Sorry, No Twin for Earth

Secular cosmologists and astronomers are chomping at the bit to find a planet like Earth among the extra-solar planets. They get all agitated when something is found in the "habitable zone", but just because a planet is in this zone doesn't mean all that much because there is a heap of other factors to consider.

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They keep dreaming big, but it seems more like stubborn rebellion against the reality that Earth was created and set in a special place, and not the product of the Big Bang and cosmic evolution.

The Kepler spacecraft has found 2,325 exoplanets so far, but there’s still no place like Earth.

Live Science chose to frame the news optimistically. Its headline reads, “9 New Habitable Zone Planets! Huge Haul of Worlds Found By Space Telescope.” Exclamation point, even. But it takes more than being in the zone to qualify as an Earth twin. Two other news sites show a sad face at the news:

• 1st Alien Earth Still Elusive Despite Huge Exoplanet Haul (Space.com) 

• More than 1,000 new exoplanets discovered – but still no Earth twin (Andrew Norton in The Conversation)

To keep hope alive, optimists say Kepler is not done yet (it may work into 2018). Sooner or later we’ll get lucky, Andrew Norton says:

To find out what Norton says and to read the rest, click on "Earth Twin Still Missing in Exoplanet Trove".