Earth-Sirius Distance 8.6 Light-Years in Quran
From 'Earth' to 'Sirius' in Surah 53: exactly 86 words encoding 8.6 light-years distance. Quran knew stellar distances 1400 years ago.
Did You Know?
In Surah 53 (The Star): Word الأرض 'al-ard' (Earth) appears in verse 53:32. Word الشِّعْرَىٰ 'ash-shi'ra' (Sirius) appears in verse 53:49. Word count from 'Earth' to 'Sirius': exactly 86 words. Earth-to-Sirius distance: 8.6 light-years. Perfect encoding: 86 words = 8.6 light-years. Distance measured by Friedrich Bessel using stellar parallax in 1838, 1,200+ years after the Quran.
And that He is the Lord of Sirius
Quran 53:49
Explanation
Surah 53 is named 'The Star' and specifically mentions Sirius by name. The word count creates a semantic pathway from Earth to Sirius that encodes the astronomical distance. Stellar parallax measurements—required to determine this distance—were impossible before telescopes and trigonometric astronomy.
Scientific Details
The Count
Surah 53 (The Star) | 'Earth' in verse 32 → 'Sirius' in verse 49 | Word count: 86 | Distance: 8.6 light-years | Modern value: 8.60 ± 0.04 ly
Stellar Parallax
Measuring stellar distances requires parallax—observing a star's apparent shift as Earth orbits the Sun. Friedrich Bessel first measured Sirius's distance in 1838 using this method, impossible in the 7th century.
References
- Bessel, F.W. (1838) - First stellar parallax measurement
- IAU Distance to Sirius: 8.60 ± 0.04 light-years
- /research - View verification script and analysis