Squashing Hopes for Earth-like Planets
TNRTB Archive – Retained for reference information
Studies of planet formation around low-mass stars buttress the prediction of RTB’s cosmic creation model that Earth-like planets are rare in the universe. Earlier this year, scientists’ hopes of finding Earth-like planets dramatically increased when astronomers announced the discovery of a planet 5.5 times the mass of Earth orbiting a low-mass star. However, those hopes diminished considerably with recent simulations of planet formation around low-mass stars. A team of scientists demonstrated that due to the decreased luminosity (brightness) of small stars, planets formed with masses similar to Earth’s are most likely to be akin to gas giants (such as Jupiter) rather than rocky planets (like Earth). These results comport well with RTB’s cosmic creation model, in which a supernatural Creator fashions a habitable solar system around stars with just the right mass.
- Grant M. Kennedy, Scott J. Kenyon, and Benjamin C. Bromley, “Planet Formation Around Low-mass Stars: The Moving Snow Line and Super-Earths,” Astrophysical Journal 650 (2006): L139-42.
- https://iopscience.iop.org/1538-4357/650/2/L139
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