Another gem from Msgr. Pope, ping!
There are definitely a lot of variables that have to be taken into account but its looking increasingly likely that God created trillions of planets in the universe.
That said the article does a pretty good job of pointing out the things that are problematic for human life on other planets.
Recent excerpt:
In an announcement with massive consequences for the human race, astronomers say there are “probably about one hundred” planets within just 30 light-years of our solar system which could support life along Earthly lines. By their calculations, there are tens of billions of such worlds in our galaxy, suggesting that even if life is very rare it is bound to have arisen elsewhere.
Funny thing is I once read a book suggest the Earth did have a smallbset of rings at one time, and how that made life a lot easier.
Given the fact that there are at least a hundred billion galaxies in the universe, and that each galaxy has at least a hundred billion stars, I have no doubt that there are millions or billions of planets in the universe that support life, but it’s irrelevant because they would be millions of light years away.
Thanks for that NYer.
Guillermo Gonzalez & Jay W Richards, “The Privileged Planet: How Our Place In The Cosmos Is Designed For Discovery”
This is a subject with so many variables the human mind simply can’t draw any logical conclusions.
A: Because it's a single parent.
I once did (and since forgot) some calculations the long and short of which is that the most miniscule variation in the earth's diameter would render the whole planet an ice cap or a desert.
Thank you for posting this. I once saw a teaching by Frank Turek on the same subject, and the reality of how finely God tuned His creation-—so that we can exist-—is pretty breathtaking.
http://www.crossexamined.org/blog/?m=20120321
I have long held that the loss of "God's NIGHT" to modern light pollution has materially diminished our wonder of our small place in the cosmos. For most of us moderns we have to make a special effort to see a truly dark night sky. Pre-1900, our ancestors would see it almost every night. I feel that it does make a difference!