The rare planet doctrine—the conclusion that Earth has many unique, apparently designed, features that enable it to support life and in particular advanced life—is now well established within the scientific community.
Extrasolar PlanetsA Complete Sample of Extrasolar Planets
5/25/2009 Researchers first detected a star-orbiting planet outside the solar system in 1995.1 It was found orbiting the star 51 Pegasi. Today, astronomers know of 347 extrasolar planets. A Spectrum of Views on ETI
4/1/1998 The “Christian position” on extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) has been a matter of debate since the time of Thomas Aquinas.1, 2 Scholars have taken sides for various biblical reasons. Those who believe ETI exists see it as a display of God’s omnipotence and creativity. A Twin or Not a Twin?
4/1/1999 All the star-planet systems discovered so far represent extremely hostile environments for life. GAS GIANTS such as Jupiter lack the capacity to support life. Aliens From Another World? Getting Here From There
4/1/2001 A rising challenge to Christianity, both within and beyond the borders of America, springs from the popular obsession with UFOs (unidentified flying objects) and ETI (extraterrestrial intelligent life). An Infinity of Universes
1/1/2001 Dozens of cosmic characteristics must be exquisitely fine-tuned to make physical life possible. The degree of fine-tuning observed exceeds by many orders of magnitude the fine-tuning of which humans are capable. Despite such evidence, rather than because of it, some people, including scientists, speculate about the existence of an infinite number of universes. Coreless Terrestrial Planets
1/19/2009 It is now obvious to all planetary scientists that Earth possesses many apparently designed features that have enabled it to support life for billions of years, and to support advanced life in particular. As I described in last week’s Today’s New Reasons To Believe, two MIT planetary scientists added to the list of these features. Debris Disks and Planets Show Solar System Design
8/31/2009 Analysis of objects orbiting stars has provided evidence for the supernatural design of our solar system. Design of Outward Migration of Gas Giant Planets
2/15/2010 On June 5–6, 2012, a rare solar system event will occur. Design of the Solar System’s Gas Giants
8/11/2008 New understanding of the solar system by team of five theoreticians from three different continents has produced even more evidence for the design of the solar system’s gas giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) for the benefit of advanced life on Earth. The masses and orbits of the solar system’s four gas giant planets are crucial for life on planet Earth. Designed to Shake
4/1/2007 My family lives in one of the fastest-rising neighborhoods in the nation—not economically, but topographically. Our home rises by an average of 9 millimeters (1/3 inch) per year. Sometimes the elevation gain (via earthquake) seems a bit disturbing. Sometimes it's destructive. Does the Probability for ETI = 1?
12/3/2007 Earlier this fall (September 25) I had a three-minute debate on Mancow’s Morning Madhouse, a nationally syndicated radio show, on the topic “Is there scientific evidence for intelligent life in the universe?” My debate opponent was Amir Aczel, a nationally known mathematician and best-selling author. Earth’s Unique Element Abundances
12/21/2009 Earth is not at all ordinary in its assortment of elements and compounds. Effect of Distant Orbiters on Habitability
6/4/2007 Distant bodies in a planetary system are like some distant in-laws. Even when they live far away and never visit they can still cause lots of problems. Exoplanet Highlights from the American Astronomical Society Meeting
1/20/2010 Washington DC witnessed the year’s American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting in early January 2010. The meeting spawned a large number of news stories relating to exoplanets so I thought it worthwhile to summarize a few of the more interesting results that could impact apologetics. Exotic Life Sites: The Feasibility of Far-Out Habitats
10/1/2001 People often joke about the certainty of death and taxes. Astronomers can add another certainty to that short list: Sooner or later someone will ask, “What do you think about the possibility of life out there?” Finding Oceans and Continents and Extrasolar Planets
9/7/2009 The quest to find an Earth-like planet capable of supporting advanced life will not be fulfilled simply by discovering a planet approximating the mass of Earth that orbits its star at a distance that would permit surface liquid water to exist. Astronomers are finally recognizing the futility of this search. First Detection of Earth-sized Planet?
10/1/2000 A team of 41 astronomers from Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and the United States took advantage of a naturally occurring telescope to image a small planet orbiting a star somewhere between us and the Galactic Bulge (the dense concentration of stars that exists at the core of our Milky Way galaxy). Habitable Planets Rarer than Originally Thought
10/1/2006 Tradesmen get a lot of business from people who start projects that appear simple. ("How hard can it be to install a new shower?") What initially looks like a straightforward task ends up requiring much more skill, time, and financial resources than expected. After many hours of frustration, and often many dollars spent, the exasperated homeowner calls the expert. In those circumstances, the skill and resourcefulness of the craftsman is readily appreciated. How Unlikely Is Our Planetary System?
8/3/2009 The year 1995 marked the first time astronomers discovered an extrasolar planet.1 It was found orbiting the star 51 Pegasi. Today, scientists know of more than 350 planets residing outside the solar system. In the Habitable Zone But With No Water
7/11/2007 Planets around M dwarf stars have generated a lot of interest lately—especially with the recent discovery of an earth-mass planet in the region where liquid water could exist on the surface. Interstellar Rocks Miss the Mark
4/1/2001 Where, when, and how did life originate? Answers to these questions prove more elusive than ever to the science community—specifically to those who demand a naturalistic answer. Is Life Possible on a Moon?
12/10/2007 A team of American astronomers recently announced the discovery of the first known planet outside our solar system to spend its entire orbit within the “habitable zone.”1 When astronomers talk about a habitable zone for a planet they simply mean that the planet is orbiting within that distance from its star where surface liquid water would be possible–assuming the atmosphere of the planet is fine-tuned so as to trap the just right amount of heat from the planet’s star. Is the Sun Unique?
8/29/2008 What if we could exchange our Sun for another star? Would we still have an environment that supports advanced life? Or would the change prevent the continuation of that life? Location! Location! Location!
4/1/2007 Either a beachfront home or a secluded mountain ranch costs far more than a house in suburbia. A secluded mountain ranch with a beachfront on the other hand—now that would be valuable property. The real estate maxim applies in a similar way when considering the location of any potential life-supporting planet—but with far greater consequences than material wealth. Looking for a Firefly in the Face of a Searchlight
5/18/2007 New and exciting spaced-based optical instruments are continually being proposed and built to advance our understanding of the universe and its contents. In the wake of past discoveries that Martian Climate Instabilities Compared to Earth’s
7/28/2008 Sometimes the shortest path to learn about the scientific details of our planet Earth is to study similar details on other planets where the phenomena under investigation are simpler to investigate and understand. Mars is a good example of such a pathway. It also is a good example of how the study of other planets can expose hidden evidences for supernatural design in our own planet. Microlensing Planets
4/4/2008 Modern techniques have generated great interest in the search for far away, potentially habitable planets. More than 275 extrasolar planets (planets outside of our own solar system) have been discovered using a variety of measurement techniques. Milky Way Galaxy’s Tiny Black Hole
9/1/2008 Through a variety of means astronomers have determined that a black hole exists at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The latest and most definitive measurement puts the mass of that black hole at 3,6000,000 times the mass of the Sun. More Evidence for the Design of Earthquake Activity
8/18/2008 Stanford University geophysicists Norman H. Sleep and Mark D. Zoback note that the higher tectonic activity during Earth's early history could have played a key role in cycling critically important nutrients and energy sources for life Outward Migration of Gas Giant Planets
1/4/2010 A new analysis uncovers yet more evidence for the uniquely designed characteristics of our solar system’s suite of planets that make advanced life possible on Earth. Photosynthesis Is Not Enough
9/22/2008 After the first appearance of life on Earth, the Great Oxygenation Event marked the biggest chemical transformation of the planet. This event occurred approximately 2.4 billion years ago. The oxygen content of Earth’s atmosphere rose from just one thousandth of a percent (10-5) of its present level (about 21 percent of the total volume of the atmosphere) to several percent of its present level. Planet Formation: Problems with Water, Carbon, and Air
1/12/2009 Thanks to a study from two MIT planetary scientists, the rare planet doctrine now finds additional support. This is the conclusion that Earth has many unique, apparently designed features that enable it to support life and, in particular, advanced life. Planet Migration Tests Solar System Design
10/29/2007 Astronomers have discovered over 250 planets outside of our solar system residing in over 200 different planetary systems. However, all of these extrasolar planets exhibit characteristics that would eliminate the possibility of another planet residing in the same planetary system that could possibly support advanced life for a brief time or even primitive life for a long time. Planet Quest- A Recent Success
4/1/2000 Using the world’s largest optical telescope, the 400-inch KECK, three American astronomers recently discovered two Saturn-sized planets outside our solar system. Both orbit “main sequence” stars (stable, hydrogen-burning stars) like our sun.1 Planet Rotation Design
10/1/2007 Scientists have recognized for some time that the rotation rate of a planet must be fine-tuned to make advanced life on that planet possible. If the planet rotates too slowly, the temperature differences between day and night will become too extreme. If the planet rotates too quickly, the jet streams will become too laminar and too stable, causing parts of the planet to be too wet and the rest to be bone dry. Rare Solar System Location
10/20/2008 Many astronomers have noted that the present solar system environment is amazingly benign for advanced life. The solar system’s current position (in between two nearby exceptionally symmetrical and widely separated spiral arms that are devoid of any significant spurs or feathers) keeps the solar system’s planets well-protected from gravitational interactions with stars and dense molecular clouds. Rare Solar System, Rare Sun
12/14/2009 The first discovered extrasolar planet was found in 1995, orbiting the nearby star 51 Pegasi. Search for Planets Draws a Blank
4/1/2001 Is the universe really rife with life sites, as Carl Sagan asserted? Research data continues to shape an answer to this question, but the weight of evidence falls, thus far, on the negative side. The ever-optimistic naturalist must work harder and more imaginatively to keep up appearances—and hope. Searching for Earths
10/1/2007 I once saw a toy that served as a visual example of the saying "one in a million". It consisted of a clear plastic ball about 4 inches in diameter filled with literally a million little plastic cubes. All were painted silver but one, which was painted red. The object was to find the red cube! Needless to say, finding it was no mean task. Small Extrasolar Water World Discovered
1/18/2010 Extrasolar planets frequently make news; in particular, a recent discovery by a team of 19 American and European astronomers is attracting attention. Smaller Stars Offer Little Hope
5/2/2007 The recent discovery of an Earth-sized planet around a nearby star generated a lot of excitement in the scientific community - and rightly so. For one thing, most exoplanets (planets outside the solar system) are gas giants like Jupiter and thus have no potential to sustain life. Start and Stops in the Search for Earth-like Planets
7/27/2007 A few weeks ago we reported on the discovery of a new planet circling an M-type dwarf star named Gliese 581 in the constellation Libra. This discovery received a lot of attention in the news because its The Heavens Resound with a Message for Mankind
1/1/1999 Three astronomers have discovered yet another of the many delicate balances operating in our solar system, balances that protect life on this planet. Their investigation of planetary resonances (the intensification of gravitational effects resulting from orbital patterns and repeated, regular planetary alignments) indicates that without an Earth-Moon system just like ours, The Tidal Habitable Zones
8/10/2009 Habitable zones support an important line of evidence for the supernatural design of life-friendly planets. Two such locations include the water and the ultraviolet radiation habitable zones. Too Much Sulfur
10/6/2008 Recent studies conducted on Venus and Mars illustrate just how carefully fine-tuned a planet’s abundance of sulfur must be for life to be possible. Sulfur plays a crucial role in life chemistry. This fact became personal for me a year ago when I was diagnosed as sulfur deficient. Many protein functions crucially depend on sulfur. Fortunately, most agricultural soils contain plenty of sulfur that vegetables, like onions and garlic, readily absorb. Volcanism and Plate Tectonics on Earthlike Planets
9/21/2009 At long last astronomers are recognizing that their quest to find a life-friendly, earthlike planet will not be fulfilled simply by discovering a planet approximating the mass of Earth that orbits its star at a distance that would permit surface liquid water to exist. Why Dusty Stars Make Good Planets
10/14/2009 For anyone trying to keep a house or office clean, dust bunnies are the enemy. Yet these annoyances form a crucial ally when trying to form a habitable planetary system. Extrasolar PlanetsAstronomers Find Batch of "Super-Earths"
Author: Dr. Hugh Ross Can Spaceships Travel Faster than Speed of Light?
Hugh Ross, Dave Rogstad, and Joe Aguirre Exoplanet Discovery and Ten Questions for Christians
Dave Rogstad, Jeff Zweerink, Kenneth Samples, Hugh Ross, and Joe Aguirre Huge Planet Defies Explanation
Author: Dr. Hugh Ross Just Right Universe
Hugh Ross, Jeff Zweerink & Kenneth Samples Microbes in Antarctic Ice
Fuz Rana, Jeff Zweerink, and Joe Aguirre More on the Bird-Dinosaur Hypothesis
Fuz Rana, Dave Rogstad, Kenneth Samples, and Joe Aguirre Smallest Planet Outside Solar System Found
Author: Dr. Hugh Ross Stellar Research Shows Fine-Tuning
Hugh Ross, Dave Rogstad, Kenneth Samples, and Joe Aguirre The Best of Science News Flash
Hugh Ross, Fuz Rana, Jeff Zweerink, and Joe Aguirre The Jupiter Twin HD 154345b
Author: Dr. Hugh Ross US Astronomers Discover Inter-Planetary Collision
Author: Dr. Hugh Ross Extrasolar Planets |