Problems with evolution? Submit your questions.

They haven't.

Comets are leftovers from the formation of the solar system.And yes, the Oort Cloud exists. It's been directly observed. Same with the Kuiper Belt. We've detected quite a few objects out there.Not all comets get burned up by the Sun - most of them are still sitting out in the Oort Cloud, too far from direct sunlight for anything to happen. But there are a lot of objects out there - as they move around in their individual orbits, occasionally they interact with each other gravitationally. This sometimes results in a comet's orbit getting changed, which sometimes brings it closer to the Sun, and we get a nice view.There's no magic limit of 100,000 years on a comet's life. Their existence depends on their initial size and how much direct sunlight they get, and what they run into (remember Shoemaker-Levy, when it got caught by Jupiter's gravitational pull?).Where in the world are you getting your info, Flyer? Did you read some report about an individual comet that's only expected to last another 100,000 years and think that meant all comets had some sort of shelf life?

Where did this come from? This is bogus.There are literally hundreds of comets around the Sun with orbital periods in multiple 100,000 years (for a single orbit!). Is there something about objective reality that bothers you?You may have some strange ideas in your head, Flyer, but you are a decent enough chap here. And you have been here long enough to know better than to spout something without having done at least a minimal knowledge search.Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.Edited by AZPaul3, : Gotta take my own advice. Corrected facts and spelling.

There are literally hundreds of billions of comets around the Sun with orbital periods in multiple 100,000 years (for a single orbit!).Fixed it... :-)Flyer, within the last ten years I read an article at Answers in Genesis that claimed that there was no evidence for the Kuiper Belt (a closer-in cousin of the Oort Cloud). Soon after that, when a couple of dozen Kuiper Belt objects had been discovered, AiG replaced that article with another article that said, paraphrasing, "yeah, there are a couple of thing out there, but not enough to explain comets!!1!!"Quoting one page: "It should also be noted that the observed KBOs are much larger than comet nuclei. The diameter of the nucleus of a typical comet is around 10 kilometers. However, the recently discovered KBOs are estimated to have diameters ranging from about 100 to 500 kilometers." That's a classic example of YEC bullshit and obfuscation. KBO's are less reflective than coal, and are five billion kilometers away from us. They are rather dim. It is a technological marvel that we can detect the ones that are 500 km in diameter! Of freakin' course we haven't seen the 10-km diameter ones out there! We see them when they fall into the inner solar system as comets, though!AiG doesn't seem to say a lot about Kuipers now that over 2000 of them have been catalogued.....The Oort Cloud is much further from the sun than the Kuiper Belt - like 100 to 1000 times further. If it takes cutting-edge instruments to see Kuipers, it's not a big surprise that we don't see Oorts.AiG link: Kuiper Belt Objects: Solution to Short-Period Comets? | Answers in Genesis Swamp Donkey, where have you gone? Are you the Black Knight here under an alias?

Much obliged.

Hi SwampDonkey,Providing you ever come back I have a question.Information is required for evolution to take place so my question is:DNA has a tremendous amount of informatin stored in it, where did all that information come from?God Bless,

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"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

No, it isn't. Meaningless without a workable definition of "information," which no creo has ever provided. The new genetic material, assuming this is what you mean by "information," came from mutations.Any other toughies?

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Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions. Ideas must be distinct before reason can act upon them; and no man ever had a distinct idea of the trinity. It is the mere Abracadabra of the mountebanks calling themselves the priests of Jesus. -- Thomas JeffersonFor we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and non-believers. -- Barack ObamaWe see monsters where science shows us windmills. -- PhatIt has always struck me as odd that fundies devote so much time and effort into trying to find a naturalistic explanation for their mythical flood, while looking for magical explanations for things that actually happened. -- Dr. Adequate

Let's let SwampDonkey handle these tough questions, should he ever return.--Percy

Hi subbie, Especially one you agree with.I take information to be a message with a sender that is responsible for the information and a receiver.The information is any message the sender chooses to compose.I know this won't meet your approval but so what?God Bless,

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"John 5:39 (KJS) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."

OK, so I suppose in the biological case the sender is evolution, the message is the genomes ... and the receivers, I guess, are the ribosomes.

OK, Let's try these.1. Less filling or taste great?2. Boxers or briefs?3. Paper or plastic?4. Cash or charge?5. Hit or miss?Yes, these are all on topic.More later.

To those who were blasting me about the factual evidence of Oort Clouds, wikipedia has another viewpoint, if that website is allowed here. I have seen others quote it numerous times. From the website:"The Oort cloud (pronounced /ˈɔrt/ ort, alternatively the pik-Oort cloud IPA: [ˈpik]) is a hypothesized spherical cloud of comets which may lie roughly 50,000 AU, or nearly a light-year, from the Sun." This fits with what Coragyps was stating for the extreme distances of the Oort Cloud.Note the word "hypothesized".Also, "Although no confirmed direct observations of the Oort cloud have been made, astronomers believe that it is the source of all long-period and Halley-type comets entering the inner Solar System and many of the Centaurs and Jupiter-family comets as well."Reading the page in it's entirety I don't see any factual evidence that this cloud exists.Oort cloud - WikipediaEdited by Flyer75, : No reason given.

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Huntard,

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Thanks for the correction on the dates.

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Well, where do comets come from then??? Why do we still have comets around if they only last 100,000 years or less? When did they form? Just 100,000 years ago and if so, how? Will there be anymore comets when these ones burn up? Or do Oort Clouds really exist?

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QUICK FACTSThat's the simple answer for someone without much of a scientific education. Why, where do creationists imagine comets come from? I don't recall them being mentioned in any holy book... And what does this have to do with evolution?Edited by articulett, : No reason given.Edited by articulett, : No reason given.

Whether I'm ultimately right or wrong on the comet issue has no bearing on if it's relevant to evolution. Everything that we see around us that isn't man made is relevant to this question. If not comets, why not planets, the sun, moon, ect? They had to come from somewhere didn't they?

And in astronomy news today . . . Many famous comets may be visitors from other solar systemsOne poster here said that Kuiper Belt objects have a very low albedo, which is the case for some but not others: Astronomers Study Kuiper Belt Object During Stellar OccultationAnd no, the Oort Cloud has not been directly observed (yet), which is why creationists love to harp on about how it doesn't really exist. Telescopes will shortly prove them wrong and they'll have to look for another red herring.