Design of Solar System Movement in the Galaxy
TNRTB Archive – Retained for reference information
Astronomers have found more evidence that the solar system’s past and present positions in the Milky Way Galaxy (MWG) must be fine-tuned for life to be possible. The team also discovered that these positions must be fine-tuned for human observers to be able to clearly see all of cosmic history, all of the MWG, and all the galaxies in the observable universe. The team studied how light from very distant galaxies is dimmed by different parts of the disks of 29 foreground spiral galaxies like the MWG. They learned that dust opacity in these galaxies decreases with distance from the galaxy’s center and is highest in the galaxy’s central bulge and spiral arms. Their result confirms that 1) the location in the MWG in which the solar system formed must be fine-tuned to get the just-right dust opacity for formation, 2) the solar system’s rapid movement to a different position in the MWG with the much lower dust opacity suitable for the survival of advanced life must be fine-tuned, and 3) the continued movement of the solar system to a location in the MWG with extremely low dust opacity must be fine-tuned to grant humans an unobstructed view.
- B. W. Holwerda et al., “The Opacity of Spiral Galaxy Disks. III. Automating the Synthetic Field Method,” Astronomical Journal 129 (2005): 1381-95.
- https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/resolve?id=doi:10.1086/427711
- B. W. Holwerda et al., “The Opacity of Spiral Galaxy Disks. IV. Radial Extinction Profiles from Counts of Distant Galaxies Seen Through Foreground Disks,” Astronomical Journal 129 (2005): 1396-1411.
- https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/resolve?id=doi:10.1086/427716
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