To Give Light on
the Earth Genesis 1:15
Billions of Habitable
Alien Planets Should
Exist in Our Galaxy
by Clara Moskowitz, SPACE.com Assistant
Managing Editor
Date: 28 March 2012
Extrapolating
from
Extrapolating from these
findings, the researchers
estimate that tens of billions of these planets are to be
these
findings, the
found in the Milky Way, and about 100 should lie in the
immediate neighborhood of the sun. (ibid)
researchers
estimate that tens
of billions of these
planets are to be
found in the Milky
Way, and about 100
should lie in the
immediate
neighborhood of
the sun. (ibid)
The
Mediocrity
Principle
“The Earth is a
mediocre
(average) planet
revolving around
a very
unremarkable
star.”
Hebrews 11:3
English Standard Version Anglicised
3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the
word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things
that are visible.
"Now that we know that there are many
super-Earths around nearby red dwarfs [a
classification of star], we need to identify
more of them using both HARPS and future
instruments," said team member Xavier
Delfosse. "Some of these planets are
expected to pass in front of their parent
star as they orbit — this will open up the
exciting possibility of studying the planet's
atmosphere and searching for signs of
life."
… the light coming
from the star allows
the components of the
planet’s atmosphere
to be analyzed.
“To give light on the
Earth”
Genesis 1:15
THE ELEC ROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
The Visible Spectrum – the
width of a tiny, tiny thread
within the vast total spectrum
Higher frequency wavelengths have higher
energies – which are lethal to life.
The Critical
Protective
Layers
SOURCES OF
GAMMA RADIATION
• Radioactive elements here
on Earth
• Deep outer space sources
– blocked by Earth’s
atmosphere, no effect on
life
Marie Curie
and her
husband Pierre
announced the
discovery of
radium on
December 26,
1898. It was
hailed as a
‘wonder drug.’
Radium Girls
Radium
Girls
Coleman
Lanterns
Poisoned by Polonium: The Litvinenko File (2007)
Wilhelm
Rontgen
1895
Cancer of the fingers was an occupational disease
common among dentists before the carcinogenic
properties of x-rays were well understood. Dentists
would hold the dental x-ray film in the mouths of
patients while x-raying their teeth.
(Source: ndt-ed.org)
ULTRAVIOLET
INFRARED
DEMONSTRATIONS
THE OZONE LAYER
Levels of ozone at various altitudes and
blocking of different bands of ultraviolet
radiation. Essentially all UVC (100–280
nm) is blocked by dioxygen (from 100–
200 nm) or else by ozone (200–280 nm)
in the atmosphere. The shorter portion
of the UV-C band and the more energetic
UV above this band causes the formation
of the ozone layer, when single oxygen
atoms produced by UV photolysis of
dioxygen (below 240 nm) react with
more dioxygen.
THE OZONE LAYER … CONTINUED
The ozone layer also blocks
most, but not quite all, of the
sunburn-producing UV-B
(280–315 nm) band, which
lies in the wavelengths
longer than UV-C. The band
of UV closest to visible light,
UV-A (315–400 nm), is hardly
affected by ozone, and most
of it reaches the ground. UVA
does not cause skin
reddening, but there is
evidence that it causes longterm skin damage.
Solar radiation is electromagnetic
radiation in the 280 nm to 3000 nm
wavelength range. The solar spectrum
includes a small share of ultraviolet
radiation (280 nm to 380 nm)
which is invisible to our eyes and comprises about 2% of the solar spectrum,
the visible light which range from 380 nm to 780 nm and accounts for around
49% of the spectrum and finally of infrared radiation with long wavelength
(780 to 3000 nm), which makes up most of the remaining 49% of the solar
spectrum
MECHANISMS OF OZONE FORMATION
N2 absorbs radiation in
the 80-100 nm range
[Jnl Molecular Liquids 141
(2008 pp 110-117)]
Ozone protects
the DNA in all
living things
UV-B radiation can be harmful to the
skin and is the main cause of sunburn;
excessive exposure can also cause
genetic damage, resulting in problems
such as skin cancer. The ozone layer
(which absorbs from about 200 nm to
310 nm with a maximal absorption at
about 250 nm) is very effective at
screening out UV-B; for radiation with a
wavelength of 290 nm, the intensity at
the top of the atmosphere is 350 million
times stronger than at the Earth's
surface. Nevertheless, some UV-B,
particularly at its longest wavelengths,
reaches the surface.
DNA REPAIR MECHANISM
CHILDREN WHO CANNOT
PLAY IN THE SUN
Oxygen (O2) is unstable in our planet’s atmosphere and
must be constantly replenished by photosynthesis in
green plants. Without life, our atmosphere would contain
almost no O2.
If we discover any other planets with atmospheres rich
in oxygen, we will know that life is almost certainly present on
these planets; significant quantities of O2 will only exist on
planets when it is released by living things.
(http://www.chemicool.com/elements/oxygen.html)
THE SCARCITY OF OXYGEN
O2
H2 O
Free oxygen is too
chemically reactive to
appear on Earth without
the photosynthetic action
of living organisms, which
use the energy of sunlight
to produce elemental
oxygen from water.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wi
ki/Oxygen)
REACTIVITY OF OXYGEN DEMONSTRATION
The chlorophyll molecule is the only one
in existence (perhaps possible) which can
capture light energy and transfer that
energy into a sophisticated energy
processing system.
Oxygen is the key to planetary life.
No more than a waste product of
photosynthesis, oxygen really is the
molecule that makes a world. It is
let loose by photosynthesis so fast
that it finally overwhelms the
capacity of a planet to swallow it
up. In the end, all the dust and all
the iron in the rocks, all the sulphur
in the seas and methane in the air,
anything that can be oxidised is
oxidised, and free oxygen pours
into the air and the oceans. (Nick
Lane, Life Ascending, chapter 3)
Many textbooks point out that our fossil fuels and
carbohydrates derive their chemical energy from the
sun. It should be noted that methane is abundant on
many planets and moons far from the sun but free
oxygen is found on none of them. There are plenty of
oxygen atoms out there but they are all bound up with
carbon, hydrogen, metals, silicon, and so forth. While
the early “fuels” may result from the sun’s energy , it is
really the oxygen molecules generated during
photosynthesis that are trapping the energy of the sun
and facilitating life on Earth. (Appreciating Oxygen,
Hilton M. Weiss, Journal of Chemical Education,
Volume 85, No. 9, September 2008, p. 1218)
The gases O2 (and its photolytic product O3) N2O [nitrous
oxide] and CH4 [methane] have been widely discussed in
the literature as biosignature gases on planets with Earthlike composition atmospheres… O2 and its photolytic
product O3 are the most reliable biosignature gas
indicators for life as we know it. O2 is highly reactive and
therefore will remain in significant quantities in the
atmosphere only if it is continually produced. The major
sink of O2 and O3 is surface reactions. There are no
known abiological mechanisms that can continually
produce large quantities of O2.
(An Astrophysical View of Earth-based Metabolic
Biosignature Gases, Sara Seager et al, Astrobiology,
Volume 1, Number 1, 2012)
Translation: Only life did and can generate the oxygen
(and ozone) in the quantities we find in Earth’s
atmosphere.
June 29, 2012 The Daily Galaxy
Mystery of The Missing Life-Giving
Molecule in Space Deepens
A new search for molecular oxygen in the
Orion Nebula has come up negative,
leading to new ideas on what's wrong in
the chemical models. Searches for
interstellar molecular oxygen, O2, have a
long history…
Further modeling and additional
observations will clarify the situation
further, but the present work goes a long
way to narrowing the possible
explanations for the mysterious absence
of this life-giving molecule.
Chlorophyll – the most important molecule on
the Earth – can it be synthesized in the lab?
PROFESSOR ROBERT WOODWARD
Robert Burns Woodward
1917-1979
He received the Nobel prize in 1965
for Chemistry: “The synthesis of a
complicated molecule is, however, a
very difficult task; every group, every
atom must be placed in its proper
position and this should be taken in its
most literal sense. It is sometimes said
that organic synthesis is at the same
time an exact science and a fine art.
Here Nature is the uncontested
master, but I dare say that the prizewinner of this year, Professor
Woodward, is a good second.”
METABOLIC PATHWAY OF PHOTOSYNTHESIS
A General
Metabolic
Pathway of
Living
Organisms
A Graphic
Depiction
of a
Metabolic
Pathway
Quantum Effect Spotted in Early Stages of Photosynthesis
(Science Daily June 2, 2012)
Using ultrafast spectroscopy, the researchers observed the
subatomic interactions at the initial stage of photosynthesis,
which can take less than a trillionth of a second.
To their surprise, they discovered a never-before-seen quantum
effect whereby a single photon aroused different
chromophores simultaneously.
“The behavior we were able to see at these very fast time
scales implies a much more sophisticated mixing of electronic
states,” Tiede said. “It shows us that high-level biological
systems could be tapped into very fundamental physics in a
way that didn’t seem likely or even possible.”
The quantum effects observed in the course of the
experiment hint that the natural light-harvesting processes
involved in photosynthesis may be more efficient than
previously indicated by classical biophysics, said chemist
Gary Wiederrecht of Argonne's Center for Nanoscale
Materials. "It leaves us wondering: how did Mother Nature
create this incredibly elegant solution?" he said.
In summary, evolving
oxygenic photosynthesis
involves bringing together
several major components,
each of which has a number
of potentially difficult steps
in its evolution, and the
overall scenario must
somehow fit together in a
way that each stage is
is selected for (or at least
not rapidly selected against.) Whilst some promising scenarios have
been put forward, and nature may have offered a helping hand in
assembling the water-splitting complex, we are still far from sure how
it was done. Creating the whole looks formidably difficult, and far
harder than evolving any of the forms of anoxygenic photosynthesis
we see today.
When faced with trying to explain how a
complex and beautiful system such as
oxygenic photosynthesis arose, the
challenge for biologists is to show how it
could have happened by plausible
evolutionary steps, and we are still a long
way from reaching this goal.
(Revolutions that Made the Earth, Lenton
& Watson, Oxford University Press, 2011,
pp. 161-162)
RESONANCE DEMONSTRATION
Antennae are tuned to
different frequencies
Light Spectrum of the Sun
Absorption Spectrum of Chlorophyll
Light Spectrum of the Sun
that reaches the Earth
through the present
atmosphere
Absorption Spectrum
of Chlorophyll
Light Spectrum of the Sun
that reaches the Earth
through the present
atmosphere
Absorption Spectrum
of Chlorophyll
At this point there are two
different types of chlorophyll
(a and b for each of the two
photosystems)… One type of
chlorophylls called antenna
chlorophyll; the second is the
reaction center chlorophyll.
The antenna chlorophyll
collect light energy and
transfer it (in about 1 trillionth
of a second) to the reaction
center, (National Science Foundation
website)
Star Light, Star Bright,
Any Oxygen Tonight?
Breathe deeply, and
thank the nearest
tree, bush, or blade
of grass. The Earth
receives most of its
oxygen from
photosynthetic
activity.
Breathe deeply, and thank the nearest tree,
bush, or blade of grass. The Earth receives most
of its oxygen from photosynthetic activity.
The question of complex life on other worlds,
therefore, is tied to the possibility of photosynthesis
development. But could photosynthesis develop on
worlds orbiting stars different from our sun?
Star Light, Star
Bright, Any
Oxygen Tonight?
The Great Oxidation Event
O2 build-up in the Earth's atmosphere. Red and green lines
represent the range of the estimates while time is measured in
billions of years ago (Ga).
Stage 1 (3.85–2.45 Ga): Practically no O2 in the atmosphere.
Stage 2 (2.45–1.85 Ga): O2 produced, but absorbed in oceans &
seabed rock.
Stage 3 (1.85–0.85 Ga): O2 starts to gas out of the oceans, but is
absorbed by land surfaces.
Stages 4 & 5 (0.85–present): O2 sinks filled and the gas accumulates.
The Great Oxygenation Event (GOE), also called the Oxygen
Catastrophe or Oxygen Crisis or Great Oxidation, was the biologically
induced appearance of free oxygen (O2) in Earth's atmosphere. This
major environmental change happened around 2.4 billion years ago.
Photosynthesis was producing oxygen both before and after the GOE.
The difference was that before the GOE, organic matter and dissolved
iron chemically captured any free oxygen. The GOE was the point when
these minerals became saturated and could not capture any more
oxygen. The excess free oxygen started to accumulate in the
atmosphere.
The Origin of Oxygen in Earth's
Atmosphere
The breathable air we enjoy today
originated from tiny organisms, although
the details remain lost in geologic time.
It's hard to keep oxygen molecules around, despite the fact that it's
the third-most abundant element in the universe, forged in the
superhot, superdense core of stars. That's because oxygen wants to
react; it can form compounds with nearly every other element on
the periodic table. So how did Earth end up with an atmosphere
made up of roughly 21 percent of the stuff?
The answer is tiny organisms known as cyanobacteria, or blue-green
algae. These microbes conduct photosynthesis: using sunshine,
water and carbon dioxide to produce carbohydrates and, yes,
oxygen.
So a date and a culprit can be fixed for what scientists refer to as
the Great Oxidation Event, but mysteries remain. What occurred
2.45 billion years ago that enabled cyanobacteria to take over?
What were oxygen levels at that time? Why did it take another
one billion years—dubbed the "boring billion" by scientists—for
oxygen levels to rise high enough to enable the evolution of
animals?
Most important, how did the amount of atmospheric oxygen
reach its present level? "It's not that easy why it should balance
at 21 percent rather than 10 or 40 percent," notes geoscientist
James Kasting of Pennsylvania State University. "We don't
understand the modern oxygen control system that well."
THE RISE OF OXYGEN
Animals need oxygen. "You
cannot evolve animals like us
without having a significant
amount of oxygen," says
geochemist Dick Holland of
Harvard University. "Without
the Great Oxidation Event [a
dramatic rise of oxygen in
Earth's atmosphere some 2.3
billion years ago], we would
not be here. No dinosaurs, no
fish, no snakes - just a lot of
microorganisms.“
(ASTROBIOLOGY MAGAZINE JULY 30, 2003)
THE RISE OF OXYGEN (CONTINUED)
Scientists are making progress
on understanding the Great
Oxidation Event, but still greater
mysteries remain to be
unraveled in the saga of oxygen
on Earth.
"Although we think we know
when oxygen first appeared and
rose, we know very little about
its rise to the present level,
especially about the relationship
between atmospheric oxygen
and the development of
animals," says Catling
There is evidence that oxygen levels also rose 1.3
billion years ago and again before the Cambrian
Explosion, a rapid proliferation of animal life that
began 540 million years ago. Some researchers believe
increasing levels of atmospheric oxygen helped trigger
the Cambrian Explosion.
Catling says the reason for those rises in atmospheric
oxygen "is even more of a mystery than the first one.“
"We want to understand what controls the rise of
oxygen on the Earth and maybe other planets," says
Kasting. "Oxygen is our best biomarker for looking for
life on extrasolar planets."
Metabolic pathways of Prochlorococcus marinus
Prochlorococcus marinus lacks
phycobilisomes that are
characteristic of cyanobacteria, and
contains chlorophyll b as its major
accessory pigment. This enables it
to absorb blue light efficiently at
the low-light intensities and blue
wavelengths characteristic of the
deep euphotic zone. It contributes
30-80% of the total photosynthesis
in the…oceans, and thus plays a
significant role in the global carbon
cycle and the Earth's climate.
http://www.ebi.ac.uk/2can/genomes/bacteria/Prochlorococcus_marinus.html
PROCHLOROCOCCUS
MARINUS
The strains which grow preferentially
at depths between 80 and 200 meters
form the low-light-adapted ecotype
and contain a lot of divinyl-chlorophyll
b, which absorbs optimally in the blue
area of the spectrum. The genomes of
these strains possess several copies
http://www.genoscope.cns.fr/spip/Prochlorococcus-marinus-smallest.html
Light intensity drops off
dramatically in the
depths of the oceans –
blue light penetrates
much further down due
to the absorption
spectra of water.
Q: Could life exist here on Earth if
the spectrum of the Sun was just
every so slightly shifted toward
the red end of the spectrum?
THE IMPORTANCE OF CHLOROPHYLL B
Plants produce
50% of the
world’s oxygen
CYANOBACTERIA
Cyanobacteria (very,
very tiny) – but
numerically, among the
most numerous
organisms on Earth,
contribute ~ 20% of the
Earth’s free oxygen via
photosynthesis
Phytoplankton – single-celled diatoms (leave hard
silica shells behind with remarkable geometrical
shapes and colours)
Large algae – includes
seaweed
Phytoplankton are microscopic ocean plants that form
the base of ocean ecosystems; they are so abundant
that they are visible from space. Here, average
chlorophyll from 1998 through 2006 is shown in green
and indicates areas of high biological productivity.
Courtesy SeaWiFS Project/NASA GSFC and GeoEye, Inc.
9 Then
God said, “Let the waters under the
heavens be gathered into one place. Let
the dry land be seen.” And it was so. 10
Then God called the dry land Earth. He
called the gathering of the waters Seas.
And God saw that it was good. 11 Then
God said, “Let plants grow from the
earth, plants that have seeds. Let fruit
trees grow on the earth that bring their
kind of fruit with their own seeds.” And it
was so. 12 Plants grew out of the earth,
giving their own kind of seeds. Trees
grew with their fruit, and their kind of
seeds. And God saw that it was good. 13
There was evening and there was
morning, the third day.
BILL NYE SAYS…
14 Then
God said, “Let there
be lights in the open space of
the heavens to divide day
from night. Let them tell the
days and years and times of
the year. 15 Let them be lights
in the open space of the
heavens to give light on the
earth.” And it was so. 16 Then
God made the two great
lights, the brighter light to
rule the day, and the smaller
light to rule the night. He
made the stars also.
17 God
put them in the open
space of the heavens to give
light on the earth, 18 to rule
the day and the night. He
divided the light from the
darkness. And God saw that it
was good. 19 There was
evening and there was
morning, the fourth day.
20 Then
God said, “Let the
waters be full of living things.
Let birds fly above the earth in
the open space of the heavens.”
21 God made the big animals
that live in the sea, and every
living thing that moves through
the waters by its kind, and every
winged bird after its kind. And
God saw that it was good. 22 God
wanted good to come to them,
saying, “Give birth to many.
Grow in number. Fill the waters
in the seas. Let birds grow in
number on the earth.” 23 There
was evening and there was
morning, the fifth day.
24 Then
God said, “Let the earth bring into being
living things after their kind: Cattle and things that
move upon the ground, and wild animals of the
earth after their kind.” And it was so. 25 Then God
made the wild animals of the earth after their kind,
and the cattle after their kind, and every thing that
moves upon the ground after its kind. And God saw
that it was good.
An
Revelation 14:6-8
New Life Version (NLV)
6 Then I saw another angel
flying in the heavens. He was
carrying the Good News that
lasts forever. He was preaching
to every nation and to every
family group and to the people
of every language and to all the
people of the earth. 7 He said
with a loud voice, “Honor God
with love and fear. The time
has come for Him to judge all
men. Worship Him Who made
heaven and earth and the sea
and the places where water
comes out of the earth.”
1 Corinthians 3:18-20
J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
18-19 Let no one be under any illusion over this. If any man among
you thinks himself one of the world’s clever ones, let him discard
his cleverness that he may learn to be truly wise. For this world’s
cleverness is stupidity to God. It is written: ‘He catches the wise in
their own craftiness’. 20 And again: ‘The Lord knows the thoughts
of the wise, that they are futile’.
Isaiah 45:18
For this is what the LORD says— he who created the heavens, he
is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it;
he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be
inhabited—he says: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.