World Peace Herald, DC
10-31-06
The challenge to Darwin’s theory of evolution – 8
‘Perfect total solar eclipse’ seen from the earth
By SEKAI NIPPO
TOKYO -- Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez, Assistant Professor of Astronomy and
Astrobiology at Iowa State University and leading ID scientist, observed a
total solar eclipse for the first time in his life during a visit to a town in northern
India on October 24, 1995. He says, “Everyone had a mysterious feeling of awe.
Some shed tears and were deeply moved.” It was a solemn drama beyond
natural phenomenon.
Dr. Gonzalez says his appreciation of ID theory deepened after this experience in
India. In 1999 he published a paper in the journal “Astronomy and Geophysics”
on the correlation between the existence of intelligent life on the earth
(habitability) and the conditions necessary to observe a total solar eclipse
(measurability).
The paper had great impact, with major U.S. and European newspapers
reporting on it. In an interview with the BBC, Dr. Gonzalez said, “To avoid
controversy, I did not use the word ‘design’ at all.”
He emphasizes that “the conditions necessary for intelligent life to exist on the
earth (habitability) and the conditions necessary for a total solar eclipse to occur
(measurability) overlap.” For a total solar eclipse to occur, the sun, the moon
(satellite), and the earth (planet) have to be at optimal size and distance from
each other. On the other hand, the conditions to nurture intelligent life drastically
change according to size and distance of separation.
The size of the sun directly affects its life cycle. A fixed star larger than sun has a
shorter life cycle. A gigantic fixed star perishes in less than 10 million years. If its
size is too large, it will come to doom before intelligent life is born.
On the contrary, a smaller fixed star has a longer life cycle, but it is dark and its
energy output relatively small. In this case, for the water necessary to support life
to exist on the planet’s surface, a planet must rotate on an orbit closer to the
fixed star. If it is too close, the same side of planet will always face the fixed star
as it rotates, due to the mutual influence of gravity. This will create a large
temperature gap between the side directly exposed to the heat of the fixed star
and the shadow side. Such an environment would be too severe to nurture
complex life forms.
Consequently, the medium size of our solar system’s sun, whose estimated age
is 4.6 billion years out of a10 billion-year life cycle, is considered optimum. The
distance between the sun and the earth is also ideal, and one that allows liquid
water to remain on the earth’s surface for a long time.
If the moon’s size were too small, it would not appear equal in size to the sun
from the perspective of the human eye. Also, there would be a high possibility
that a small moon would not appear to be a perfect sphere, as the earth’s moon
does. If that were the case, it would be impossible to create a total solar eclipse,
made possible only when the shape and size of sun and moon appear identical
to the human eye. On the other hand, the earth’s moon is already relatively large,
and a moon larger than this is very unlikely considering its formation process.
In other words, the earth’s moon is at an optimum in size, and recent research
has shown that the moon holds the key to the existence of viable life forms on
the earth. Having a relatively large satellite at an optimum distance stabilizes the
earth’s rotational axis, thus contributing to the earth having an environment
suitable for life.
Dr. Gonzalez says, “If we were to discover complex intelligent life forms on
another planet, I think there is a very high probability that total solar eclipses
would also take place on that planet.”
When Dr. Gonzalez examined the solar eclipses observable from the surface of
each planet created by 64 major satellites in the solar system, it was discovered
that the best total solar eclipse is observed from the earth. “It is a very intriguing
concordance that the best total solar eclipse can be observed from the only place
in the solar system where there is someone to observe it,” says Dr. Gonzalez.
Total solar eclipses also played an important role in the history of science. Total
solar eclipses make it possible to observe the sun’s corona and chromosphere,
which due to brilliance of the sun cannot usually be observed. This has greatly
contributed to scientific discoveries of the structure and physical characteristics
of the sun, as well as fixed stars in general. Einstein’s theory of general relativity
and his prediction that gravity bends light were verified from the observation of
total solar eclipses.