heads spinning! Come and see! Good Heavens! is a production of Watchman Fellowship, Inc. Visit WATCHMAN.ORG today for more information on apologetics, cults, the occult, world religions, and many other non-Christian worldviews. And if you are enjoying Good Heavens! consider checking out (for free!) Watchman Fellowship's other premier podcast Apologetics Profile! Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms. To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens. This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.
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The Fascination and Enigma of Interstellar Object 3i-ATLAS!
Dec 1500:30:02Tap to summarizeWe have another interstellar visitor in the solar system, something truly out of this (particular) world! Is it an alien spacecraft? Is it a comet? A sign of the end of the world? An asteroid? Demons just messing with us? What's All the Gas About? Here on this episode of Good Heavens! we cut through all the viral hype and make some biblical sense of this wondrous interstellar object. Come and see! NASA fast facts on this mysterious object: https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/comets/3i-atlas/ Thumbnail image credit: NASA Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms. To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens. This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.
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Mission Control "Houston" with Mission Control Specialists Mark and Rita Schrock
Nov 1501:40:01Tap to summarizeThis is Mark and Rita's first-ever podcast interview! The Schrocks are fellow Christians and engineer specialists at NASA's Mission Control in Houston, Texas and share with us what working at Mission Control is like. We talk about everything from landing on the moon, to Space Shuttle missions and even what they think of aliens! And of course, we talk about how we believe it all points to the glory of God. Human space exploration is good, but it isn't safe. Mark is the chief design engineer behind the Space Shuttle's Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver which was first performed on STS-114, the first shuttle mission after the tragic loss of Columbia in February of 2003. Twenty-one shuttle missions performed Mark's RPM. Discovery: STS-114, STS-121, STS-116, STS-120, STS-124, STS-119, STS-128, STS-131, STS-133 Atlantis: STS-115, STS-117, STS-122, STS-129, STS-132, STS-135 Endeavor: STS-118, STS-123, STS-126, STS-127, STS-130, STS-134. Dan's full interview with Charlie Duke. Sound clips from Mission Control: NASA/Johnson Space Center. Reading of Psalm 19 at the beginning is Apollo 16 astronaut and CAPCOM of Apollo 11 Charlie Duke. Thumbnail image: Mark and Rita Schrock. If you zoom in, you can find Rita standing center in a black shirt and khakis. Mark is standing directly left, to Rita's right. Astronauts at the International Space Station took the autographed picture of the Mission Control Visiting Vehicle Officer group to space and hung it on a window with Earth hanging silently in the background. Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms. To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens. This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.
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Unroofing the Roof - Some Thoughts on Jesus as God
Nov 100:34:00Tap to summarizeHow does a short passage in Mark chapter 2 point to Jesus as Lord and God? And what might Jesus' healing of the paralytic say about the nature of the universe and our place within it? Can we trust Mark's account as real history? This is a short audio essay examines these questions in greater detail and hopefully provides us with some encouragement not to be discouraged in times when God seems silent. Thumbnail photo credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI, A. Pagan (STScI)). This is Pismis 24, a small star cluster in the constellation Scorpius, the Scorpion. The "small" mountain peak is over five light years in height - with a single light year being close to 6 trillion miles. That is a rather tall peak. The very One who came under our roof decorated this and all the other wondrous entities in the vaulted roof of the heavens. He who names and numbers all the stars also heals our broken hearts and binds up our wounds (Psalm 147). Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms. To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens. This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.
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New Discoveries from the Vera Rubin Observatory
Sep 1501:17:24Tap to summarizeAtheists have often claimed that the Bible makes no scientific predictions and therefore cannot be a valid source of knowledge about the universe. But this is simply unfounded. First, modern science as we understand it today did not exist thousands of years ago. To demand that our modern expectations should be imposed upon the text of Scripture is anachronistic eisegesis. It is our imposing our expectations and understanding into the texts of the Bible. But second, Psalm 19, written by King David some 3,000 years ago, tells us that the heavens are continually pouring forth speech and knowledge, day after day and night after night. Nowhere is this pouring forth more clearly demonstrated today than in the latest ground-based Simonyi Survey Telescope perched high atop the peak of El Peñón at an elevation of 8,799 feet. It is the main eye to the sky of the newly operational Vera C. Rubin Observatory in north central Chile. This technological marvel pulls down 20 terabytes of data, every night! Ten times the storage capacity size of most new computer hard drives or smart phones. Over the course of its proposed ten-year survey of the southern hemisphere, astronomers hope to collect some 500 petabytes of data in total! One petabyte is 1,000 terabytes. You can see more wonders and find out more about the telescope at the observatory's main website. https://rubinobservatory.org The image on this month's thumbnail comes from the observatory website. Wayne has written a companion article on the telescope and observatory. You can find that here. https://creationanswers.net/answersblog/2025/09/01/so-much-more-the-vera-rubin-telescope/ Other related links: https://www.astronomy.com/science/first-ever-images-released-by-the-vera-c-rubin-observatory/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_mSAqw_DBY Podbean enables our podcast to be on Apple Podcasts and other major podcast platforms. To support Good Heavens! on Podbean as a patron, you can use the Podbean app, or go to https://patron.podbean.com/goodheavens. This goes to Wayne Spencer. If you would like to give to the ministry of Watchman Fellowship or to Daniel Ray, you can donate at https://www.watchman.org/daniel. Donations to Watchman are tax deductible.
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