Posted on 08/07/2008 9:57:23 PM PDT by neverdem
Goldilocks isn’t the only one who demanded everything to be “just right.” The Earth and its fellow seven planets also needed perfect conditions to form as observed, and those right conditions occur rarely, a new computer simulation shows.
The new simulation, described in the Aug. 8 Science, is the first to trace from beginning to end how planetary systems form from an initial gas disk encircling a baby star.
“The really striking result of the new model is how chaotic and even violent the average story of a planet’s birth is,” says Edward Thommes, an astrophysicist now at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.
The process is typically a big mess. “Planets get into each others' ‘personal space,’ gravitationally scattering each other. They compete with each other for gas from the disk that gives birth to them and lots of planets are lost along the way,” he says. “It's almost like reality TV.”
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencenews.org ...
“Imagine a ruler laying on a table in front of you. “
OK. Is it metric? Or U.S. ?
Pluto was recently demoted from planet to something they are now calling a "plutoid." It was either that, or add a whole bunch of other similar bodies in our solar system to the list of what we consider planets.
This decision involved a giant slap-fight among a bunch of astronomers.
I wasn’t there, you weren’t there, none of us were there.
But some of us know Someone who was.
“Don’t you know the entire universe is just an illusion? “
Only in your mind.
: )
I understand your skepticism - there is no hard evidence of a creator, no videotaped proof and no direct involvement in human affairs in 2000 years. He puts a lot of emphasis on faith, which is something totally at odds with science. I feel completely comfortable and confident in my faith in a creator. I also love science and what it stands for.
There is no contradiction as far as I'm concerned, and in the end when I die, I'll either be proven completely wrong or completely right. If it is as God says, however, I'd rather err on his side.
Thanks for the info, wasn’t aware of the status of Pluto. Geek wars!
Well put.
I see a “decreasing interference” in the Biblical history.
There really is no reason that the “days” couldn’t be 6 24 hour days... I mean, He’s creating everything we know as existance, so I assume there would be no problem in a bit of “compression” of the time necessary to produce Creation. Yes, this would violate the physical laws that we know, but what’s the harm?
Today, it would cause chaos, because we’re more aware and observant, but when there weren’t observers, there would be no harm in accelerating the laws a bit, after all, they’re His laws.
As you say, I’d rather stick with God’s authority than man’s limited ability to interpret observations.
“Do I need to explain to you why that has nothing to do with your speculation that there is an invisible, supernatural deity?”
She didn’t finish.
And then the dog said, “I do have fleas”.
Only the exact events and circumstances that produced this planet will produce a planet exactly like this? Wow.
If a “Creator” did some “tuning” to create an Earth that is so “unique,” why did that “Creator” have to create a universe that is so unfathomably large, and then have to wait 16 billion years before that “unique” Earth spawned human life? I hate to cast aspersions on your deity, but your god is one slow and inefficient creator.
I don’t know many answers but one thing the evidence tells me is that we can’t be a random act of chance. The law of entropy makes sense to me - order to disorder.
We will all die and know the truth at that point. Place your bets...................
change anything in the above equation and you won't get the same result in the same exact way.
Every solar system in every galaxy formed in an EXACT way. Some even more improbable than ours.
Yet another one of sciences "duh" moments...
God can do what he wants.
Hail Odin!
“But some of us know Someone who was.”
But of course.
The Bible is an excellent source for one to come to an understanding of the relationship between the Creator of the Universe, and our existence. It requires interpretation, which changes as our understanding of the physical nature and laws of the Universe is increased.
I.E. The more we learn about the Universe, the more it seems likely there is a universal creator, in light of the widespread following of the ‘laws’ by the known extent of the universe.
Somebody made up the laws. The rest is history.
I am going to be SO disappointed when I die that I didn’t live a more narcissistic and hedonistic life... /sarc
“An accident, all of it.”
I think there are innumerable accidents across the universe.
Not all work out as well as Earth. At least for Earthlings.
“There really is no reason that the “days” couldn’t be 6 24 hour days”
There really is no reason that the days would be 6-24 hour days.
The Earth’s rate of rotation has changed over the eons, as well as it’s size.
So, I think what you are saying is that the Genesis story relates ‘a day of creation’ in the perception of GOD, to something man can understand, which is a day of work on the Earth.
The principle is the same, but the scale was vastly different. Because we are humans, and God is God.
Truer words were never said.
Some American astronomers claimed that part of the reason Pluto was demoted was due to anti-Americanism, since Pluto was the only planet discovered by an American.
But, I think it was the logical decision, in light of the fact that we've started discovering a bunch of bodies in the far reaches of our solar system that are a lot like Pluto (some are even bigger). so it was either demote Pluto or add the others.
Pardon me.
I should have said, “only in our minds”.
Wasn’t singling you out.
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