Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
Our galaxy is “highly skewed toward fitness for life”

Our galaxy is “highly skewed toward fitness for life”

Last updated on: September 2, 2020 at 10:44 pm by Dan Peterson

Our galaxy is “highly skewed toward fitness for life” 2020-09-02T22:44:53-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Andromeda, our nearest galactic neighbor, is also a spiral.
(Public Domain image from JPL, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

Here are a couple of passages from Gerald L. Schroeder’s God According to God: A Scientist Discovers We’ve Been Wrong About God All Along (New York: HarperOne, 2009):

In the passage immediately below, Schroeder, an American living in Jerusalem who was trained in physics and planetary science at MIT, offers a basic initial checklist for life-friendly planets:

The shape of our galaxy turns out to be highly skewed toward fitness for life. There are spherical, spiral, and elliptical galaxies, star clusters, small and large, and colliding galaxies. Spiral fits the needs. The others are marginal at best, as we shall see. Then there’s the parent star’s location within the galaxy: near the center or farther out? Is the star embedded within a spiral arm or between the arms? For life we need planets circling the star. How far from the star are they? Close enough for the star’s radiant warmth to keep water liquid, but not so close that the water boils away. And which of the ninety-two elements are present? This varies greatly among stars. And then there is concern for the planet’s water content, continental drift, tectonics and mountain chains, dry land and oceans. All are critical as life-sustaining factors. Does it have a large moon; one or more giant planets in the outer system, but no giant inner planets; strong enough gravity to retain an oxygen-rich atmosphere but not so strong as to hold lighter toxic gases; a nearly circular planetary orbit; moderately rapid planet rotation; and stabiliity and tilt of the rotational axis? The list goes on, and each aspect plays an essential role in the construction of a region fit for life. The jargon in the trade is the “habitable zone.” Creating a habitable zone around a star is not a trivial task. (59)

I’ve actually presented some of Schroeder’s arguments, suggestions, or conclusions on many of these questions in previous blog entries.

He rather likes the galaxy in which we live:

Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is one of approximately a hundred billion galaxies in the visible universe. Its stars form a spiral. Spherical, elliptical, irregular, globular, and colliding galaxies also populate our vast universe. Spiral is what we want. The other configurations are populated with stars that are either mostly too young, and hence have too low a concentration of the elements necessary for life, or too densely packed with adjacent stars, and as a result are too often bombarded with life-threatening radiation from those neighboring stars. (59-60)

When I was young, I was taught that there is nothing unusual about Earth. It’s just a common, run-of-the-mill planet orbiting a common, run-of-the-mill star, in a common, run-of-the-mill galaxy. Move along, folks. There nothing here to see.

I was taught falsehoods.

Previous Post

September 2, 2020

An "Update" from Professor Muhlestein regarding work on the Book of Abraham

Next Post

September 3, 2020 Revision 4.16 "The Hajj"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who led the Israelites into battle against Jericho?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Moses Gideon Joshua David