Location - Location - Location

You may have heard it said that the three rules of real estate are: 1. Location 2. Location 3. Location. The same rules apply to the human race’s place in the universe.
1. Location of the human race within such a vast universe.
2. Location of the human race in time within such an old universe.
3. Location within our solar system.
4. Location of our solar system within our Milky Way galaxy.
5. Location of our galaxy within its galaxy cluster.

Location within a vast universe

The universe as now measured appears absurdly too large to serve merely as humanity’s home. Skeptics insist that a Creator wouldn’t make unnecessary matter and space or waste creative effort.
The sheer enormity of the universe is enough to make anyone feel inconsequential. This feeling raises questions: Does life really have any ultimate value, meaning or purpose? If God is responsible for our existence, why would the universe be so large?
Anyone who hasn’t had the privilege of studying astrophysics may not realize that the universe MUST be as massive as it is or human life would not be possible – for at least two reasons: it must be the right mass and it must have the right expansion rate.
The density of protons and neutrons in the universe relates to the cosmic mass, or mass density. That density determines how much hydrogen, the lightest of the elements, fuses into heavier elements during the first few minutes of cosmic existence. And the amount of heavier elements determines how much additional heavy-element production occurs later in the nuclear furnaces of stars.
If the density of protons and neutrons were slightly lower (than enough to convert about 1 percent of the universe’s mass into stars, then nuclear fusion would proceed much less efficiently. As a result, the cosmos would never be capable of generating elements heavier than helium – elements like carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, sodium, and potassium, which are essential for any kind of physical life. On the other hand, if the density of protons and neutrons were slightly higher, nuclear fusion would be too productive. All the hydrogen in the universe would rapidly fuse into elements as heavy as or heavier than iron. Again the life-essential elements would not exist.

The second reason the universe must be hugely massive concerns its expansion rate. According to the law of gravity, the closer various bits and pieces of mass are to one another in the universe, the more effectively they will slow down the universe’s expansion. Conversely, the farther apart those bits and pieces are, the less “braking effect” gravity has on cosmic expansion.
The delicacy of that ratio is very critical. In certain early epochs in cosmic history, its mass density must have been as finely tuned as one part in 10 to the sixtieth power to allow for the possible existence of physical life at any time or place within the entirety of the universe.

Location in time within such as old universe

The latest measurements indicate the universe has been around for 13.73 billion years. From as astronomical view, these billions of years represent the minimum time necessary to prepare a home for humanity. And, as it turns out, the minimum time required is essentially the same as the maximum time for at least four reasons:
1. Essential heavy elements need to build up.
2. Long-lived radioactive isotopes need to build up.
3. Dangerous events must subside.
4. Fossil fuels need time to form.

The heavy elements needed for life are manufactured exclusively in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and these elements built up gradually. The universe didn’t contain the variety and concentrations of heavy elements necessary to make planets and advanced life possible until after three generations of stars formed, burned, and scattered their ashes into the interstellar medium.

Human civilization with high-tech societies demands a great variety and abundance of heavy elements. Their creation took at least 9 billion years of manufacture in stellar furnaces. That’s how long it would have taken at a minimum to provide for a heavy-metal-rich planet such as Earth. And slightly more than 4.5 billion years ago, just as that essential abundance first became available, Earth’s solar system came together.

For a second reason, as the universe ages and the abundance of heavy elements increases, one class of elements eventually begins to decrease. As the universe gets older, star formation gradually tapers off and the rate of star explosions – especially the major ones called supernovae – also slows down. Supernovae produce all the universe’s long lasting radioactive material such as uranium 235.

These radioactive elements seem obscure, even dangerous, but they play a critical role in making Earth suitable for human habitation. The radiation they release provides nearly all the energy that drives and sustains plate tectonics and helps sustain Earth’s magnetic field.

Earth’s continents and oceans exist due to plate tectonics. Given the importance of uranium and thorium in serving the needs of advanced life, the best possible time for an advanced-life habitable planet to form would be when these elements reach their peak abundances.

Recent research reveals that the timing of that peak occurred when the universe was two-thirds of its present age – about 4.5 billion years ago. That age matches the timing of the Earth’s formation 4.5 billion years ago.

Third, dangerous events must subside. The same supernovae so crucial for building up the heavy elements and radiometric isotopes essential for advanced life also shower their environs with deadly radiation. Consequently, advance life could not be safely introduced until the rate of supernova eruptions in the Milky Way Galaxy had subsided considerably.

Dense molecular clouds are another galactic hazard for advanced life. Fortunately, as the Milky Way Galaxy aged, ongoing star formation eventually consumed enough of the gas and dust in such clouds that they ceased to pose a major threat to advanced life.

Gamma-ray burst events, both in our galaxy and in nearby galaxies, pose an even deadlier risk to advanced life than supernovae or dense molecular clouds.

Though a planet suitable for life’s survival could be assembled within 9.2 billion years after the creation event, nearly another 3.5 billion years were needed for all the above dangerous events to subside enough for advance life and civilization to survive and thrive.

Fourth, we must consider fossil fuels needed for advanced life. The decayed bodies of creatures buried during or soon after the Cambrian explosion (about 543 million years ago) made the largest contribution to Earth’s petroleum reserves. While the transformation of these buried remains into usable petroleum takes time, given too much time bacteria in the crust will turn the petroleum into natural gas. Likewise, the formation of reservoir structures in Earth’s crust for the collection and storage of petroleum requires certain geological developments that take specific periods of time. However, with too much time, tectonic activity will cause cracks to form in the sealer rocks. Such cracks mean petroleum loss through leaks.

The optimal time for petroleum production perfectly matches the optimal time for reservoir structure formation and the storage of petroleum in those structures. So humans are living on Earth at the optimal moment for petroleum exploitation. The conditions for coal formation and storage are also exacting and equally optimal in their timing for the benefit of humans and civilization.

Then there are solar system reasons to account for the necessity of an additional 4.5 billion year delay after the Earth’s formation 9.2 billion years after the creation event before the arrival of advanced life on the scene.

1. The sun had to stabilize. Human arrival and survival on the terrestrial scene depended on the Sun’s having reached a particular level of brightness and stability. This level was not reached until the Sun was about 4.5 billion years old.

2. During the solar system’s youth, it was filled with an enormous abundance of asteroids, comets, rocks, and dust. This material once pelted the Earth with great frequency and intensity. These bombardment events made the planet inhospitable to advanced life for about 4.5 billion years.
Bombardments also yielded some positive benefits for advanced life. They provided fresh supplies of water to replace that lost to outer space. They also salted Earth’s surface with valuable mineral deposits. For a few billion years these deposits accrued for the maximum benefit of human civilization.

3. The Earth needed time for transformation. Advanced life on Earth needs a rotation rate very close to 24 hours per day. Tidal interaction with the Moon and Sun has steadily reduced Earth’s rotation rate from its initial two or three hours per day down to its current 24. However it has taken about 4.5 billion years of tidal interaction to accomplish this reduction.

In addition, advanced life needs lots of free oxygen in its planetary atmosphere. It took 4.5 billion years to raise the atmospheric oxygen level from less than 1 percent to its present 21 percent.

For the human species to achieve a high population and high-technology global civilization, continental landmasses had to cover a significant fraction of the Earth’s surface. Such coverage demanded the continual operation of plate tectonic activity over a very long time.

Just Right Age For Observing

At 13.7 billion years of age, the universe is just old enough – and just young enough – to facilitate its visual and technological exploration from Earth.
First, in a continuously expanding universe, the space surface of a young universe would be much smaller than when it is older. In a young universe the light of nearby stars and galaxies would have blinded observers from seeing the more distant objects. It took billions of years for cosmic expansion to push the bright lights of the universe far enough apart for optimal visibility.

Second, these lights were much brighter in the past than they are today. The intensity of the light emitted by the cosmos is strongly tied to the rate of star formation. This rate reached a peak when the universe was about 5 to 6 billion years old. Then it took additional billions of years beyond that peak for the lights of the universe to dim sufficiently so as not to impair astronomers’ viewing capacity.

Third, during Earth’s infancy, its atmosphere was opaque to light. In its youth, the planet’s atmosphere was translucent. Only when Earth reached what astronomers call “middle age” (over 4 billion years) did its atmosphere become transparent enough to enable its inhabitants to observe the most distant objects in the universe.

Fourth, up to a certain limit, the older the universe, the greater the distance at which astronomers can make observations, or the farther back in time they can see. The human era is theoretically the earliest possible epoch that allows astronomers to study the light from the origin of the universe. Right now, astronomers can directly view 99.99 percent of cosmic history and almost behold the instant of cosmic creation.

Location Within Our Solar System

The Earth orbits the Sun in a middle position among the planets. If closer, advanced life could not survive the heat, and if farther out, advanced life could not survive the cold.
The giant planets farther out from us shield us to a great extent from asteroid and comet bombardment.

Location of Our Solar System Within Our Galaxy

Not all locales within our galaxy would make desirable homestead for advanced life. For example, anywhere near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, lethal radiation emanates from a massive black hole as well as from a jam of supernova remnants and gigantic stars. These deadly conditions extend outward more than 20,000 light-years from the galactic core. Earth’s solar system orbits at a distance of 26,000 light-years.

Even at this distance, radiation remains a factor – unless the solar system stays protected within the plane of the spinning galaxy’s disk. Virtually all stars bounce up and down, above and below the galactic plane. But our solar system experiences very little up and down movement and thus remains protected behind that radiation shield.

Planetary systems farther out than 26,000 light-years from the galaxy’s core face a different problem. Heavy elements needed for advanced life’s existence and survival are sparse at such distances.

Only within a narrow ring about 26,000 light-years from the galactic core does advanced life stand a chance.

Location of Our Galaxy Within Its Galaxy Cluster

Another distinctive location is our galaxy location within its galaxy cluster. Nearly all other galaxies in the universe reside within dense clusters of galaxies, with giant or supergiant galaxies as neighbors. These giants intermittently blast their whole neighborhood with deadly radiation. Also, their gravity and the gravity of the thousands of smaller galaxies associated with them significantly distort the structures of the galaxies they contain.

But the Milky Way Galaxy finds itself in a tiny cluster of galaxies without any giants or supergiants nearby and where the galaxies are widely dispersed. A typical galaxy cluster contains more than 10,000 closely packed galaxies. The Milky Way’s cluster, called the “Local Group”, contains only about forty galaxies – two medium-sized (Andromeda and the Milky Way) and the rest small or dwarf.

In conclusion, one favorable time or location window’s alignment with even one other window might be considered an astounding coincidence. But the lineup of so many independent time and location windows with the brief human moment on the cosmic calendar speaks powerfully of PURPOSE.

This conclusion is one component of what the scientific community has labeled the “anthropic principle” – the observation that the universe appears to have been engineered for the specific benefit of the human species.

During the past several years of research, scientists have gathered a substantial body of evidence showing that the universe, the Milky Way Galaxy, the solar system and Earth are, or at least have been, an essentially perfect vehicle for humanity. Though each astronomical component manifests features that may initially seem strange or out of place, in the context of humanity’s needs, each characteristic is JUST RIGHT.

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