Uncommon Descent Serving The Intelligent Design Community

Are eclipses a coincidence or a conspiracy?

Share
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Flipboard
Print
Email

From Jay Richards at Evolution News & Views:

On August 21, we Americans get to see a total solar eclipse. As I mentioned in a previous piece, we can see solar eclipses only because our planet, our Moon, and our Sun sometimes come together in a straight line in space. When the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, those in the Moon’s shadow see an eclipse.

But the story doesn’t end there. A rare alignment of events allows Earthlings to witness not just solar eclipses, but what we might call perfect solar eclipses. Our Moon just barely covers the Sun’s bright photosphere. Such an eclipse depends on just the right sizes, shapes, and relative distances of the Sun, Moon, and Earth.

There’s no law of physics that dictates this layout. There are 65 major moons in our Solar System, and many smaller ones. But only we enjoy perfect solar eclipses. If there were Martians or Uranians, they wouldn’t see such eclipses.

The Moon is about 400 times smaller than the Sun. But the Moon is also about 400 times closer to the Earth than is the Sun. As a result, the size of the Moon on our sky matches the size of the Sun. And since they appear as round disks, they match in both size and shape.

As it happens, this precise arrangement of Earth, Moon, and Sun helps sustain life on Earth. Let me explain. More.

Hmmm. If it is a coincidence, what are the odds?

See also: Copernicus, you are not going to believe who is using your name. Or how.

and

What becomes of science when the evidence does not matter?

Comments
Eclipses are just shadows. We don't get excited when our shadow happens to fall on another person. Why get excited when a planet's shadow falls on another planet?polistra
August 26, 2017
August
08
Aug
26
26
2017
08:41 AM
8
08
41
AM
PDT
The Elon Musk Universal Simulators programmed Totality to mess with is. They get the biggest guffaws listening to the oops gang. The "happened by chance" clan never ceases to amuse;)ppolish
August 22, 2017
August
08
Aug
22
22
2017
04:22 PM
4
04
22
PM
PDT
Are eclipses a coincidence or a conspiracy? Neither one. They are the product of natural selection after gazillion attempts to get the right size of the moon at the right distance from earth so that we could get total solar eclipses every now and then somewhere on the surface of Earth for scientists to analyze the corona and for many folks to perform their dancing rituals while yelling out loud like drunk wolfs. Definitely quite a spectacle. BTW, the asteroids are leftover from the moon ancestors that failed to do the total eclipse trick. Some of them were too large or too small or too far or too close. :)Dionisio
August 22, 2017
August
08
Aug
22
22
2017
12:40 PM
12
12
40
PM
PDT

Leave a Reply