Gliese 581g

Gliese 581g

It is amazing what one “learns” on the internet. For instance, the following quote:

“An Earth-size planet has been spotted orbiting a nearby star at a distance that would make it not too hot and not too cold—comfortable enough for life to exist, researchers announced today (September 29, 2010).

“If confirmed, the exoplanet, named Gliese 581g, would be the first Earth-like world found residing in a star’s habitable zone—a region where a planet’s temperature could sustain liquid water on its surface.

“Personally, given the ubiquity and propensity of life to flourish wherever it can, I would say, my own personal feeling is that the chances of life on this planet are 100 percent,” said Steven Vogt, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, during a press briefing today. “I have almost no doubt about it.”

Don’t you just love science!?! Here we have an articulate and erudite professor from no less than the University of California, Santa Cruz, saying there is a “100 percent chance of life” on Gliese 581g, adding. “I have almost no doubt about it.” “Almost”—”almost no doubt”? Admittedly, I am not an astronomer nor an astrophysicist, but I have a question: How can something be 100 percent and leave room for even a little doubt?

Since I was a child—just this side of the invention of dirt—I have heard and read speculation of life on distant planets. Scientists have long been “sure” of life somewhere “out there,” but all the prognostication and wishful thinking has not produced any life-as-we-know-it creatures; people, animals, or otherwise, anywhere—except on earth. In the biblical account of creation, one reads, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). The remainder of the chapter reveals the unfolding of creation, specifically mentioning the day by literal day development of earth, culminating in the creation of Adam and Eve. The “chances” of this are 100 percent, and of this I have no doubt! - Robert E. Speer

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