Good Heavens! The Human Side of Astronomy

Did you know there names of artists, musicians, poets, writers, and sculptors given to craters on Mercury? Yes indeed! You'll have to listen to our broadcast to find out who's made the list!

It is, as we say here on Good Heavens!, the human side of astronomy. And we think it's an entirely appropriate connection to link creators to a planet which is itself a work of art from THE Creator of the heavens and earth, our Lord Jesus Christ (Genesis 1; John 1; Colossians 1; Hebrews 1).

So come and consider the poetic sculpture of the planet Mercury with Wayne and Dan on this episode of Good Heavens!

NASA Press Conference on the Messenger Probe sent to Mercury.
https://youtu.be/ZCclu4c9Yk4?si=U-RB5NAmdWQhkMtH

Article on evidence Mercury may be young, not old.
https://creation.com/en/articles/mercurys-magnetic-field-is-young

Additional Resources from Watchman Fellowship.

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 (around 700 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: www.watchman.org/Notebook
Watchman Fellowship's New Book about How to Talk to Latter-day Saint Missionaries! www.watchman.org/questions
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.

Why does the planet Mercury exist? How did it form? Why does it behave so strangely? What is the "message" of our solar system's furthest interior orb?  What is a spin-orbit resonance and how did it come about?

On part one of our September episode of Good Heavens! Wayne and Dan explore some of the wonders and mysteries of the messenger planet. Come and see!

NASA Press Conference on the Messenger Probe sent to Mercury.
https://youtu.be/ZCclu4c9Yk4?si=U-RB5NAmdWQhkMtH

Article on evidence Mercury may be young, not old.
https://creation.com/en/articles/mercurys-magnetic-field-is-young

Additional Resources from Watchman Fellowship.

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 (around 700 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: www.watchman.org/Notebook
Watchman Fellowship's New Book about How to Talk to Latter-day Saint Missionaries! www.watchman.org/questions
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.

We are storytellers. From childhood fairy tales to the most erudite and complex cosmological theories, we use good stories to communicate truth.

What exactly then is the story of the cosmos? Is there one? And what can modern science tell us about this story?

Good science communicators attempt to answer these questions, composing their explanations about the heavens into meaningful and compelling narratives. But is the modern story of the cosmos the true story of the cosmos?

Most scientific theories about the universe take little or no account for God. The universe is only or "just" what it is made of, just what it does, nothing more.

But we here at Good Heavens! believe there is a true and good story about the universe that includes where it came from, what it all means, and to whom it points.

Jesus.

As Colossians 1 proclaims, "For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven" (Colossians 1.17-20, NASB 1995).

Astrophysicist Jeff Zweerink is a former senior research scholar at Reasons to Believe (RTB). He earned a BS in physics and a PhD in astrophysics from Iowa State University with a focus on gamma rays. He taught at and ran the planetarium at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, until postdoctoral research in gamma rays led him to the University of California, Riverside.

Jeff spent years working on the STACEE and VERITAS gamma-ray telescopes and was involved in research projects such as the Solar Two project and the Whipple Collaboration. He continues to work as a project scientist at UCLA on GAPS, a balloon experiment seeking to detect dark matter. Zweerink is also a coauthor of more than 30 academic papers published in peer-reviewed journals such as Astrophysical Journal, Astroparticle Physics, and Astrobiology.

While an undergrad at Iowa State University, he heard astrophysicist and RTB founder Hugh Ross speak on the constructive integration of science and the Christian faith. Ten years later, a professor encouraged Zweerink to enroll in RTB’s volunteer apologists program. This involvement eventually led to a scholar position in 2005.

Today, Zweerink writes and speaks on the compatibility of science and the Christian faith and on evidence for intentional design from multiverse theory and exoplanets, as well as artificial intelligence (AI). His speaking engagements take him to universities, conferences, churches, high schools, youth groups, and other venues around the world. His books include Is There Life Out There?, Who’s Afraid of the Multiverse?, Escaping the Beginning?, and Building Bridges (coauthor). He has also made many media appearances on television, radio, and in print.

Zweerink and his wife, Lisa, live in Southern California and have five children.

Image credit (Crab Nebula): Hubble Space Telescope, NASA, Goddard.

Two-part episode with cosmologist Dr. Luke Barnes on C.S. Lewis' science fiction.
Part One
Part Two

Watchman Fellowship Resources on the Question of Aliens, UFOs, and UAPs:

Free Four-Page Profile Articles
UFOs and UAPs
Raelians
Heaven's Gate
Disclosure Day
The Urantia Book

Podcast Episodes on UFOs, Aliens, and Extraterrestrials
Aliens, Evolution, and Intelligent Design
What is the Message of Spielberg’s Disclosure Day?
UFOS and Aliens
Ufologist Gary Bates Part One
Ufologist Gary Bates Part Two
Ancient Aliens? No.
Daniel’s interview with Sasha Sagan, the daughter of the late planetary astronomer Carl Sagan

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 (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.

Program Note:

Daniel misspoke about the Tycho and Kepler supernovae. They were not the last to be seen in the universe but the last two supernovae to be seen in the Milky Way galaxy.

 

A great deal of time, effort, and tax dollars have been spent to explore the heavens. But even after all the expenditures, secular astronomy and cosmology are still unable to say what it all means. Some have suggested the universe doesn't mean anything, that it just is. Others say we can make up our own meaning.

But we here at Good Heavens! believe the universe exists for one main purpose, to declare the glory and the righteousness of God, to display His handiwork and remind us of His many invisible attributes (Psalm 19; 50.6; Romans 1.18ff; Colossians 1.16ff).

Here on this episode we sit down with Christian and astrophysicist Dr. Jeff Zweerink and get his thoughts about how he sees the universe pointing him to the glory of God.

Astrophysicist Jeff Zweerink is a former senior research scholar at Reasons to Believe (RTB). He earned a BS in physics and a PhD in astrophysics from Iowa State University with a focus on gamma rays. He taught at and ran the planetarium at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, until postdoctoral research in gamma rays led him to the University of California, Riverside.

Jeff spent years working on the STACEE and VERITAS gamma-ray telescopes and was involved in research projects such as the Solar Two project and the Whipple Collaboration. He continues to work as a project scientist at UCLA on GAPS, a balloon experiment seeking to detect dark matter. Zweerink is also a coauthor of more than 30 academic papers published in peer-reviewed journals such as Astrophysical Journal, Astroparticle Physics, and Astrobiology.

While an undergrad at Iowa State University, he heard astrophysicist and RTB founder Hugh Ross speak on the constructive integration of science and the Christian faith. Ten years later, a professor encouraged Zweerink to enroll in RTB’s volunteer apologists program. This involvement eventually led to a scholar position in 2005.

Today, Zweerink writes and speaks on the compatibility of science and the Christian faith and on evidence for intentional design from multiverse theory and exoplanets, as well as artificial intelligence (AI). His speaking engagements take him to universities, conferences, churches, high schools, youth groups, and other venues around the world. His books include Is There Life Out There?, Who’s Afraid of the Multiverse?, Escaping the Beginning?, and Building Bridges (coauthor). He has also made many media appearances on television, radio, and in print.

Zweerink and his wife, Lisa, live in Southern California and have five children.

Image credit (Helix Nebula): NASA/JPL-Caltech, Spitzer Space Telescope.

Two-part episode with cosmologist Dr. Luke Barnes on C.S. Lewis' science fiction.
Part 1:  https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/jwalker55293/episodes/2026-06-28T22_00_00-07_00

Part 2: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/jwalker55293/episodes/2026-07-05T22_00_00-07_00

Watchman Fellowship Resources on the Question of Aliens, UFOs, and UAPs:

Free Four-Page Profile Articles
UFOs and UAPs
Raelians
Heaven's Gate
Disclosure Day
The Urantia Book

Podcast Episodes on UFOs, Aliens, and Extraterrestrials
Aliens, Evolution, and Intelligent Design
What is the Message of Spielberg’s Disclosure Day?
UFOS and Aliens
Ufologist Gary Bates Part One
Ufologist Gary Bates Part Two
Ancient Aliens? No.
Daniel’s interview with Sasha Sagan, the daughter of the late planetary astronomer Carl Sagan

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 (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.

Venus 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.