Our Sun, Planet Earth and the Hoary 108

Buddhists, Hindus and many other spiritual followers regard 108 as a holy number.

To back up it’s cosmic significance I’ve heard that 108 appears in astronomy quite a bit. The diameter of our Sun, for example measures 108 times that of the Earth. Sort of a divine signature on our little life-supporting solar system.

Well, I wanted to verify that this was true…

It’s so easy to hear incredible claims like this and just accept it. But today, with the internet, it’s also so easy to verify facts. A lot simpler than trekking down to the library and searching through tomes to validate one piece of data.

With some help from Google, I discovered that NASA’s “Sun Fact Sheet” says the sun has a diameter of about 1,391,000 kilometers. While the Earth is about 12,756.2 kilometers.  A variety of sources seem to be pretty much agree upon these figures.

So… 1,391,000 divided by 12,756.2 equals 109.0450.

Well, that’s close enough to impress me. I’m sure scientists find measuring gigantic balls of fire and gas tricky business. Allowing a 1% margin for error seems pretty reasonable and is all you need to validate 108.

Coincidence? Maybe. If you believe in such things. Another time I’ll tell you my definition of coincidence.

P.S. It’d be awe-inspiring if we discover that all life supporting planets in our universe have the same 1:108 ratio with their own sun. Comments? Please leave them in the comment box…

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About the Author: John C. A. Manley writes writes spiritual science fiction and fantasy novellas. He's been practicing Kriya Yoga since 1996. For three years he lived in in hindu monastery in the mountains of of Southern California. He currently lives in Stratford, Ontario with his wife Nicole, son Jonah and cat Astral. Click here to read more or click here to subscribe to his MetaphysicalSF email column.