Posted on 08/15/2017 6:16:13 AM PDT by Heartlander
In previous posts in our solar eclipse series (here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) we touched on safe viewing methods, the mechanics of solar eclipses, and a couple of surprising coincidences. We also explained why the solar eclipses we enjoy from earth’s surface are the best in the solar system.
The solar eclipse coincidences have been noted by astronomers, but most have treated them as mere coincidences. Some scientists are troubled by them. The popular British science writer and astronomer John Gribbin comments on solar eclipses in Alone in the Universe: Why our Planet is Unique:
Just now the Moon is about 400 times smaller than the Sun, but the Sun is 400 times farther away than the Moon, so that they look the same size on the sky. At the present moment of cosmic time, during an eclipse, the disc of the Moon almost exactly covers the disc of the Sun. In the past the Moon would have looked much bigger and would have completely obscured the Sun during eclipses; in the future, the Moon will look much smaller from Earth and a ring of sunlight will be visible even during an eclipse. Nobody has been able to think of a reason why intelligent beings capable of noticing this oddity should have evolved on Earth just at the time that the coincidence was there to be noticed. It worries me, but most people seem to accept it as just one of those things.
Yet other scientists consider these coincidences as pointing to a deeper truth. In 1999 an astronomer proposed a kind of anthropic “explanation” for these coincidences in a paper published in Astronomy & Geophysics.
The basic idea is that meeting the requirements for the habitability of the Earth for observers makes it more likely that solar eclipses are possible. First, the requirement that a terrestrial planet be located within the Circumstellar Habitable Zone (CHZ) of a G spectral type main sequence star sets the range of possible angular sizes that the star would appear in the sky. Second, the presence of a large moon enhances the planet’s habitability in several ways, including the tidal mixing of nutrients from the continents to the oceans, help driving the deep ocean currents, and stabilization of the planet’s rotation axis tilt (leading to a more stable climate). Thus, the players for a solar eclipse are on stage while the audience is watching in their comfortable theater.
Still, the extreme closeness of the angular sizes of the sun and moon seems to require addition tuning. Dave Waltham might have provided the final piece of the puzzle in a study published in Astrobiology in 2004 (and later updated in a 2011 paper in the same journal). He noted just how sensitive the stability of earth’s rotation axis is to the moon’s mass. Had its mass been just a tiny bit larger, earth’s rotation would have been slowed too much from the lunar tides, leading to a less stable rotation axis tilt.
Since there appears to be a physical basis for the solar eclipse coincidences, does this not remove the need for a design explanation? Not at all! It seems surprising on the chance hypothesis that the universe would be setup in a way that the most habitable locations would also be the best places to observe total solar eclipses. But this makes sense on the hypothesis that the universe is designed so that observers can enjoy total solar eclipses.
Thus, solar eclipses became the first example of the Privileged Planet thesis (published in book form in 2004), that the universe is designed for scientific observation and discovery.
Camping on the KATY trail next to the Missouri River in Boone county. We leave tomorrow.
Yea, God kinda made it that way. The Heavens declare the Glory of God. The sky’s proclaim the work of his hands Psalm 19:1
We’re heading down from Maryland to South Carolina to go eclipse chasing
Just found out my brother and his family are going to Kentucky
Yup, SC is a madhouse over this eclipse thing. Me and the little lady moved down here just in time.
Heading to Geneva, NE next weekend. One more thing off my bucket list.
“....the solar eclipses we enjoy from earth’s surface are the best in the solar system.”.....
How do they know that to be fact and true? How many eclipses have been witnessed from other planets, solar systems, universes, etc.?
The “curious observers” better hope it won’t be an overcast sky when the eclipse rushes past.
And what about the fact that the Moon is turning at just the right speed so that it always presents the same face to the Earth? Coincidence?
Yes. It is tidally locked. Gravity.
Were it not for a very important doctor's appointment I have on that very day I would have driven down to Tennessee or North Carolina to see it.However,at this time of year that area (and South Carolina too) typically features nasty thunderstorms just about every day.It would be my luck to get there and find no hint of the sun thanks to storms.
Of course it would still get dark...or darker.
There's one coming to my neighborhood in 2024...at which time I'll be about 105!
Yep, I live in the path in NE Ga. and don't have great hope of clear skies.
There’s concern now about not just a storm, but a hurricane down South. Bet hoteliers and merchants are chewing their fingernails down to the quick....
(in my best holding a pipe in my hand while wearing a tweed jacket with patches on the elbows and eyeglasses sliding down the bridge of my nose pontificating voice) “It’s all based upon Pi, the distance between the Earth, Moon and Sun, blah, blah, blah, blah”
I have seen the Halley’s Comet in 1986. The next time around is 2062.
This coming Total Eclipse of America last came around in 1918.
Therefore, the two events that define generations will have come during my lifetime.
NEXT!!
Heading a few miles north to catch totallity.
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PSA
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People from all over the world have traveled to take in this 3 minutes of existence in a very congested area. Me & Mrs 21 are packing a nice lunch with plenty of munchies and water and are not forgetting our personal weapons and I am throwing the bug out bag in the trunk as well.
I know we WILL have an enjoyable experience.
: ) THANK YOU FOR THE SMILE!
Bet we don't have that problem in Wyoming. The influx to Jackson Hole is going to be significant according to the gubermint sources. But Idaho Falls, Idaho is a place to leave.
bfl
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