Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Further to: There are millions of habitable planets… no

Denyse O'Leary
October 2, 2015
Exoplanets, News
Share
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Flipboard
Print
Email

Here. But now this:

It is most likely that we are the only living beings in our galaxy, according to an esteemed former Nasa scientist. William Borucki, who played a large part in finding other potentially hospitable planets during his role as chief investigator for the US space agency’s Kepler mission until his retirement in 2015, said that the evidence points to us being alone, in our galaxy at least.

Definitely don’t blast off just yet.

See also: Don’t let Mars fool you. Those exoplanets teem with life!

and

How do we grapple with the idea that ET might not be out there?

Comments
OT: podcast Hour 2 - Casey Luskin on Eric Metaxas's radio show http://www.metaxastalk.com/podcast/friday-september-25-2015/ The Discovery Institute’s Research Coordinator, Casey Luskin, talks about evolution, Adam & Eve, human origins, and the recent discovery in South Africa of a potentially new species, Homo Naledi.bornagain77
October 2, 2015
October
10
Oct
2
02
2015
06:21 PM
6
06
21
PM
PDT
podcast - Hugh Ross on Eric Metaxas's radio show - Tuesday, September 29, 2015 http://www.metaxastalk.com/podcast/tuesday-september-29-2015/bornagain77
October 2, 2015
October
10
Oct
2
02
2015
05:40 PM
5
05
40
PM
PDT
I believe Borucki's argument is that we would have heard something if an intelligent civilization was within our galaxy. It has nothing to do with the rareness of Earth or its properties. In fact he seems to imply that Earth is not rare at all. This is the first time recently that someone is apparently saying that Earth is not rare. Of course there is no close up evidence of just what any other planet is about. But on the same page there is an article about a newly discovered planet. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/earth-2-0-nasa-announces-discovery-new-planet-substantial-opportunity-alien-life-1512297
The planet, called Kepler 452b, is described as a "bigger, older cousin" to our own planet and is the smallest planet so far that orbits in a habitable zone around a star similar to the Sun. The planet is 60% larger than Earth, and its orbit is only 20 days longer than our planet's. Scientists believe that its 6 billion years in the "habitable zone" near the star, which has a similar mass and temperature to the Sun, is more than enough time for life to have evolved in its oceans or on its surfaces.
But Eric Metaxas indicates that any planet varying just a small amount from Earth would not be habitable in any way we know.jerry
October 2, 2015
October
10
Oct
2
02
2015
07:50 AM
7
07
50
AM
PDT

Leave a Reply