3. Earth, No Ordinary Rock (4)

☼ Exhibit #4: Designed for Discovery

Have you ever gazed at the skies on a clear summer evening? Is it not amazing to see all these thousands and thousands of stars as well as our moon and some of our neighboring planets? Does it not give a feeling of awe, and at the same time makes you realize how small and insignificant you are? Does it not show God's design of the universe?

Have you ever thought about how amazing it is that we can actually see all these stars? If our atmosphere was just a little thicker, the sky would look like a bank of mist or fog. And where is earth in the Milky Way? If earth had been located anywhere else in the Milky Way the view would have been very different too.  In a more “crowded” part of the galaxy we would see only a few nearby stars, which would have given so much light, that the weaker stars would not be visible. In a more remote area of the galaxy, few stars would be close enough to be visible at all.

In The Privileged Planet[10] Gonzales and Richards set forth a number of intriguing examples of how unique earth is positioned to observe the universe. They also show that the circumstances required to allow optimum observations are the same requirements essential to allow life to exist on our planet. Let’s examine a few of these examples.

A Total Solar Eclipse

Once every few years a total solar eclipse is visible from a limited area on earth. During a perfect or total solar eclipse, the light of the sun is totally blocked off by the moon, which is in a position exactly between the location on earth where the eclipse occurs and the sun. What makes the event “total” is that, from the point of the observer, the moon exactly blocks the complete sun. Over history, total solar eclipses have not only been amazing to observe, but also have resulted in important scientific discoveries not possible without a total eclipse.

A Total Solar Eclipse

In our solar system with 9 planets and more than 63 moons, earth is the best place where observers can witness a total solar eclipse. This is because of the remarkable “coincidence” of the relationship of the size of the sun compared to that of the moon and the distances between the sun, moon and earth. The sun is 400 times larger than the moon and the sun is also 400 times as far away from earth as the moon. If this relationship would have been any different, the eclipse would only be partial or the moon would also cover the sun’s corona making it a much less impressive and scientifically revealing observation. Just coincidence? Or design?

The Clarity of Earth’s Atmosphere

For complex organisms that breathe oxygen, the atmosphere of a planet requires 10 to 20% oxygen (earth’s atmosphere is roughly 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen and trace amounts of other gases). The atmospheric balance is crucial not only to breathe oxygen but also to protect from ultraviolet solar radiation, and to reduce temperature extremes between day and night.

This delicate composition of the atmosphere also “happens” to render it completely transparent. More carbon based gases, like carbon-dioxide – breathed by plant life (less than 0.04% of our atmosphere) or more water vapor  (typically less than 1%, however much higher on a rainy, misty, foggy day in the Pacific Northwest) would not only reduce the transparency dramatically, but would also cause greenhouse effects.

Visible light is radiation of a certain wavelength. To the human eye only wavelengths from ultraviolet to red light (the well known rainbow) are visible light, and these wavelengths range from about 4,000 Angstroms to 7,000 Angstroms (1 Angstrom is 10^-10 meter). “Coincidentally” earth’s atmosphere is only transparent for radiation (light) coming in from space in the range from 3,100 to 9,500 Angstrom (and radio waves). So the range of visible light to the human eyes is right in the middle of the range of light for which the atmosphere is transparent. This is also the range in which about 40% of the sun’s energy is emitted.

In the words of Richards and Gonzales[11]: “As it happens, our atmosphere strikes a nearly perfect balance, transmitting most of the radiation that is useful for life while blocking most of the lethal energy.”

Evolutionists will now probably jump out of their chair eager to say: “Yeah right, of course, we evolved on this earth with these circumstances, so, obviously the human eye evolved – by natural selection – to function exactly in this spectrum of light in our atmosphere.” But that is dead wrong. The process of photosynthesis can only happen at wavelengths (light) which fall roughly in the visible light range. At other wavelengths it just does not happen, molecules do not absorb radiation of wavelengths outside visible light.

As German astronomer Hans Blumenberg stated in 1975: “The combined circumstance that we live on earth and are able to see stars – that the conditions necessary for life do not exclude those necessary for vision, and vice versa – is a remarkably improbable one. This is because the medium in which we live is, on the one hand, just thick enough to enable us to breathe and to prevent us from being burned up by cosmic rays while, on the other hand, it is not so opaque as to absorb entirely the light of the stars and block any view of the universe. What a fragile balance between the indispensable and the sublime. (emphasis added)” ^[12]

Where is Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy?

One more striking illustration of how perfectly the conditions for life match with optimum conditions for observation is the earth's position in the Milky Way galaxy.

The Milky Way – like other galaxies – is crowded. It contains more than 100 billion stars (some estimate as many as 400 billion). It is dish shaped with branching arms (called spiral arms, therefore the Milky Way is called a spiral galaxy) when viewed from the top. Most stars are concentrated in the center, the rest scattered along the spiral arms. These arms are mostly in a flat plane, and this makes the Milky Way resemble a flat disk when seen from the side (see the pictures).

The Milky Way – like any other galaxy – is also a hostile place[13]. Life at the galactic center is impossible because the density of stars leads to almost continuous collisions (like rush-hour traffic at a busy intersection).  Plus there is the presence of many lethal stars (stars going super nova or emitting deadly radiation). The same problems are present in the spiral arms too. As a result, habitable planets in the Milky Way can only exist in-between the spiral arms. On the other hand, to have access to heavier elements, such a planet cannot be at the outer edge of the galaxy either. Earth is located roughly between two spiral arms, halfway between the galactic center and the outer edge – right in that relatively tiny area of the Milky Way in what astrobiologists call the Galactic Habitable Zone.

  

Figure 4-2: Photo's of the Milky Way Galaxy. The left picture[14] (artist impression) looks down on the Milky Way from a position outside of the galaxy. The right picture[15] (an actual photo of the Milky Way Galaxy taken by the COBE spacecraft) shows a side of the flat plane.

This also happens to be the best place for observations. Being in the flat plane of the galaxy provides us with great views of the closer stars in the spiral arms around us.  In the vertical plane we can observe other galaxies far away from us without being hindered by the light of the other stars from our galaxy. In a different shaped galaxy this would not be possible. If we were in a spiral arm itself, or even in the galactic center, the density of light from close by stars would blind us just like the bright beams of an approaching car and we would not be able to see dimmer stars at greater distances.

Once again, the place in the universe best suited for observation is also the only place in the universe where observers could actually live. It all shows Gods design for the universe. The universe is not only designed to support life, but also to be discovered. As King David wrote long ago:

 

“The heavens declare the glory of God”

Psalm 19:1

Next:  4. Simple Life Forms: An Oxymoron