Youthful Solar System Bodies Puzzle Evolutionary Scientists (article)

Institute for Creation Research ^ | Article posted on February 13, 2013. | Jake Hebert, Ph.D,

[fishtank]

Youthful Solar System Bodies Puzzle Evolutionary Scientists by Jake Hebert, Ph.D. *

A feature story in a recent issue of the journal Nature described four solar system bodies that are puzzling to evolutionary scientists.1 Specifically, the article discussed the rings of Saturn, two of Saturn's moons (Enceladus and Titan), and Jupiter's moon Io. These four bodies all exhibit properties that cannot persist for billions of years.

The brightness of Saturn's rings is puzzling because after billions of years, they should have been darkened by dust from comets and asteroids. Yet these rings are still brilliantly beautiful.

Likewise, watery geysers erupting from the south pole of Saturn's moon Enceladus suggest that the moon is giving off a great deal of heat, yet this heat should "die down" relatively quickly. A mechanism proposed by Australian planetary scientist Craig O'Neill can theoretically provide enough release of heat to sustain the geysers for only about ten million years—far fewer than billions of years.

Secular researchers are also puzzled by the methane in Titan's atmosphere. Because sunlight degrades methane, Titan's atmospheric methane should have been depleted after only a few tens of millions of years. Yet methane is still present in Titan's atmosphere.

Likewise, the extreme volcanic activity on Jupiter's moon Io seems incapable of being sustained for extremely long periods of time.

Secular planetary scientists have proposed multiple hypotheses to explain these "anomalies." Many of these explanations assume that we just happen to be simultaneously viewing multiple short-lived astronomical phenomena. However, even secular scientists acknowledge that such a coincidence seems unlikely. For instance, O'Neill acknowledged that his explanation for the continuing geologic activity on Enceladus seems like "special pleading," since it requires researchers to view Enceladus at a special time in its history. Other proposed explanations for the persistence of these phenomena are also problematic.

Economy of explanation, or parsimony, is an important principle in science. A single hypothesis that can simultaneously explain multiple phenomena is more likely to be correct than multiple hypotheses needed to explain those same phenomena. Of course, there is such a hypothesis that could easily explain all four of these astronomical "anomalies." If the solar system were only thousands, rather than billions, of years old as implied by a straightforward reading of the Bible, then the continued brilliance of Saturn's rings, the continued presence of methane in Titan's atmosphere, and the continuing geological activity of Io and Enceladus would not be surprising—those would actually be expected.

In fact, creation scientists and astronomers have been pointing out such youthful features of our solar system for many years.2 Yet not only have secular scientists refused to even consider the possibility of a young, created solar system, they have discriminated against creation scientists.3

Secular planetary scientists would deny that there is any good reason to believe the universe is young. And yet their puzzlement over these four solar system bodies is a direct result of their insistence that the universe has been in existence for billions of years. Could their unwillingness to consider this possibility be due to other reasons?

If the universe really is just thousands of years old, then evolution is completely discredited. A slow evolutionary process needs billions of years in order even to appear plausible. If evolutionary processes are disqualified, then special creation is the only remaining logical alternative. But special creation requires a Creator. And many—even scientists who are supposedly logical, objective, and impartial—are simply unwilling to acknowledge their Creator's authority over their lives.

References

McKee, M. 2013. Caught in the Act. Nature. 493 (7434): 592-596.

For a good summary of such features, see Psarris, S. 2009. DVD. What You Aren't Being Told About Astronomy, Volume 1: Our Created Solar System. Creation Astronomy Media.

For instance, many suspect that scientist David Coppedge's employment at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory was terminated due to his belief in and support of biblical creation. See: At Pro-Darwin Blogs, Knee-Jerk Responses to the David Coppedge Intelligent Design Case Validate Discrimination Claims. Evolution News & Views. Posted on evolutionnews.org November 7, 2012, accessed February 11, 2013. Image credit: NASA/JPL - Caltech/Space Science Institute

* Dr. Hebert is Research Associate at the Institute for Creation Research and received his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Texas at Dallas.

Article posted on February 13, 2013.

[Strategerist]

Likewise, the extreme volcanic activity on Jupiter's moon Io seems incapable of being sustained for extremely long periods of time.

Io is frictionally heated by the gravitational changes of its elliptical orbit close to massive Jupiter; that energy never "runs out."

This author is either an idiot or a liar. Probably some combination of the two.

[backwoods-engineer]

6. The sun (and all stars) are electrical arc discharges not H-bombs

You are kookier than the original poster.

Of course electric and magnetic fields are important on the sun. But easily-made spectroscopic measurements (e.g., extinction of Lyman-Alpha lines) can confirm that there is fusion going on in the core of the sun.

Begone, kook.

[stremba]

I’m sure that it puzzles priests, doctors, welders and cab drivers too. What the in bloody heck do “evolutionary scientists” have to do with astronomy? Evolutionary scientists would be ones who study evolution, right? Evolution only deals with the diversity of life on earth. Evolutionary scientists would have no great expertise on the age of objects in the solar system, at least not any more than anyone else.

[OneWingedShark]

I think she’s saying the same thing about you. :0)

LOL - Maybe.
Though I will admit to not knowing/recognizing a lot of celebrities.

[COBOL2Java]

What if the earth is 6,000years old and the rest of the universe is Billions of years old....

Blame the mice!

[GraceG]

Mainstream astronomers are going to learn some new stuff that heretic astronomers have been hooting about for ages:

1. Saturn’s rings are recent

2. Io’s eruptions are electrical discharges

3. The sun (and all stars) is the remnant of a galactic Birkland current Z pinch

4. Big Bang, Dark Matter, Dark Energy and Black Hole are mathematical hallucinations.

5. Almost all life was wiped out in North America 10,000 years ago by a comet impact

6. The sun (and all stars) are electrical arc discharges not H-bombs

7. 99% of all matter in the Universe is in the plasma state and hence is electrical in nature

8. The “solar wind” would be more aptly named the solar electric current

9. Radiometric dating is heavily skewed in the presence of static electrical fields thus all geological and archaeological dating relying on isotope decay is unreliable.

10. Gravity has an electrical component

www.thunderbolts.info

And this is the source of all that electricity!!!!

[MrB]

Ah... you would think so...

but perhaps that’s not their focus.

Perhaps their focus is more... religious?

[count-your-change]

Kevlar umbrellas for the Russians. Now there’s a money maker but remember you heard it here first.

[azcap]

“The brightness of Saturn’s rings is puzzling because after billions of years, they should have been darkened by dust from comets and asteroids. Yet these rings are still brilliantly beautiful.”

Are these people really this stupid? The moon is covered in dust and last I checked it reflects light just fine. Where in “God’s plan” does it indicate that dust is flat black? Stuff like this just makes creationists look stupid. My God did create the universe but he is not a Luddite. When “creation science” beliefs are so clearly ignorant it makes it easier for people to doubt other religious teachings and thought. People like this are truly doing Satan’s PR work.

[azcap]

“The brightness of Saturn’s rings is puzzling because after billions of years, they should have been darkened by dust from comets and asteroids. Yet these rings are still brilliantly beautiful.”

Are these people really this stupid? The moon is covered in dust and last I checked it reflects light just fine. Where in “God’s plan” does it indicate that dust is flat black? Stuff like this just makes creationists look stupid. My God did create the universe but he is not a Luddite. When “creation science” beliefs are so clearly ignorant it makes it easier for people to doubt other religious teachings and thought. People like this are truly doing Satan’s PR work.

[COBOL2Java]

I’m sure that it puzzles priests, doctors, welders and cab drivers too. What the in bloody heck do “evolutionary scientists” have to do with astronomy? Evolutionary scientists would be ones who study evolution, right? Evolution only deals with the diversity of life on earth. Evolutionary scientists would have no great expertise on the age of objects in the solar system, at least not any more than anyone else.

Notwithstanding the scenario where an evolutionary scientist was married to an astronomer; might make for some interesting pillow talk. :-)

Kidding aside, I think it would be productive for experts in such disparate disciplines to collaborate on that kind of an endeavor.

[KC_Lion]

Those GIFS ARE GREAT!

[count-your-change]

Maybe you’re actually in a lab with lots of wires running into your brain simulating reality. By pressing this secret button you will be directed to make a response.

[zeugma]

Io is frictionally heated by the gravitational changes of its elliptical orbit close to massive Jupiter; that energy never "runs out."

There is no such thing as perpetual motion. The energy has to come from somewhere. In this particular case, I vote Jupiter. I would imagine it could probably be calculated how much rotational energy Io steals from Jupiter with each orbit.

[SengirV]

Not really. All you have to do is ask is why is start light, from the galaxies in our LOCAL GROUP, taking MILLIONS of years to reach us.

As soon as you hear the “answers” coming from Jake and his friends, you will know that this has nothing to do with Astronomy.

[GraceG]

Maybe you’re actually in a lab with lots of wires running into your brain simulating reality. By pressing this secret button you will be directed to make a response.

I keep pressing the button and NOTHING happens...

Unless that is what was supposed to happen....

Time to go back loooking at my belly button.....

[SengirV]

Correct, there is no perpetual motion. But a couple billions years of gravity induced friction goes a LONG way.

[I want the USA back]

The article says “should .... yet” a lot. Shows the muddy thinking that has become common.
The universe “should” not do anything. The universe does what it does, and it’s up to us mortals to figure it out - but we don’t seem to be doing a very good job of it.

There are no anomalies in the universe. The universe is working quite well the way it always has.

[celmak]

But people claiming the earth is 6,000 years old and throwing up their arms every time they find a gap in the data and saying "God did it." is not science. Idiocy, yes, but not science.

And people claiming that the earth is millions of years old from data they can't repeat is religion; you can't "prove" either theory. And the question is, "How did God do it?" not "It happened from nothing."

[celmak]

But people claiming the earth is 6,000 years old and throwing up their arms every time they find a gap in the data and saying "God did it." is not science. Idiocy, yes, but not science.

And people claiming that the earth is millions of years old from data they can't repeat is religion; you can't "prove" either theory. And the question is, "How did God do it?" not "It happened from nothing."