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Our Solar System "Is in a Unique Place in the Universe -- Just Right for Life"
The Daily Galaxy ^ | 23 Aug, 2016

Posted on 08/25/2016 7:40:44 AM PDT by MtnClimber

Our solar system is in a unique area of the universe that's conducive to life, says John Webb and his colleagues at the University of New South Wales, who have carried out intensive study that threatens to turn the world of theoretical physics upside down.

The team studied the fine structure in the spectral lines of the light from distant quasars from data from the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile with stunning results that showed that one of the constants of nature --the Alpha appears to be different in different parts of the cosmos, supporting the theory that our solar system is in a part of the universe that is "just right" for life, which negates Einstein's equivalence principle, which states that the laws of physics are the same everywhere.

The "magic number," known as Alpha or the fine-structure constant, appears to vary throughout the Universe, concluded the team from the University of New South Wales, Swinburne University of Technology and the University of Cambridge.

"What they found threatens to turn the world of theoretical physics upside down," said theorectical physicist, Paul Davies of Arizona State in an article in Cosmos this past January. "On the face of it, α has slightly different values in different parts of the Universe, implying that the fine structure constant is not a constant at all, but varies over cosmological distances and times."

"This finding in 2015 was a real surprise to everyone," said John Webb of the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailygalaxy.com ...


TOPICS: Science
KEYWORDS: earth; life
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To: VanDeKoik

The Local Group consists of just over 50 galaxies, with ours (the Milky Way) and Andromeda being the largest. The MW and Andromeda each have between 200 to 400 billion stars. In other words, there aren’t “trillions” of stars in the local group. However, there are perhaps a hundred billion other galaxies scattered throughout the universe.

“The Local Group is the galaxy group that includes the Milky Way. The Local Group comprises more than 54 galaxies, most of them dwarf galaxies.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Group


21 posted on 08/25/2016 8:11:34 AM PDT by ETL (God PLEASE help America...ASAP)
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To: dfwgator

ctrl - alt - ‘down arrow’ should fix that.


22 posted on 08/25/2016 8:14:40 AM PDT by Delta 21 (Patiently waiting for the jack booted kick at my door.)
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To: VanDeKoik

“Simple math would tell you...”

Simple math would tell no such thing. In order to posit such an opinion you have to accept unproven assumptions, which has nothing to do with math.


23 posted on 08/25/2016 8:17:10 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: miliantnutcase
I subscribe to the theory we just exist in a higher being’s computer simulation. Like one big ant farm.

"Can I buy some pot from you?"

24 posted on 08/25/2016 8:17:26 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Moonman62
I’d say your math isn’t so simple.

It's always easier to say the math is simple ... than to provide that supposedly simple math.

25 posted on 08/25/2016 8:18:12 AM PDT by dartuser
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To: SoCal Pubbie

“There is simply no evidence for life beyond Earth”

30 years ago there was no real proof of planets around other stars. What is your point? Because we dont have a method to detect it yet, it means it isn’t there?

“yet for some reason people completely discount the possibility that the Earth is unique. In fact they mock anyone who holds that possibility might be true.”

Because those people are called idiots. They are providing no basis for their position whatsoever. And yes most of the absurd points being made on this thread are being made around some supposed biblical view that God made life only on Earth and people should stop right there....because reasons.


26 posted on 08/25/2016 8:19:47 AM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: MtnClimber

And Earth being the insane asylum for the universe. No wonder we’re hanging out on the very edge of the galaxy.


27 posted on 08/25/2016 8:20:28 AM PDT by SkyDancer ("They Say That Nobody's Perfect But Yet Here I Am")
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To: Moonman62

” I’d say your math isn’t so simple.”

But the point is that the math is there.


28 posted on 08/25/2016 8:20:37 AM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: MtnClimber

Keep in mind, ONE light year, the DISTANCE light travels in a year at its speed of 186,000 miles per second, works out to about 5.9 TRILLION miles. That’s 5.9 thousand - times a billion - miles.

From wiki...

“The Local Group is the galaxy group that includes the Milky Way. The Local Group comprises more than 54 galaxies, most of them dwarf galaxies. Its gravitational center is located somewhere between the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy. The Local Group covers a diameter of 10 Mly [10 million light years] and has a binary (dumbbell)[1] distribution. The group itself is a part of the larger Virgo Supercluster, which in turn may be a part of the Laniakea Supercluster.

The three largest members of the group (in descending order) are the Andromeda galaxy, the Milky Way[2] and the Triangulum Galaxy. The larger two of these spiral galaxies each have their own system of satellite galaxies.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Group


29 posted on 08/25/2016 8:21:06 AM PDT by ETL (God PLEASE help America...ASAP)
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To: Boogieman

“Simple math would tell no such thing.”

Ok, then.

Tell me how it’s wrong.

This ought to be good.


30 posted on 08/25/2016 8:22:10 AM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: MtnClimber

I have looked through a microscope and a telescope and at many things in between. I have seen too much organization and structure to believe that the whole of creation is a random accident. The mathematical odds are against it. Ever hear of a “Combinatorial explosion”? Too many factors fell into place for everything in existence to be a random assemblage.


31 posted on 08/25/2016 8:23:52 AM PDT by TexasRepublic (Socialism is the gospel of envy and the religion of thieves. Socialism is governmental theft!)
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To: MtnClimber

More proof of the “Goldilocks” concept.

I know there’s a lot of conjecture about life elsewhere, but we only have scientific evidence for life here. Period. Carl Sagan’s theory notwithstanding. SETI has searched for ET for several decades now. If there were 1 million sentient species in our galaxy in varying stages of development, as he claimed, it defies the odds that we’ve not heard a peep.

And it’s about 80,000 years at our currently fastest speed to get to the nearest star. But at that fastest speed, a small rock in the path of whatever craft we’re in would be disastrous.

“Warp speed” and “force fields” are entertaining but still just science fiction.


32 posted on 08/25/2016 8:25:13 AM PDT by afsnco
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To: MtnClimber
Check this out. Awesome DVD available. If I remember correctly, this was a documentary with two men, with at least one of them at Iowa University or maybe Iowa State - Astronomy Department. He was not a Christian at the time, but once the evidence came in related to his studies, and he started making public statements about Biblical evidence, he was forced out of the school. Hope that is accurately stated, going from memory.

Privileged Planet.
33 posted on 08/25/2016 8:25:35 AM PDT by tang-soo (Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks - Read Daniel Chapter 9)
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To: VanDeKoik; newgeezer
Simple math would tell you that out of the trillions of stars in the Local Group alone that there is a high probability that there is some life somewhere out there.

Well, if all it takes is a trillion then there must be a high probability that Hillary Clinton has been to one or more of those stars. Either that or a trillion doesn't really solve all the issues of the basic problem, as the evolutionist preaches. Time and chance is all you need per the evolutionist preacher.

34 posted on 08/25/2016 8:26:21 AM PDT by DungeonMaster (Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft.)
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To: VanDeKoik

I think we will find that life is fairly common in the Universe but intelligent life extremely rare. It took the Earth 4.5 billion years to develop us. That is quite a long time. Lots of things can go very very wrong in 4.5 billion years.


35 posted on 08/25/2016 8:26:21 AM PDT by jpsb (Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied. Otto von Bismark)
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To: Marko413

“The Bible isn’t specific about that matter...”

Well, seeing as the Bible says all the lights in the heavens (stars and planets) were created for us to mark the times and seasons, it actually is pretty specific. If they were created to simply be tools used by us, that kind of rules out them being created to host life of their own.


36 posted on 08/25/2016 8:27:08 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: DungeonMaster

“Time and chance is all you need per the evolutionist preacher.”

No different than the refrain of any compulsive gambler... just one more shot, they’ll hit it big any day now if you just give them time and a chance...


37 posted on 08/25/2016 8:28:58 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: DungeonMaster

“Well, if all it takes is a trillion then there must be a high probability that Hillary Clinton has been to one or more of those stars. Either that or a trillion doesn’t really solve all the issues of the basic problem, as the evolutionist preaches. Time and chance is all you need per the evolutionist preacher. “

If you cant take this topic seriously, then just stop responding.

Sometimes I forget that astronomy and parts of FR simply dont mix.


38 posted on 08/25/2016 8:30:33 AM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: MtnClimber

Yep, someone put the perfect Petri dish in place. In God we Trust.


39 posted on 08/25/2016 8:40:06 AM PDT by Neoliberalnot (Marxism works well only with the uneducated and the unarm)
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To: VanDeKoik

Easy. You are assuming a non-zero probability that life can arise at random, yet you cannot establish that such a non-zero probability actually exists.

IF there was a non-zero probability, it might be simple math, however, since you cannot logically or scientifically establish that such a non-zero probability exists, the math doesn’t actually work in your favor. If you were honest, you would have to assign the probability of life arising at random to a variable of unknown magnitude, but that would not support your biases, so you don’t do that.


40 posted on 08/25/2016 8:46:08 AM PDT by Boogieman
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