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Astronomers are puzzled that other
recently discovered planetary systems look so different from ours. Our sun is
remarkably even-tempered and well-mannered — it doesn’t flare or pulse like
other stars. When solar flares do occur, they are not so violent as to vaporize
our oceans… or worse. Our moon is equally amazing. The moon and sun appear
exactly the same size in Earth’s sky — making precise solar eclipses possible.
The Moon’s orbit is difficult to explain, moving as it does around a rotating
Earth, which together form a ‘double-planet’ system that orbits around the Sun.
It is a classic example of a three-dimensional, gravitational three-body
problem - our solar system was designed complete, intact, and perfectly
balanced by the Creator, for the full benefit of us His creatures, during the creation week just thousands of
years ago
BY FRANK SHERWIN, M.A.
For decades it has been somewhat of a
mystery to secularists as to why our solar system is structured the way it is:
the four gas giants — Saturn and Jupiter, composed mainly of helium and
hydrogen, and Uranus and Neptune — orbiting far away from the sun, and the four
smaller rocky planets, the terrestrials — Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars — orbiting
much closer to the sun.
Astronomers are puzzled that other
recently discovered planetary systems look so different from ours.
One evolutionist
stated, “There are so many surprises in this field — almost nothing is
turning out as we expected.”
Indeed, for the secular astronomer,
basic planet construction is caught on the horns of a dilemma.
Many stars in our Milky Way possess
spinning disks of matter — orbiting gas and dust — but there are three
significant problems in forming planets from these ingredients: death spirals,
accretion (the gradual growth of planets by the accumulation of debris), and
turbulence.
The building of
planets large and small is an enigma, and “many aspects of the formation of
the giant planets remain unresolved.”
An evolutionist writing in the
prestigious Nature journal stated,
“The discovery of
thousands of star systems wildly different from our own has demolished ideas
about how planets form. Astronomers are searching for a whole new theory.”
But even if our neighboring planets
somehow formed quickly from accumulating space dust, recently discovered
exoplanets (extrasolar planets) have changed secular solar system formation
theory.
Ours is certainly
unique: “Today we know that planetary systems are quite common, but in many
cases the ones we see differ significantly from our own.”
Finkbeiner concurs,
stating, “Perhaps the biggest question is why our Solar System is so
different.”
Exceptional star systems require,
well, an exceptional star:
There are many factors that would
make a star system too hostile for life to even get started, let alone survive
for any period long enough to evolve.
So, what sort of star provides the
perfect conditions for a habitable planet elsewhere in the universe?
It so happens our sun provides the
perfect conditions. It’s not too small (i.e., too dim or too cool) or too big
(producing unfortunate charbroiled results from simply being too hot).
Compared to the intense and violent
activity seen on other stars, our sun is remarkably even-tempered and
well-mannered — it doesn’t flare or pulse like other stars.
When solar flares do occur, they are
not so violent as to vaporize our oceans… or worse.
On the local level,
our moon is equally amazing, leading two secular authors to ask, “Who built
the Moon?”
Knight and Butler
state, “The Moon is 400 times smaller than the star at the centre of our
solar system, yet it is also just 1/400th of the distance between the Earth and
the Sun.”
Consequently, the moon and sun appear
exactly the same size in Earth’s sky — making precise solar eclipses possible.
The authors also
say, “By some absolutely incomprehensible quirk of nature, the Moon also
manages to precisely imitate the perceived annual movements of the Sun each
month.”
Another secular author expressed
surprise at the moon’s amazing orbit:
The Moon’s orbit is fiendishly
difficult to explain, moving as it does around a rotating Earth, which together
form [essentially] a ‘double-planet’ system that orbits around the Sun.
After seeing the precise placement of
our planets with their right distances, masses, gravitational attractions, and
orbital characteristics, is it any wonder one evolutionist said,
You might also think that these
disparate bodies are scattered across the solar system without rhyme or reason.
But move any piece of the solar
system today, or try to add anything more, and the whole construction would be
thrown fatally out of kilter.
So how exactly did this delicate
architecture come to be?
Move any piece and it throws the
whole solar system fatally out of kilter?
Sounds like it must have been set up
in a delicate balance — a precisely orchestrated cosmic dance, if you will — from
the very beginning.
A French astrophysicist confirms the
remarkable precision of our outer planets’ relationship to Earth:
Jacques Laskar
discovered that the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn keep the earth’s orbit from
becoming chaotic. Without the orbital stability produced by Jupiter and Saturn,
the earth’s orbit would make extreme changes, causing instability in our
climate and making the earth uninhabitable.
To conclude, our
solar system is so unique that Mike Brown, a secular astronomer at Caltech,
bemoaned, “It really is something that I find deeply weird... What does it
all mean? I don’t know.”
“Almost nothing is
turning out as we expected,” “astronomers are searching for a whole new
theory,” “by some absolutely incomprehensible quirk of nature,” “fiendishly
difficult to explain,” “fatally out of kilter,” “deeply weird” — these comments
don’t seem very scientific.
They reflect the desperation of the
secular scientists’ worldview.
The satisfying answer to the question
of our solar system’s origin is found in the opening pages of Genesis.
Our
solar system was designed complete, intact, and perfectly balanced by the
Creator, for the full benefit of us His creatures, during the creation week
just thousands of years ago.
Mr. Sherwin is
Research Associate, Senior Lecturer, and Science Writer at the Institute for
Creation Research.
The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) wants people to
know that God’s Word can be trusted in everything it speaks about—from how and
why we were made, to how the universe was formed, to how we can know God and
receive all He has planned for us.
After 50 years of ministry, ICR remains a leader
in scientific research within the context of biblical creation. Founded by Dr.
Henry Morris in 1970, ICR exists to conduct scientific research within the
realms of origins and Earth history, and then to educate the public both
formally and informally through professional training programs, through
conferences and seminars around the country, and through books, magazines, and
media presentations.
https://www.icr.org/article/perfect-balance-our-solar-system
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