Godless theories can't explain planets surrounding other stars

An illustration of a planet with a highly
inclined orbit found around
the star HAT-P-11.

Geoff Marcy, Professor of Astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, is famous for discovering more extrasolar planets than anyone else, 70 out of the first 100 to be discovered.  So it comes as some surprise that Professor Marcy has concluded: “The more new planets we find, the less we seem to know about how planetary systems are born. We cannot apply theories that fit our solar system to other systems. In theory, other stars with planets should have gotten similar starts. But theory has implications not born out in reality.”

Planetary orbits should be circular, but many extrasolar planets have elliptical orbits. Everything should orbit in the same plane and direction, but many have highly inclined or even retrograde orbits; Neptune-sized planets should be rare, since models of our water giants require highly unusual starting conditions. But there are too many out there. Marcy told the American Astronomical Society last month: “Theory has struck out.”

Marko comments: First, Marcy's conclusions show that our wonderful Earth is indeed a Privileged Planet, just as astronomer Dr. Guillermo Gonzalez found to be true in his research, and ended up being denied tenure at Iowa State University because this ran afoul of the godless scientific establishment. Second, godless theories can't explain planets surrounding other stars. They are yet another sign of our wonderful Creator God!

(based on "Busted! Planet-Making Theories Don’t Fit Extrasolar Planets", Creation-Evolution Headlines, February 2011)

(also published in Creation Matters, a publication of Creation Research Society, Volume 16, Number 2, March/April 2011, to appear at http://www.creationresearch.org/creation_matters/pdf/2010/CM15%2006%20low%20res.pdf)

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