Posted on 09/29/2009 8:28:49 PM PDT by GodGunsGuts
Outer Limits Not Lively
Sept 29, 2009 — One of the “cosmic coincidences” cited in the intelligent-design treatise The Privileged Planet1 is the “galactic habitable zone” – a fairly narrow region of the galaxy where planets can form and exist safely. The outer regions of the galaxy were described as lacking the heavy elements necessary for planet formation.
Score one for the authors. New Scientist reported on a planet search by astronomers at the University of Tokyo who failed to find planets in the outer reaches of the galaxy. “Astronomers have long doubted that life could exist there,” the article stated. “Now they have solid evidence for their pessimism.” Only 1 in 5 of 111 stars examined in some young clusters had dust disks at all, and those appear to dissipate quickly because of the scarcity of silicon, oxygen and iron that makes up the bulk of earth. “No home in the galactic outer suburbs” was the article title. “If the sun had been born near the edge of the galaxy, chances are neither the Earth nor life would have arisen,” the article said. “That’s the implication of the first search for planet-forming discs on the Milky Way’s outskirts.”
The Privileged Planet (Regnery, 2004); see also the Illustra documentary based on the book.
The documentary version of The Privileged Planet showed animation of puzzle pieces converging to form a picture of Earth. This is just one of the pieces, but each one is important. The sheer number of coincidences that make our planet and our universe habitable is enough to make a reasonable person think the puzzle spells design. Combine those astronomical evidences with the biological evidences shown in Unlocking the Mystery of Lifeand the paleontological evidences shownn in Illustra’s newest documentary Darwin’s Dilemma and the case for intelligent design is unstoppable.
Ping!
Thanks for the ping!
“One of the “cosmic coincidences” cited in the intelligent-design treatise The Privileged Planet1 is the “galactic habitable zone” – a fairly narrow region of the galaxy where planets can form and exist safely. The outer regions of the galaxy were described as lacking the heavy elements necessary for planet formation.
Score one for the authors.”
— Score for mentioning something known for decades? Some people are too easily impressed.
And it strikes me as odd to call it a “coincidence” that we find planets primarily where planets can most easily form - in fact, in my vocabulary that’s the *opposite* of coincidence.
Well, that’s assuming that the nebular hypothesis is correct. And so... isn’t this article arguing *against* ‘young earth Creationism’?
Unless solar systems do indeed form via something resembling the “nebular hypothesis”, than why are we finding planets precisely where there’s material for planets to form? Just a ‘coicidence’?
Bump for no man’s land!
Can't even imagine where you grabbed that quirky thought from! - The article strongly affirms conditions that support both special creation, and the predicted configuration of a finite, bounded universe, all of which are consistent with a universe that expanded from a center at our approximate location.
“Can’t even imagine where you grabbed that quirky thought from! - The article strongly affirms conditions that support both special creation, and the predicted configuration of a finite, bounded universe, all of which are consistent with a universe that expanded from a center at our approximate location.”
—Where is there anything in the article about a finite, bounded universe? It’s just talking about how we find relatively fewer planets where we find relatively little material for planets to form. This is, of course, what we’d expect if planets indeed formed from such material, i.e. the nebular hypothesis. How is that a “quirky thought”? Why, under special creation, should there be any relationship between the location of planets and the location for building material for planets if planets formed ex nihilo? And how is the observation that the outer regions of galaxies have relatively little metals got anything to do with whether the universe expanded from a center near us?
If you’re referring to “The Privileged Planet”, I haven’t seen that - I’m just commenting on the article posted.
You sound just like Obama telling us there are no “death panels” in Obamacare!
“Where is there anything in the article about a finite, bounded universe?”
Conditions! Exactly what a finite, bounded universe should look like. Reality always confirms the young creation.
“Conditions! Exactly what a finite, bounded universe should look like. Reality always confirms the young creation.”
—A finite bounded universe predicts that the outer regions of galaxies would have relatively fewer metals? Why?
And as I’ve asked twice already, why would a young creation predict such a thing?
I also just looked up “Privileged Planet”, and as I suspected (although it’s rather obvious from the article), it does indeed argue for intelligent design through an old-earth perspective and was created by Guillermo Gonzalez, an old-earther.
The creation was Earth centered, and Earth purposed, and began with a mass of water. Genesis calls for the outer limit of the universe to be a band of just water, and nothing else.
“The creation was Earth centered, and Earth purposed, and began with a mass of water. Genesis calls for the outer limit of the universe to be a band of just water, and nothing else.”
—What has any of that got to do with anything in the article (or vice versa)?
Sorry, I momentarily imagined that you could be intelligent enough to converse with.
Silly me for not seeing the obvious connection between the universe’s outer limits being a band of water and the edge’s of galaxies having relatively less elements heavier than helium and relatively fewer planets.
Strange glasses you wear....
ping
“Strange glasses you wear....”
—Perhaps. I wonder if anyone else can see the connection? Is there anyone out there that can help me with this? Perhaps ConservativeMan55 or Quix?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.