TNRTB Archive - Retained for reference information

Astronomers discover a new design feature in the solar system. A good thing for life on Earth is that the Kuiper belt totals less than a tenth of an Earth mass and lies beyond Neptune’s orbit. However, the present large sizes of Kuiper Belt Objects only can be explained by a Kuiper belt originally containing tens of Earth masses. A new study shows that the solar system was made safe for life when the original Kuiper belt was pushed outward and much reduced in total mass by Neptune’s 1:2 mean motion resonance during its final phase of migration.

• Harold F. Levison and Alessandro Morbidelli, “The Formation of the Kuiper Belt by the Outward Transport of Bodies During Neptune’s Migration,” Nature, 426 (2003), pp. 419-421

• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14647375

• Rodney Gomes, “Conveyed to the Kuiper Belt,” Nature, 426 (2003), pp. 393-395.

• http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v426/n6965/full/426393a.html
  

RTB articles: Hugh Ross, “Anthropic Principle: A Precise Plan for Humanity,” Facts for Faith, quarter 1, 2002, issue 8, pp. 24-31.

RTB video: Journey Toward Creation, 2^nd edition

RTB book: The Creator and the Cosmos, 3^rd edition