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Solar System Is Pretty Special, According To New Computer Simulation
Science Daily ^ | August 8, 2008 | Staff

Posted on 08/08/2008 4:47:51 PM PDT by fightinJAG

ScienceDaily (Aug. 8, 2008) — Prevailing theoretical models attempting to explain the formation of the solar system have assumed it to be average in every way. Now a new study by Northwestern University astronomers, using recent data from the 300 exoplanets discovered orbiting other stars, turns that view on its head.

The solar system, it turns out, is pretty special indeed. The study illustrates that if early conditions had been just slightly different, very unpleasant things could have happened -- like planets being thrown into the sun or jettisoned into deep space.

Using large-scale computer simulations, the Northwestern researchers are the first to model the formation of planetary systems from beginning to end, starting with the generic disk of gas and dust that is left behind after the formation of the central star and ending with a full planetary system. Because of computing limitations, earlier models provided only brief glimpses of the process.

The researchers ran more than a hundred simulations, and the results show that the average planetary system's origin was full of violence and drama but that the formation of something like our solar system required conditions to be "just right."

(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: crevo
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1 posted on 08/08/2008 4:47:51 PM PDT by fightinJAG
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To: fightinJAG

Genesis 1:1


2 posted on 08/08/2008 4:49:38 PM PDT by RaceBannon (Innocent until proven guilty; The Pendleton 8: We are not going down without a fight)
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To: fightinJAG
No green Orion Slave Women???


3 posted on 08/08/2008 4:57:15 PM PDT by Coffee200am ("We should all be living in mud huts and riding bicycles to avoid killing the polar bears...%99"/s)
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To: fightinJAG
Well of course it's special.

I'm in it.

4 posted on 08/08/2008 5:07:05 PM PDT by rosenfan
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To: fightinJAG

Just more confirmation that we live in the “Goldilocks Zone”. As one cosmologist said, “Creation of life on earth is like a tornado hitting a junk yard and leaving behind a completely fully assembled 707 aircraft”...or something similar to that.


5 posted on 08/08/2008 5:09:58 PM PDT by Portcall24
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To: Portcall24

Given that most solar systems aren’t conducive to complex life, it shouldn’t be surprising that the one example we have of it (us) evolved in one of the few “just right” systems.


6 posted on 08/08/2008 5:30:45 PM PDT by rosenfan
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To: Portcall24
Just more confirmation that we live in the “Goldilocks Zone”. As one cosmologist said, “Creation of life on earth is like a tornado hitting a junk yard and leaving behind a completely fully assembled 707 aircraft”...or something similar to that.

This is an affirmation of the "Anthropic Principle" which states that things are exactly as we observe them because if they were any different then we wouldn't be around to observe them differently ..... or something similar to that :)

7 posted on 08/08/2008 5:32:15 PM PDT by Mr_Moonlight
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To: fightinJAG

I think these computer models have a lot of flaws - to be proven by observation of other systems in the galaxy. There is no reason to think that the solar system is a rare form - but that the models predict highly elliptical orbits, and our system has mostly circular orbits (planets and moons) suggests that the modelers are missing something in their equations.


8 posted on 08/08/2008 5:40:56 PM PDT by GregoryFul
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To: Portcall24

Yes. “Creation of life on earth is like a tornado hitting a junk yard and leaving behind a completely fully assembled 707 aircraft”... = God.


9 posted on 08/08/2008 5:41:44 PM PDT by plain talk
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To: fightinJAG

There is a book on the subject, with great detail about how special the earth is.

Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe by Peter Ward and Donald Brownlee.


10 posted on 08/08/2008 5:55:48 PM PDT by broncobilly
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To: broncobilly

There is another book that sheds a lot of light, not only on how the entire Universe came into being, but also tells us exactly how we can come to know the Designer/Creator and how to live while we are residents here.

Oh yes.......the name of the book:

HOLY BIBLE


11 posted on 08/08/2008 6:21:52 PM PDT by Tucker39 (Darwin, Huxley, Sagan, et al began believing in God and Creation after 5 seconds in Hell!)
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To: fightinJAG

btt


12 posted on 08/08/2008 6:29:12 PM PDT by Cacique (quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat ( Islamia Delenda Est ))
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To: fightinJAG

God doesn’t make mistakes.


13 posted on 08/08/2008 6:41:59 PM PDT by Finalapproach29er (Democrats still want to Impeach Pres. Bush and/or VP Cheney; keep your eye on these House hearings.)
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To: RaceBannon

Amen!


14 posted on 08/08/2008 7:23:25 PM PDT by LiteKeeper (Beware the secularization of America; the Islamization of Eurabia)
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To: fightinJAG
Special indeed-

Sit back, enjoy the ride (at 18.5 mi/sec), and praise the Creator...

15 posted on 08/08/2008 7:55:30 PM PDT by mikrofon (Astro BUMP)
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To: mikrofon

That’s what I love about enjoying the creation.


16 posted on 08/08/2008 9:25:29 PM PDT by fightinJAG (Rush was right when he said: "You NEVER win by losing.")
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To: Portcall24

The book “Rare Earth” (also the name of a fairly good band in the ‘60s or ‘70s) goes into this in amazing detail. A great read!


17 posted on 08/08/2008 9:26:49 PM PDT by fightinJAG (Rush was right when he said: "You NEVER win by losing.")
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To: broncobilly

I just posted that, before reading down the thread. So you beat me to it!

That was a great book.


18 posted on 08/08/2008 9:28:00 PM PDT by fightinJAG (Rush was right when he said: "You NEVER win by losing.")
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To: GregoryFul
Check this out: # 10
19 posted on 08/08/2008 9:29:39 PM PDT by fightinJAG (Rush was right when he said: "You NEVER win by losing.")
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To: Mr_Moonlight
> Just more confirmation that we live in the “Goldilocks Zone”.

The Anthropic Principle suggests that the whole universe exists by way of a monster convergence of a dozen or so Goldilocks zones.

I once heard it described as follows... Imagine a radio with a dozen analog style tuning dials, each a billion or so miles long. Tune each dial to a spot the width of a hair. Get EVERYTHING tuned exactly right and you get the universe that we exist in, but if you are off by even a fraction of an inch the universe would be vastly different, if it ever formed at all!.

20 posted on 08/08/2008 10:53:10 PM PDT by ADemocratNoMore (Jeepers, Freepers, where'd 'ya get those sleepers?. Pj people, exposing old media's lies.)
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