Planets @ MindSay

I had a thought this morning, trying to further explain the concept that is Scooter. Getting a lot closer with this one.

So, y'know constellations, right? Vela, Cancer, Ursa Minor/Major, etc. You know that we group stars by the pictures that they seem to make - the cosmic connect-the-dots, as it were. You know that we look up at those giant balls of burning gas and lend some organization, because that's what we do. You know that our perspective is limited - from down here on this little breathing rock, the blue-black velvet sky appears two-dimensional. We have no way of seeing a z-axis - we can imagine it out, because we know it's there, but we'll decide that two stars are right next to each other, because they're at 4, 9 and 5, 7 on the x and y, and we just can't see that on the z they're at 12 and 130.

So, imagine that you took that star that's out on 5, 7, 30, seized on it as a focal point, and swung your perspective out 90 degrees. This is the Trell system. Six planets, two of which are colonized, and a third used for agriculture (because the atmosphere is crap but the photosynthesizers absolutely thrive in it). And from their focal points, having two different worlds, the Trellans are very aware of the stars, and the way things travel through space (they don't have fast enough craft to get themselves to anything out of their system before their lifetimes evaporate, so they travel between the two worlds about as casually as you might go to Italy). They're a little more advanced than we are - maybe they're smarter, maybe they've been around longer so they've just trained their kids to this advanced thinking pattern. Don't know.

Kicker on the constellations. Trellans have 'em, they just have way different ones. Not just because of the culture and location, but because for them, our x and y are their z and x. So, the two stars we were looking at really aren't anywhere close to each other from their perspective.

So, picture that some of these Trellans ended up over here. And everyone thinks they're kind of dumb, because they don't get the locations, and they don't recognize any of the stars. Or they do, but it takes them awhile, because they have to think of the stars from the sky they've memorized, and imagine swinging their perspective, do all the math for it, and THEN see the connections. So people say they're slow, because this takes them awhile, not realizing that they're taking the time to do math that most of us couldn't put together.

That's Scooter. Kind of. Scooter's brilliant at taking in information, keeping it accessible, and offering it when it's needed later - as long as it's phrased as information, like a class lecture or a textbook. She flies through tests. She nails the right answers in class. She tutors people in classes that she isn't even taking. But she doesn't look at the world from the same perspective that most people do, and so the connections that they take for granted or casually string together, she has to pause and think about, and imagine swinging out 90 degrees from where she normally hangs out to see what it might look like from there. And because she's pretty (different kind of pretty, too - she has this gorgeous smile and amazing eyes, and her whole facial structure is so cute, but you usually overlook it because she dresses LOUD), and over-the-top cheerful, and this process of perspective-adjusting takes a second, people write her off as a ditz.

I've told Didi that if she ever has a major puzzle to solve, or she has to pick five friends to survive in the jungle with her, whatever, to make sure that Scooter's on her team. Because yes, she can be a klutz, and she's in-your-face about God, and she's kind of confused a lot of the time - but she sees things that nobody else on the team will get, because of her perspective.
Of course, then you'll have quite the job of making everybody listen to her. This happened with one of our imaginary survival adventures at Camp - you have to plot out a way to keep your team alive, and what items are most important to keep, when you're lost. Everybody on the team plots out what they would individually do/keep, and then they share what they've got with each other and settle on a plan. Scooter's team pretty much went down in flames upon the later evaluation - but Scooter's own information sheet had the best survival plan in the room. But, since she's always apologizing and bubbly, no one in her team wanted to listen to her.

That's another piece about Scooter. Because everyone tells her that she's not very smart, she believes it. Her bio dad didn't want her, and wanted her bio mom to get rid of her before she was born, and she still holds it in her head that she's not worth very much. It's not like she's any kind of special-needs. She's just really special, and can't see it because she's pinning so much on wanting to have a boyfriend. Scooter sparkles from the inside, just sparkles out her eyes, and her amazing smile. She's silly, and super-random, and sings and plays guitar, and...this is going to sound odd, but Scooter isn't afraid of anything except when she's scared. It's goofy to explain. She'll go out the door in the weirdest color combinations, take on high challenges on the ropes course, sing loud just because she feels like it, tell people what's awesome about them even though they weren't talking to her, listen and guess what's really hurting inside a little girl, and put her trust completely in God and know that he's going to work it out. But there are times when something gets her, and I haven't figured out what it is - I just pull her off to the side in a closet or something, and she snuffles and cries, and I wish so hard that I could cry on cue because then I'd cry with her and we'd be closer together and I might be able to help more.

I think she's afraid that no one will ever want her. It's deeper than the boyfriend thing. It's that for some reason, she's afraid that everyone's just humoring her, and no one really wants her around, wants her close, wants to take her with them on the next adventure. I used to feel that. It didn't match reality, but it matched my perceptions. I used to think that I was supposed to be in with the other special-ed kids and nobody had told me because they didn't know what to say - or they didn't care.

Okay, seriously, if you're a guy, and there's any chance WHATsoever that you're going to someday be a dad, you have to hear this. Okay? Dads are really important. Are you listening? This is important. I'm not sure what it is that boys need from their dad - probably lots of time outside climbing trees and nearly killing themselves in high adventure as they experience the natural world (don't ask me - I like outdoorsy guys). I do know what little girls need. And you're not going to accept it right away, because it sounds so superficial. Little girls need to know that you think they're pretty. And it's gotta be you who tells them. It's nice and fun to hear it from Mom, but there's a need to hear it from Dad. They need to know that you think they're special and pretty and worth cherishing. I don't know why - I don't know why Dads have that kind of strength, or what it is in us that needs it. I just know that it is. If you think she's pretty, tell her. If you don't, look at her closer - pretty goes a lot deeper than what she's wearing. She needs to know how much she means to you, and for some reason, saying she's pretty is a big part of it.

I'm twenty-two and I still need to hear it.

Is there other life in the universe ?
A thought provoking sequel to What If . . .

Astronomers find system with five planets
By Maggie Fox,
Health and Science Editor

55 Cancri

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA scientists said they discovered a fifth planet orbiting a star outside our own solar system and say the discovery suggests there are many solar systems that are, just like our own, packed with planets. The new planet is much bigger than Earth, but is a similar distance away from its sun, a star known as 55 Cancri, the astronomers said on Tuesday. Four planets had already been seen around the star, but the discovery marks the first time as many as five planets have been found orbiting a solar system outside our own with its eight planets, said Debra Fischer, an astronomer at San Francisco State University. Life could conceivably live on the surface of a moon that might be orbiting the new planet, but such a moon would be far too small to detect using current methods, the astronomers said. "The star is very much like our own sun. It has about the same mass and is about the same age as our sun," Fischer told reporters. "It's a system that appears to be packed with planets."

It took the researchers 18 years of careful, painstaking study to find the five planets, which they found by measuring tiny wobbles in the star's orbit. The first planet discovered took 14 years to make one orbit. They said 55 Cancri is 41 light-years away in the constellation Cancer, a light-year being the distance light travels in one year -- about 5.8 trillion miles. The newly discovered planet has a mass about 45 times that of Earth and may resemble Saturn, the astronomers said.

HARBORING LIFE?

It is the fourth planet out from the star and completes one orbit every 260 days -- a similar orbit to that of Venus. "It would be a little bit warmer than the Earth but not very much," said Jonathan Lunine, a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona. The planet is 72 million miles from its star -- closer than the Earth's 93 million miles, but the star is a little cooler than our own sun. "If there were a moon around this new planet ... it would have a rocky surface, so water on it in principle could puddle into lakes and oceans," said Geoff Marcy, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley. But the moon would have to carry a lot of mass to hold the water, he said. Water is, of course, key to life.

"This discovery of the first-ever quintuple planetary system has me jumping out of my socks," Marcy added. "We now know that our sun and its family of planets is not unusual." Marcy and other astronomers strongly believe that many stars are hosts to solar systems similar to our own. But small objects such as planets are very hard to detect. Technology that would allow scientists to detect planets as small as Earth is decades away, the scientists agreed.

The researchers have been looking at 2,000 nearby stars using the Lick Observatory near San Jose, California, and the W.M. Keck Observatory in Mauna Kea, Hawaii. They have posted images of what the planets may look like on the Internet at http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/telecon-20071106/. The inner four planets of 55 Cancri are all closer to the star than Earth is to the sun. The closest, about the mass of Uranus, zips around the star in just under three days at a distance of 3.5 million miles.

Animation Descriptions

1. Animation Part 1: Journey to a Star Rich with Planets
In the first part of an artist's animation, we take a journey from Earth's surface to the newest member of the 55 Cancri planetary system.

2. Fifty-five Cancri in the Night Sky
This wide-angle photograph of the night sky shows the location of 55 Cancri, a star where astronomers have found a record-breaking five planets.

3. Animation Part 2: Journey to a Star Rich with Planets
In the second part of the artist's animation, we fly out to see 55 Cancri's habitable zone (green) and the orbits of its planets compared to our own.

4. Our Solar System's Cousin?
This artist's concept illustrates two planetary systems - 55 Cancri (top) and our own.

5. Plentiful Planetary System
This artist's concept shows four of the five planets that orbit 55 Cancri, a star much like our own.

What are the possibilities of there being life other than our own in other star systems in other galaxy's in the endless universe ? Anything is possible. Wouldn't it be interesting to connect with other life in far off places ? To learn or share our thoughts, ideas, technology or belief's. To find answers to our most sought after questions and concerns. To find solutions to our most difficult problems. What would we do if we encountered such life ? How would we react ? Are we open, understanding and civilized enough to be able to accept life from another world ?

Until such an event occurs, the question still lingers in my mind . . .

What If . . . ?

There are many people who believe that the earth cannot be the only inhabited planet in the universe.  They say something like "This universe is so enormous.  It would be a waste of space if God didn't create life elsewhere."  For many reasons I firmly believe that there are no aliens in outer space, no other inhabitants of this universe other than what God made on planet earth.  Why do I feel this way?

 

• God created the universe, therefore it can hardly be "big" to Him.  As humans we may struggle to comprhend the vastness of space because of the limited time/space dimensions in which we live.  However, God cannot be measured so the fact that the universe is big is a moot point.
• The Bible tells us that because of Adam's sin, a curse was put on the whole creation, that it "groans and travails" under the curse of sin (Romans 8:18-22).  Because extraterrestrials would not have come from Adam's line, they would not have inherited Adam's sin nature.  It would not be fair for them to be affected by Adam's curse, yet we are told that this curse affects all creation .
• Christ came to earth to redeem mankind, descendants of Adam.  Therefore Christ's death on the cross would not include ET's. 
• Eventually the present creation will be destroyed (2 Peter 3:10).  Does this mean that Christ's sacrifice might be repeated elsewhere for other ET's?  I don't think so as we are told that Christ died once for all ( Romans 6:10) and on the earth (1Peter 3:18).  The redeemed church is called Christ's bride (Ephesians 5:22-33) and will be in a marriage that will last eternally.  Christ will not be a ploygamist by having brides from other planets. 
• Nowhere in the Bible do we find that God has made a way for other species or even the fallen angels to be redeemed.  (Hebrews 2:16)

God created man in His image and likeness (Genesis 4:22) six thousand years ago and man still has not developed the technology to develop faster-than-light spaceships to get to other planets.  If  aliens had that technology then they must be vastly superior to mankind in intellect making them even more in God's image than we are.  But then Psalm 8:5 tells us that man was made only a little lower than the angels and was crowned with glory and honour.  So would the ET's be higher than mankind but lower than the angels in the pecking order?  If so, then mankind would be under the aliens rule due to their superior intelligence and technology.  That can't be because it was man who was ordained by God to have dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:28)  not aliens.

 

Or did the ET's  creation take place a long time before that of mankind.  But that is impossible as the Earth was created on day 1.  The planets and stars were not created until day 4. 

 

Quite frankly, it is storywriters and Hollywood movies along with their special effects, that portray imaginary alien lifeforms as being real.  And this comes from the evolutionary idea that if life "evolved" here on earth then there is no reason why it could not have done so elsewhere.  The entire focus of creation is mankind on this Earth; the living forms on Earth's beautifully balanced biosphere are part of our created life support system. (Creation Magazine March-May 2007, page14)

 

for more information see: creationontheweb.org or read the book by Gary Bates called Alien Intrusion which is available at the above website.

 

 

 

lol, so our solar system lost its ninth planet yesterday. How weird is that!?!? Now, the old acronym "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" can't be used...perhaps they'll change it to "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos!"

 

lol...I've been desperately trying to finish Chapter 13...but I think I need to sit down and figure out where this story is going! lol. I need to review that before I'm goign to be able to get more done. For those of you who are actually interested, I haven't abandoned hope...yet! so, please, Be PATIENT! lol. later!