“Ingredient of Life” Discovered in Distant Star System

Of course, I write this tongue in cheek. Scientists are no closer to discovering a naturalistic mechanism for the origin of life (here on earth or elsewhere in the cosmos) than they were before this discovery. What these scientists found in a distant star system was the hazardous material methyl isocyanate. They explain,

This family of organic molecules is involved in the synthesis of peptides and amino acids, which, in the form of proteins, are the biological basis for life as we know it.

But calling this find an “ingredient of life” (as their title does) is a big stretch. What they’ve really found is just a highly toxic chemical and then added evolutionary assumptions about the formation of stars, earth, and life to the find.

Infant Star Systems?

Now, it’s claimed that the star system in which this chemical was found contains “young stars in their earliest stages of evolution.” But Dr. Danny Faulkner, AiG’s PhD astronomer who taught astronomy at a secular university for over 26 years, says,

The system in question, IRAS 16293-2422, consists of three stars, each probably having mass similar to the sun. The system is located in the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex. Most astronomers think that stars are born in such dense clouds of dust and gas, so they have interpreted stars embedded in the cloud as having recently formed. Note that this is an interpretation, not clear evidence that these are stars in their infancy.

These stars don’t give us a window into the formation of stars or our own solar system. We would agree that they are young stars though because all the stars are young, created just 6,000 years ago on Day Four of Creation Week.

He made the stars also. (Genesis 1:16, NKJV)

By the way, read “A Proposal for a New Solution to the Light Travel Time Problem,” a fascinating (though somewhat technical) article by Dr. Faulkner on stars and specifically on the question of starlight traveling great distances in a young universe.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.