Planets Possibly Life-Friendly Found Orbiting Nearby Star

The Wired Word for the Week of March 26, 2017

In the News

Seven planets, all close in size to Earth, and at least one warm enough to have water and sustain life, have been spotted around a dwarf star in the constellation Aquarius, astronomers announced late last month. The discovery raises the likelihood that the hunt for alien life beyond our solar system can begin within the next decade, as the newest generation of telescopes come on line.

"Life" here means biological activity using water as a solvent. This excludes other possible types of biochemistry, and, of course, does not necessarily imply intelligent life.

That star is named Trappist-1 after the two-observatory telescope from which it was first seen, the TRAnsiting Planets and PlanetesImals Small Telescope, located at the ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile and at Oukaïmden Observatory in Morocco. Additional planets were subsequently observed from other telescopes around the world.

Trappist-1, called a dwarf star because in comparison to sun-like stars it is significantly smaller and fainter, is 39 light years away from Earth and not visible to the naked eye. It is close enough that transiting planets affect the light being detected from it, making it possible for the coming generation of telescopes to study its planets for signs of life.

Though Trappist-1 is 2,000 times fainter than our sun, the proximity of its planets means that at least the fifth of the seven planets, designated as 1-f, has a temperate climate that could possibly support life. Planets 1-e and 1-g, the fourth and sixth from the star, are also within what astronomers say is the habitable zone of the Trappist-1 system.

All the planets in the habitable zone are thought to be tidally synchronized (locked), with one side always facing their star, similar to how one side of the moon faces the earth.

David Charbonneau, an astronomy professor at Harvard University who was not involved in this study, said a growing number of astronomers are getting excited about what he called "the M-dwarf opportunity" -- the study of planets around faint dwarf stars. "It's a fast-track approach to looking for life beyond the solar system," he said.

Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA, spoke with even more certainty. "The discovery gives us a hint that finding a second Earth is not just a matter of 'if' but 'when,'" he said.

More on this story can be found at these links:

Exoplanet Discovery: Seven Earth-Sized Planets Found Orbiting Nearby Star. The GuardianNew Planets Raise Old Questions. Religion News Service
TRAPPIST-1TRAPPIST. University of LiègeSeven Temperate Terrestrial Planets Around the Nearby Ultracool Dwarf Star TRAPPIST-1. Nature

Applying the News Story

For Christian theologians, the possibility of finding life on planets beyond our own solar system has theological implications, some of which we've posed in "The Big Questions" below.

Rev. Lucas Mix, an Episcopal priest and astrobiologist who has a doctorate in evolutionary biology, commented, "I have always seen the search for life elsewhere to be an opportunity to understand basically the way we relate to the universe. My greatest hope would be that we find life somewhere else because when we find life somewhere else, we can start to talk about what it means to be alive and not what it means to be us."

Mix said the existence of life on other planets is not a challenge to the idea God loves humans and created them on this planet.

Over the centuries, Christians have usually not had a problem talking about the existence of non-human "intelligent" life. The angels are, of course, mentioned in the scriptures, but many cultures have posited the existence of human-like life. Almost always these creatures are said to be without souls. To most modern-day people, discussions of elves, fairies, leprechauns, trolls, and the like, seem almost silly, but the theological implications of the existence of such beings has a long history. Our ancestors from centuries ago wouldn't have any theological difficulty discussing non-human extraterrestrial intelligent life.

The Big Questions

1. When humans are in space, are they in a realm where God's rule over them is in any way different? Or, to ask it another way, how earthbound are God's laws?

2. How might the exploration of space expand our understanding of God? Have images from orbiting telescopes, automatic probes, or reports from humans who have ventured into space, had an impact on you, and if so, what impact?

3. Could it be possible that we would have something to learn from other civilizations with regard to faith and practice? How might we know that?

4. How might Christ's instruction to love our neighbors apply to alien beings from other realms in the universe?

5. If we find intelligent life forms in space, should we send Christian missionaries to them? In other words, should we assume that their races are also "fallen" and in need of a savior in the same way that humankind is?

Confronting the News With Scripture and HopeHere are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:

Hebrews 11:3 (NIV)By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. (For context, read 11:1-3.)

Though verses 1-3 provide the immediate context for this verse, the larger context includes all 40 verses of Hebrews 11, with verse 3 being the first of 18 sentences that begin with "By faith …." Verse 3 suggests that a good starting point for the faith discussion is the affirmation that God formed "the universe" (or "worlds"; NRSV), not simply our planet.

This affirmation is declared elsewhere in scripture as well. See, for example, Psalm 33:6; Acts 17:24 and Revelation 4:11.

Questions: What is the importance of God being the Creator of the universe/cosmos rather than just our solar system? What, if anything, interests you about the possibility of finding intelligent life on another planet? Why? Would you want to become an ambassador from Earth to an extraterrestrial civilization?

Job 38:31-33 (CEB)
Can you bind Pleiades' chains or loosen the reins of Orion? Can you guide the stars at their proper times, lead the Bear with her cubs? Do you know heaven's laws, or can you impose its rule on earth? (For context, 38:1-3, 31-33.)

This is part of God's response to Job's demand for a hearing regarding his righteousness. God tells Job to pull himself together and consider the larger picture. When Job does that, he sees that God has ordered the universe, and it isn't always about us, it isn't always about Job, it isn't always about me. (Psalm 8:1-4 and 19:1-6 also make this point.)

Although we are not sure what specific constellations or stars are translated here as "Pleiades," "Orion" and "the Bear" (different translations translate the underlying Hebrew words differently), Job knows, and God demands to know if Job can corral them or put them in order. Obviously he cannot, but the implication is that God can -- and does. Thus, the Bible views God as Lord of the whole cosmos.

The word translated above as "reins" can also be rendered as "bands." Biblical commentator Rabbi Victor E. Reichert writes that Orion is considered "the fool." He "... is regarded as a Titan who absurdly rebelled against God in primeval times and was for ever bound to the sky by means of three stars known as the 'girdle.' Perhaps the thought is that in spite of [Orion's] turbulent character, the Almighty relaxes his bands, because, however dangerous he may be, God can, when he will, contemptuously leave him at large." (Reichert, Job with Hebrew text and English Translation, The Soncino Press, 1946, 201.)

Questions: How does viewing the night sky make you feel about your relationship with the Creator? Why?

Psalm 8:3-4When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? (For context, read 8:1-9.)

The vastness of the night sky convinced this psalmist that human beings are but a small piece of God's larger creation, and yet he rejoiced at the care God gives to mortals, and creating them just "a little lower than God" (v. 5).

Looking down at Earth from above might evoke similar awe. Mike Massimino was on two missions to repair the Hubble Space Telescope and got to see Earth from outside his spacecraft. In his book Spaceman, he tells of looking down at our planet and thinking,"Wow. How much God our Father must love us that he gave us this home. He didn't put us on Mars or Venus with nothing but rocks and frozen waste. He gave us paradise and said, 'Live here.' It's not easy to wrap your head around the origins and purpose of the universe, but that's the best way I can describe the feelings I had."

Questions: Does our status in the created order as "a little lower than God" mean that we will rank above any alien rational beings we might encounter during the exploration of space? What problems could such a view cause? What responsibilities might such a view imply? In light of this compliment how do we avoid getting a big head?

Jonah 1:3
But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. ... (For context, read 1:1-10.)

Most people know the story of Jonah being swallowed by the great fish, but less well known is the mindset that put Jonah on the sea to begin with. God came to Jonah and instructed him to go to Nineveh, a city of one of Israel's enemies, and warn them that unless they repented of their sins, God would destroy them.

Jonah did not want the Ninevites to be spared, and so he fled Israel, possibly thinking that in doing so, he would also leave Israel's God behind. He boarded a ship for Tarshish, likely a city in what is now Spain; then it was the end of the known world. He apparently had a parochial view of God's realm, which he thought was limited to Israel. He was soon to find out that no matter where he went, he could not escape God.

The psalmist made the same point poetically: "If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol [the place of the dead], you are there" (Psalm 139:8).

Questions: How might space exploration make us question whether God is indeed present in all of the cosmos? How might it confirm that he is present in it all?

Romans 8:22
We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now ... (For context, read 8:18-23.)

This is from the apostle Paul, who was saying that whatever sufferings his Christian audience was experiencing in the present were insignificant when compared to the great glory to come in the kingdom of God. He went on to say that the whole creation is waiting to be delivered from some kind of suffering.

In other words, it is not our planet alone that is in need of salvation of some kind.

Question: In writing about "whole creation," Paul may have meant only that which could be known from earth in his day -- a limited universe. Yet is there any reason not to give his words cosmic meaning?

For Further Discussion

1. TWW team member Frank Ramirez points us to one of his favorite science fiction stories "A Rose for Ecclesiastes," by Roger Zelazny (1963), in which a linguist/poet named Gallinger, raised in a fundamentalist home by a father who is a strict minister, brings hope to a dying Martian race by translating Ecclesiastes into Martian, demonstrating that a biblical poet could tell us that life is pointless, yet people continue anyway. (See a plot summary here.) If you were in Gallinger's position, what Bible book would you translate for them? Why?

2. C.S. Lewis once said he thought of the distances of space as part of God's quarantine zone, in order to protect the universe from our fallen nature. In Lewis' Space Trilogy, the philologist Ransom encounters unfallen races on Mars, and is present on Venus when that planet's Eve faces the same temptation as in Genesis 3. What would a planet be like where there was no need of redemption because that people (whatever they might look like) had never fallen? Is it possible to achieve maturity as an individual or a group without some sort of sin? Does one need God if one does not need redemption?

3. C.S. Lewis, who penned both defenses of Christianity and science-fiction stories, once wrote, "Our loyalty is due not to our species but to God. Those who are, or can become, [God's] sons, are our real brothers even if they have shells or tusks. It is spiritual, not biological, kinship that counts." What is your reaction to Lewis' statement?

4. The words "universe" and "cosmos" are often used interchangeably, but by strict definition, cosmos implies something that universe does not. Cosmos means the universe, but considered as an orderly, harmonious whole, as a realm quite distinct from something chaotic. From the Christian perspective, which word is more descriptive of the dominion we explore when we launch space shuttles and other spacecraft? Why?

5. After Christ returns and we have eternity to spend with him, is it possible that God might send us to planets with sentient beings to interact with them the way Jesus did with humans on earth? Might we literally become "little Christs" willing to sacrifice our lives so that other species might also come to know how much God loves them?

Responding to the News

The discovery of planets that could contain intelligent life opens interesting future possibilities about how to relate to rational beings who are different species from us. In the present, however, we are challenged by how to relate to other human beings who are different from us. This is a good time to remind ourselves that God is Lord of all whom he has created, and do our best to avoid acting toward others out of prejudice and preconceived notions.

Prayer

O God, although we have been thinking about things that are, at present, only possibilities, help us to carry our best understanding of Jesus and your will for us into whatever new worlds we explore. In Jesus' name. Amen.