ation 22(1):27–30, 1999; creation.com/sun. Return to text.
- Earth’s average distance from the sun is 150 million km (93 million miles). At this distance, the energy received by Earth from the sun is just the right amount to maintain a temperature range on Earth mostly between 0 and 40°C (32 to 100°F)—the narrow limits required to sustain life. Some microbial organisms can tolerate lower or higher temperatures, but they are the exceptions not the rule. Return to text.
- Earth’s orbit around the sun is very nearly a perfect circle; if the orbit were an elongated ellipse with the sun at one focus, Earth’s temperatures would be extremely high during closest approach and extremely low at the outer end of the orbit. Return to text.
- If Earth’s speed of rotation were much slower, there would be extreme differences between day and night temperatures. If it were much faster, increased centrifugal forces would cause atmospheric gases to escape into space. Return to text.
- See Sarfati, J., The wonders of water, Creation 20(1):44–47, 1997; creation.com/water. Return to text.
- Carbon dioxide in large enough quantities is lethal to living organisms. On Earth it amounts to 0.03 % of the atmosphere; on Mars it is 95%. Return to text.
- Earth has the right atmospheric density and magnetic field to achieve these objectives. Return to text.
- This section has been adapted from Gitt, W., Stars and their Purpose, Master Books, Arizona, pp. 141 ff., 1996. Return to text.
- See Sarfati, J., Life on Mars? Separating fact from fiction, Creation 19(1):18–20, December 1996; creation.com/life-on-mars; see also Sarfati, J., Life from Mars, J. Creation 10(3):293–296, 1996; Mars: The red planet, Creation 32(2):38–41, March 2010; creation.com/marsred; see also creation.com/mars. Return to text.
- Creation 20(2):8, 1998; Nature 390(6659), 454–456, Dec. 4, 1997; Science 278(5344): 1706–7, Dec. 5, 1997. Return to text.
- New Scientist 165(2228):21, March 4, 2000. Return to text.
- For more information, see Spencer, W., Planets around other stars, Creation 33(1):45–47, 2011. Return to text.
- As the star moves slightly toward and then away from an observer on Earth, the light waves coming from the star will look alternatively a little bluer, a little redder, a little bluer, etc. Researchers look for these changes, called a Doppler shift, in the spectrum of the star. From these they calculate the planet’s period of orbit and its distance from its star. Return to text.
- As the larger the planet the more the “pull”, this method applies particularly to finding extrasolar planets the size of our gas giants or larger. Return to text.
- Lissauer, J.J., Nature 398(6729):659–660, April 22, 1999. Return to text.
- This shows that stories about manned space exploration to other stars (as well as inter-galactic warfare) are science fiction. Gitt, W., God and the extra-terrestrials, Creation 19(4):46–48, 1997. Also Bates, G., Did God create life on other planets? Creation 29(2):12–15, March 2007; creation.com/lifefromplanets. Return to text.
- New Scientist 165(2221):19, January 15, 2000. Return to text.
- Sarfati, J., Panspermia theory burned to a crisp:bacteria couldn’t survive on meteorite, creation.com/panspermia, 10 October 2008. Return to text.
- We are not here discussing angelic or demonic life. Note that Romans 8:22 says that “the whole creation” was cursed as a result of Adam’s rebellion. 2 Peter 3:12 speaks of the heavens being destroyed by fire, as the very elements dissolve in fiery heat, and Revelation 6:14 indicates that the cosmos will be rolled up like a scroll, before the restoration of all things. Werner Gitt writes: “[W]hy would a race of beings, not of Adam’s (sinful) seed, have their part of creation affected by the Curse, and then be part of the restoration brought about by Christ, the last Adam? All of this would seem exceedingly strange.” (Ref. 18). For those who speculate about Jesus dying on other worlds to redeem those from alien civilizations, note that the redeemed of Earth are spoken of as Christ’s bride, for all eternity. Christ wil