Recent content by Astrophile

Most scientists would also know that biological evolution is quite different from the other six phases of cosmic evolution. Biological evolution occurs because living things both reproduce themselves and have a genetic code that they pass on (with small changes) to their descendants. Stellar...

I agree with you that before 1992 it was reasonable to call Pluto a planet. The discovery, from 1992 onwards, of large numbers of trans-Neptunian objects, some of them of similar size to Pluto, forced astronomers to re-consider the definition of a planet, and to separate spherical bodies that...

You mean 'geologists', not 'atheists'.

It will be until somebody works out an alternative theory that gives a better explanation of the observed facts. The creation stories in Genesis do not give a better explanation. Yes, to the extent that it explained the observed facts. As scientists collected more data, it became clear that the...

It wouldn't happen. The orbital speeds of stars and rogue planets around the centres of galaxies are hundreds of km/second, not >10% of the speed of light.

I suppose that by the modern definition of a planet, Pluto was a planet from 1930 to about 1992. It is in orbit around the Sun and it is large enough and massive enough to be spherical. Before 1992 nobody knew that there were other 'planetary' bodies in the same region of the solar system, so...

Did Lamarck ever use the word evolution, or its French equivalent?

Are you questioning the fact of evolution or the theory of evolution? When I speak of the fact of evolution, I mean the evidence that living things have evolved throughout the Earth's history. This evidence includes the pattern of relationships between living things that is demonstrated by the...

Astronomy and astrophysics.

There are many different types of eyes, produced by different sequences of mutations. Moths, flies, squid, mammals and jellyfish have different types of eyes, which evolved independently.

Saw a massive UFO at dawn Why is this thread in a forum that is open only to Christians? From the description of its high speed and short duration, the 'UFO' appears to have been a meteoric fireball caused by a piece of interplanetary rock entering and burning up in the Earth's atmosphere. These...

My experience, as an astronomer, is exactly the opposite. When I have started with the scientific method and applied it to physical phenomena, I have found that however far I go, the method makes previously obscure phenomena much clearer, at least within the limits of my own intelligence. When...

The difference between creationism and abandoned scientific theories is that the abandoned scientific theories that you cite have been replaced by other naturalistic theories, not by supernatural or religious ideas. The opponents of evolution, on the other hand, want to replace a scientific...

A student in 2020 would get a better grade for drawing a solar system with eight planets plus an asteroid belt (including the dwarf planet Ceres), the Kuiper belt (including Pluto, Eris and other dwarf planets), and the Oort cloud.

Thank-you. An excellent post and very interesting information.