Do stars rotate on an axis as the earth does?
These questions were common topics of discussion in Joseph [p.250] Smith’s day, both among scientists and some segments of the general public. Speculation about the age of the universe ranged from a few thousand years to a few hundred thousand years. There was much debate about the nature, evolution, and sizes of stars and about the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe. Thus it should not be surprising to find that Joseph Smith himself was interested in these subjects. It is not my intent to discuss at length the current scientific picture of the universe except in a general way. It is to me both remarkable and awe-inspiring to realize that the chemical elements of which we are made were manufactured billions of years ago inside a star, most likely several different stars. These stars lived out their life cycles, exhausted their nuclear fuel, and left as ashes [he elements of which our sun, its planets, and we are made. In their death throes these dying stars sprayed much of t
