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Vanity of Vanities
Following on from the Book of Proverbs is Solomon's second book of wisdom, Ecclesiastes. It contains a total of 222 verses; the same as the number of verses in the Bible which include the word "wisdom". In the Hebrew Bible, the first word of Ecclesiastes 1:1 is דברי ("The words"). It's gematria value is 216. Verse 1:2 includes the key theme of the book, variously translated as:
"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity." KJV
"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." NIV
"Utter futility!" - said Koheleth - "Utter futility! All is futile!" JPS
In the original Hebrew, "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity" is written as הבל הבלים הכל הבל (Hebel Hebelim Hekel Hebel) which has a gematria value of 216. These words are repeated in Ecc 12:8, which is the 216th verse of the Book of Ecclesiastes. Clearly the number 216 requires further investigation.
"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity." KJV
"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless." NIV
"Utter futility!" - said Koheleth - "Utter futility! All is futile!" JPS
In the original Hebrew, "Vanity of vanities; all is vanity" is written as הבל הבלים הכל הבל (Hebel Hebelim Hekel Hebel) which has a gematria value of 216. These words are repeated in Ecc 12:8, which is the 216th verse of the Book of Ecclesiastes. Clearly the number 216 requires further investigation.
- the total gematria value of Ecc 1:2 = 1116
- the last verse in the Bible (Rev 22:21) has a numerical value of 8971
- 8971 is the 1116th prime number
Mathematics of 216
The number 216 is itself a cubic number, and also both the product of two cubes and the sum of three cubes (of a Pythagorean triple). So:
Plato's Number
In Plato's Republic, when discussing how the Guardians should organize a breeding program for the citizens, Socrates says:
"Though the rulers you have trained for your city are wise, reason and perception will not always enable them to hit on the right and wrong times for breeding; some time they will miss them, and then children will be begotten amiss."
Fortunately, says Socrates, it can all be worked out by mathematics:
"For the number of the human creature is the first in which root and square multiplications (comprising three dimensions and four limits) of basic numbers which make like and unlike, and which increase and decrease, produce a final result in completely commensurate terms."
"Though the rulers you have trained for your city are wise, reason and perception will not always enable them to hit on the right and wrong times for breeding; some time they will miss them, and then children will be begotten amiss."
Fortunately, says Socrates, it can all be worked out by mathematics:
"For the number of the human creature is the first in which root and square multiplications (comprising three dimensions and four limits) of basic numbers which make like and unlike, and which increase and decrease, produce a final result in completely commensurate terms."
This seemingly indecipherable text can be better understood when it is realized that in Plato's day there was no word for "cubed", and that 216 is the first (smallest) cube which is the sum of three cubes. Most scholars agree that the number referred to is 216.
In the Bible, the number of a man is 666. Given that Plato's Republic was written 400 years before the Revelation of St. John, it has been hypothesized that 216 was the originally intended number of a man. Read the original article "The Number of the Beast" here. Indeed, some versions of the Bible have the number as 616, which is a hybrid between the two.
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That 216 is a "human number” can be appreciated when the following facts are considered:
- 216 days = 7 months (minimum human gestation period)
- normal gestation period = 276 days = 3³ + 4³ + 5³ + (3 x 4 x 5)
The New Jerusalem
In the twenty-first chapter of the Book of Revelation, St. John describes his vision of the new Jerusalem which will descend from heaven at the end of the age.
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Rev 21:1-2
St. John states the dimensions: new Jerusalem is also a cube!
"And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal." Rev 21:16
The number 12, being the number of the tribes of Israel, and the number of Christ's apostles also figured prominently in John's vision.
"And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:" Rev 21:12
"And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." Rev 21:14
- 12,000 x 12,000 furlongs = 144,000,000 furlongs²
- Total surface area of New Jerusalem = 144,000,000 x 6 = 864,000,000 furlongs²
- Diameter of the sun = 864,000 miles
Another familiar number (remembering the 144,000 from Rev. 17:4 and Rev 14:1) also figures in the description.
"And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel." Rev 21:17
A cubit is 18 inches or 1.5 feet. These numbers provide a wealth of information:
"And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel." Rev 21:17
A cubit is 18 inches or 1.5 feet. These numbers provide a wealth of information:
- 144 cubits = 216 feet = 6 x 6 x 6
- 144,000 / 216 = 666.666…
- the comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with Jupiter at an impact speed of 216,000 km/hr
- 216,000 km/hr = 37 miles/sec = speed of Earth's orbit around the Sun x 2
- 216,000 = 144,000 x 1.5
- the first 144 digits of pi (after the decimal point) sum to 666
- 144,000 / 12 = 12,000
- 12,000³ / 216 = 8,000,000,000 (8 billion, a remarkably round number in anybody's language.)
The world population has grown exponentially since the Black Death plague of 1348-50, which killed between 75 and 200 million people. At the end of 2011, the world population was 7 billion people. Estimates from the United States Census Bureau are that the population will reach 8 billion in the year 2027.
Current world population (estimated): .
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Alpha and Omega
Also in the Book of Revelation, we have this:
“And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” Rev 21:6
As we have seen from the gematria of verses 3:19 and 9:10 in the Book of Proverbs, 216 is the perimeter of the Alpha and Omega sections of the Wisdom Star. The Genesis triangle also has a perimeter of the same 216.
The Alpha and Omega segments of the Wisdom Star. 1332 x 3 = 3996, the gematria value of Proverbs 3:19 and 9:10. The perimeter of each Alpha Ω segment is 216, the same as the perimeter of the Genesis 1:1 triangle. The gematria value of Alpha Ω is 1332 in the form it appears in the Nestle-Aland textform of the Greek New Testament. "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last". Rev 22:13 |
The 72 Names of God
The account of the parting of the Red Sea in Exodus 14:19-21 has long been a source of wonder concerning the number 216. In the original Hebrew, each of these verses contain 72 letters, giving a total of 216. In Kabbalistic tradition, it is said that if the letters of these three verses are written one above the other (the first from right to left, the second from left to right, and the third from right to left) there are 72 columns of three letter names of God. Written in that way, the verses appear as follows: |
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The seventy-two names are divided into four columns of eighteen names each. Each of the four columns represents one of the four letters of the Tetragrammaton. The names are known collectively as Shemhamphorasch. These 216 letters were the theme of the 1989 movie Pi, directed by Darren Aronofsky. Asked in an interview about the number 216, Aronofsky replied "It's true. All the cabal stuff in the film is completely 100% real. Totally non-fictional. I studied with a lot of leading cabal scholars in the world. And they shared with me a lot of their secrets. Everything you see on the screen is completely 100%, totally, fully, completely real." |
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- the totient of 216 = 72
There is stunning confirmation of the Shemhamphorasch within the decimal digits of pi, where the first occurrence of 216 begins from position 991:
- the first 72 Bible verses consist of 991 Hebrew words
The letters of the Tetragrammaton as they appear in the 216 letters provide an intriguing numerical study. The details are outlined in the following table:
Revelation 20:1-5 relates to the prophecy of the 1,000 year reign of Christ in person, also called the Millennium.
"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years," Rev 20:2
There has been a good deal of speculation regarding America in Bible prophesy, beginning with the early colonists. In 1857, Methodist minister Fountain Pitts delivered a daylong sermon on the subject in the U.S. Capitol. See here for a transcript. Much of the speculation focuses on the year of America's independence - 1776.
"And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years," Rev 20:2
- 216 (decimal) = 1,000 (base 6)
- 750 x 888 / 666 = 1,000
There has been a good deal of speculation regarding America in Bible prophesy, beginning with the early colonists. In 1857, Methodist minister Fountain Pitts delivered a daylong sermon on the subject in the U.S. Capitol. See here for a transcript. Much of the speculation focuses on the year of America's independence - 1776.
- 750 x 2368 / 1000 = 1776
- 1332 / 750 x 1000 = 1776
Hallelujah: Praise Ye The LORD
Abraham (אברהם) has a gematria value of 248, and the word "Abraham" appears in 216 Bible verses (KJV). Reflecting these numbers, the word "praise" appears 248 times in 216 Bible verses (KJV). Not surprisingly, 132 of these 216 "praise" verses appear in the Book of Psalms, a collection of poetic prayers. The Hebrew name for the book is Tehilim (תהלים) which means "songs of praise".
Hallelujah is the most sublime expression of God's praise. Translated in the KJV as "Praise ye the LORD", Hallelujah (הַֽלְלוּ־יָֽהּ) only appears in the Book of Psalms. Curiously, all 24 occurrences of this word appear in the last third of the book commencing with Psa 104:35 which, according to Rav Kook, provides the clue to the puzzle. It must be noted that the last third of the book corresponds with the Messianic age:
“The world will exist for six thousand years: two millennia of void (‘tohu’); Two millennia of Torah; and then two millennia of the age of Moshiach.” Talmud, Tractate Avodah Zarah [9a]
In the Tanakh, Hallelujah is only once written as a single word (Psa 106:1). This is the first Psalm to open with Hallelujah, where the gematria value of the phrase "for his mercy endureth forever" (כי לעולם חסדו) is the same as that for θεος (Theos, translated as "God") in the Greek New Testament. Elsewhere, it is a combination of two words הַֽלְלוּ ("praise") and יָֽהּ (Yahh, meaning "the LORD"). The word combination הַֽלְלוּ־יָֽהּ (Hallelujah) appear 23 times in the Bible. Beginning from position 23 in pi are the three digits 433, which is the 9th star number. On either side are the numbers 26 (the gematria value of the Tetragrammaton) and 832,which is the gematria value of ארץ ישראל (Eretz Yisrael, meaning "the land of Israel").
Hallelujah is the most sublime expression of God's praise. Translated in the KJV as "Praise ye the LORD", Hallelujah (הַֽלְלוּ־יָֽהּ) only appears in the Book of Psalms. Curiously, all 24 occurrences of this word appear in the last third of the book commencing with Psa 104:35 which, according to Rav Kook, provides the clue to the puzzle. It must be noted that the last third of the book corresponds with the Messianic age:
“The world will exist for six thousand years: two millennia of void (‘tohu’); Two millennia of Torah; and then two millennia of the age of Moshiach.” Talmud, Tractate Avodah Zarah [9a]
In the Tanakh, Hallelujah is only once written as a single word (Psa 106:1). This is the first Psalm to open with Hallelujah, where the gematria value of the phrase "for his mercy endureth forever" (כי לעולם חסדו) is the same as that for θεος (Theos, translated as "God") in the Greek New Testament. Elsewhere, it is a combination of two words הַֽלְלוּ ("praise") and יָֽהּ (Yahh, meaning "the LORD"). The word combination הַֽלְלוּ־יָֽהּ (Hallelujah) appear 23 times in the Bible. Beginning from position 23 in pi are the three digits 433, which is the 9th star number. On either side are the numbers 26 (the gematria value of the Tetragrammaton) and 832,which is the gematria value of ארץ ישראל (Eretz Yisrael, meaning "the land of Israel").
Hallelujah (הַֽלְלוּ־יָֽהּ) has a gematria value of 86, the same as אלהים (Elohim, meaning "God"). The word אלהים appears 680 times in the Tanakh. The first occurrence of 680 in pi is followed by the three digits 661, which is the 11th star number.
The first mention of the word "praise" in the Bible is in the naming of Judah (Gen 29:35), where the phrase "I praise the LORD" (אודה את יהוה) has a gematria value of 443.
Within the decimal digits of e, the first occurrence of 443 begins from position 373:
- 443 is the 86th prime number
Within the decimal digits of e, the first occurrence of 443 begins from position 373:
The Gospel of John opens with "In the beginning was the word..." (Joh 1:1).
The first occurrence of 86 in pi begins from position 74:
- "the word" (ο λογος) has a numerical value of 443
- "word" (λογος) has a gematria value of 373
- 443 is the 86th prime number
- 373 is the 74th prime number
The first occurrence of 86 in pi begins from position 74:
The last five psalms (146-150) have become known as the 'Hallelujah Psalms'. The word "Hallelujah" appears twice in each of the five psalms, and is the first and the last word in each. In the Hallelujah Psalms, "Hallelujah" appears:
The first occurrence of 1480 in pi is followed by the two digits 86 (Hallelujah):
- (146 x 2) + (147 x 2) + (148 x 2) + (149 x 2) + (150 x 2) = 1480
- the numerical value of Χριστος (Christ) = 1480
The first occurrence of 1480 in pi is followed by the two digits 86 (Hallelujah):
The 1480th prime number is 12401, and its first occurrence in pi is also followed by the two digits 86 (Hallelujah):
The middle Hallelujah Psalm repeats the phrase "Praise ye the LORD" in its opening verse, albeit the second time with a different Hebrew spelling (Psa 148:1). The full phrase Hallal Yahh, hallal YHWH (הללו יה הללואת יהוה) has a gematria value of 584. The first occurrence of 584 in pi is followed by the two digits 86 (Hallelujah):
Leah praised the LORD after she bore her fourth son, Judah, whose name means "praised" (Gen 29:35). The word "praised" appears in 26 Bible verses (KJV), which is the gematria value of יהוה (YHWH). Of these, only one is found in the New Testament, when Zacharias' tongue was loosed at the naming of John the Baptist, and he praised God (Luk 1:64). In this verse, "praised" is spelled ευλογων which has a numerical value of 1358. The first occurrence of 1358 in pi is followed by the two digits 86 (Hallelujah):
Judah means "praised" (Strongs H3063). The word "Judah" appears 813 times in the Bible (KJV), which is the gematria value of the third verse in the Bible, when God said, Let there be light: and there was light (Gen 1:3). The verb הלל (halal) is usually translated as "praise", but literally means to "shine" as seen in Job 3:29.
"Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light." Psa 148:3
"Hallelujah is the most musical word that exists and has inspired composers and songwriters from King David the psalmist almost three thousand years ago, European composers of the 17th and 18th centuries - Monteverdi, Handel, and Vivaldi, Gospel singers and of course Canadian singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen." BBC Heart and Soul
This rendition of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, sung by Jeff Buckley, has been seen by over 72 million people:
"Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light." Psa 148:3
"Hallelujah is the most musical word that exists and has inspired composers and songwriters from King David the psalmist almost three thousand years ago, European composers of the 17th and 18th centuries - Monteverdi, Handel, and Vivaldi, Gospel singers and of course Canadian singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen." BBC Heart and Soul
This rendition of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, sung by Jeff Buckley, has been seen by over 72 million people:
The Golden Ratio
"It is impossible to explain honestly the beauties of the laws of nature in a way that people can feel, without their having some deep understanding of mathematics. I am sorry, but this seems to be the case." Richard Feynman
The golden ratio, also known as the divine proportion, can be seen in nature, geometry, art, architecture, music and many other areas. This irrational number, called phi and represented by the Greek symbol φ can be derived from the numbers of man:
For a brilliant interactive demonstration of how this number works in nature, click here for the Maths is Fun website. The dimensions of the New Jerusalem can also be used to determine the golden ratio. Remembering the dimensions of 12,000 furlongs - length, breadth and height all equal. And the walls of 144 cubits. So:
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The fact that 144 cubits equals 216 feet is interesting, as:
These two numbers also have a connection with the previous section on the passage from Exodus and the 72 names of God:
- cosine (216˚) = cosine (144˚)
- -cosine (216˚) - cosine (144˚) = φ
These two numbers also have a connection with the previous section on the passage from Exodus and the 72 names of God:
- 216 - 144 = 72
Number 108, or 216 ÷ 2, is also aligned with the golden ratio. A chord of a circle, with an angle of 108º, is in golden proportion to the radius of the circle. In the diagram, the chord length AB is in golden proportion to the radius AC or CB.
The relationship between Earth and its two great lights is also centered on 108.
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The distances are averages. Actually, because planetary orbits are elliptical, these distances vary. For example, the distance between the Earth and the Sun varies from 105.7 (perihelion) and 109.3 (aphelion) times the Sun's diameter.
It is because the sun is about 400 times bigger, but 400 times further away than the moon, that they appear to be the same size to our eyes.
Try this experiment. Cut out a circle of 1 inch diameter (or use an American quarter) and ask a friend to hold it up against the moon. Now back away until the disk just covers the moon (total eclipse). Measure the distance between your eyes and the disk. Answer? 108 inches. The same is true of the sun, but don't do it or you'll hurt your eyes.
To fully appreciate this coincidence, compare the total solar eclipse viewed from Earth (1999) with the moon's transit across the sun taken from the STEREO-B spacecraft in Feb 2007. Because the spacecraft was a million miles from Earth when the film was taken, the moon appears proportionately smaller. The strange color of the sun is because STEREO-B captures it in four wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light.
It is because the sun is about 400 times bigger, but 400 times further away than the moon, that they appear to be the same size to our eyes.
Try this experiment. Cut out a circle of 1 inch diameter (or use an American quarter) and ask a friend to hold it up against the moon. Now back away until the disk just covers the moon (total eclipse). Measure the distance between your eyes and the disk. Answer? 108 inches. The same is true of the sun, but don't do it or you'll hurt your eyes.
To fully appreciate this coincidence, compare the total solar eclipse viewed from Earth (1999) with the moon's transit across the sun taken from the STEREO-B spacecraft in Feb 2007. Because the spacecraft was a million miles from Earth when the film was taken, the moon appears proportionately smaller. The strange color of the sun is because STEREO-B captures it in four wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light.
This insight into the cosmic distance scale is best explained in this excerpt from a classic episode from the TV series "Father Ted":
It's easy to feel insignificant when pondering the size of the universe. There is our solar system, which is itself only a small part of a huge galaxy. Then there are clusters of galaxies, and superclusters of clusters of galaxies. But the minute scale of particle physics is equally amazing. A Planck length (named after physicist Max Planck) is believed to be the smallest particle in the universe. Incredibly, the difference in magnitude between a Planck length and a speck of dust is greater than the difference in magnitude between you and a supercluster of galaxies. Click here for an interactive scale of the universe demonstration
Starry Starry Night
One of the world's most recognizable cultural icons is Vincent van Gogh's oil on canvas A Starry Night. Painted in June 1889 whilst van Gogh was a voluntary resident at an asylum in Saint-Remy de Provence, it depicts a view of the eastern sky from his second floor room at the asylum. Harvard astronomer Charles Whitney and UCLA art historian Albert Boime independently proved that the celestial objects in the painting were in accord with the astronomical records from that time.
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A Starry Night was painted between 16-18 June, 1889. Vincent had written in a letter to his brother Theo "This morning I saw the countryside from my window a long time before sunrise with nothing but the morning star, which looked very big." Now with the benefit of modern astronomical software, we can compare the positions of the moon and Venus (the bright and morning star) on the day Vincent wrote to Theo informing him of the picture's completion.
Vincent van Gogh was born into a family of theologians and painters. His grandfather was a theologian in the Dutch Reform Church, and prior to committing to the life of an artist, Vincent's calling was as an evangelist to the poor. Given his background, it's not surprising that the eleven stars depicted in A Starry Night is a reference to the dream of Joseph from the Book of Genesis, in which the sun, the moon and eleven stars (representing Joseph's father, mother and eleven brothers) bowed down in reverence to Joseph.
"And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me." Gen 37:9
ויחלם עוד חלום אחר ויספר אתו לאחיו ויאמר הנה חלמתי חלום עוד והנה השמש והירח ואחד עשר כוכבים משתחוים לי
40 804 98 570 19 229 645 66 80 84 488 60 257 55 407 356 209 84 80 94
= 4725
The time Vincent spent at Saint-Remy was particularly productive, with works including Irises, Wheat Fields With Cypresses and the blue self portrait. He suffered a second mental breakdown in July 1889, and died a year later from a self inflicted gunshot wound aged 37.
In number theory, Euler's totient function (also called the Phi or φ function) is a mathematical function that counts the number of positive integers less than n, that are relatively prime to n. The Khan Academy offers a short explanatory video here.
"And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me." Gen 37:9
ויחלם עוד חלום אחר ויספר אתו לאחיו ויאמר הנה חלמתי חלום עוד והנה השמש והירח ואחד עשר כוכבים משתחוים לי
40 804 98 570 19 229 645 66 80 84 488 60 257 55 407 356 209 84 80 94
= 4725
The time Vincent spent at Saint-Remy was particularly productive, with works including Irises, Wheat Fields With Cypresses and the blue self portrait. He suffered a second mental breakdown in July 1889, and died a year later from a self inflicted gunshot wound aged 37.
In number theory, Euler's totient function (also called the Phi or φ function) is a mathematical function that counts the number of positive integers less than n, that are relatively prime to n. The Khan Academy offers a short explanatory video here.
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During his artistic career, Vincent van Gogh produced 860 oil paintings and 1300 drawings, sketches, water colors and prints.
- 860 + 1300 = 2160
There is also a theory that A Starry Night was influenced by the epic poem Song of Myself penned by Walt Whitman when he was himself 37 years old. In that poem, Whitman referenced the conservation of energy, which may have resonated with Vincent when he took his own life when at that same age.
"All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses,
And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.
Has any one supposed it lucky to be born?
I hasten to inform him or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it."
from Walt Whitman, Song of Myself
In a letter written to a friend in 1888, van Gogh himself wrote "A starry sky is something I should like to try to do, just as in the daytime I am going to try to paint a green meadow spangled with dandelions." He compared the stars to dots on a map and mused that, as one takes a train to travel on earth, "we take death to reach a star."
It is known that Vincent was keenly interested in scientific research at the time, and Charles Whitney has suggested that the swirls in A Starry Night's sky were influenced by a sketch of the M51 (Whirlpool) galaxy by astronomer William Parsons (3rd Earl of Rosse) in 1845. Using a 72 inch telescope at Birr Castle in Ireland, Parson's was the first observation of a spiral nebulae, although it wasn't recognized as a galaxy until the time of Edwin Hubble.
In the evening of June 19th, 1889, the M51 galaxy was positioned above the eastern horizon to an observer in Saint-Remy de Provence. At the same time, another galaxy (NGC 4725) was located in the same section of the sky. 4725 is the gematria value of Gen 37:9 (see above).
At that time, the M51 galaxy was exactly 37 million light years from Earth. The NGC 4725 galaxy was 45 billion light years from Earth, at a declination of 26 degrees.
If Vincent was indeed inspired by Lord Rosse's sketch, one can only imagine how he would have reacted to the astonishing imagery of the galaxies available to us today.
- 45² + 26² = 2701 (gematria of Gen 1:1) "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth."
If Vincent was indeed inspired by Lord Rosse's sketch, one can only imagine how he would have reacted to the astonishing imagery of the galaxies available to us today.
Doubtless Vincent would have been even more astonished by an image of the core of the spiral M51 galaxy. The "X" is due to absorption by dust and marks the exact position of a black hole which may have a mass equivalent to one-million stars like the sun. The vertical bar is estimated to be 100 light years in diameter (5.88 trillion miles) which may be an edge on dust ring which hides the black hole. This image would surely have affirmed Vincent's religious faith and strengthened his belief in an afterlife.
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