[Fail] Kirk Cameron tries his hand at astrophysics

[doggie]

The stupid burns as usual. I love the quote below he seems to forget that in the bible the sun went around the world too. but hey biblical scholars knew about the universe and all.

While the sun has many characteristics similar to stars, the Bible never refers to it as a star.

Our sun is just a tiny yellow star in a vast collection that could support life. You’ll hear this more and more. Don’t believe it. The minimum requirement of a life-supporting star is missing from all the other stars. Our God-given sun appears to be unique.

Appearing bright from our perspective on earth, the sun obviously has a special status for us. But its brightness is impressive only because it lies so close compared to the stars. Given everything we now know about the brightness of other stars, it’s fashionable today to call the sun a star, even an average star. But is that really the case?

While the sun has many characteristics similar to stars, the Bible never refers to it as a star. This suggests that the sun may have some unique characteristics. Could that refer to its composition? The sun’s composition is a bit unusual — it has far less lithium than most stars do. Lithium isn’t very common in stars anyway, but the sun is among the most lithium-poor stars. Though this statistic is interesting, it isn’t clear whether it is significant.

The sun has another property that is very important and unusual — its stability. Astronomers have spent some time looking for stars similar to the sun, because such stars might be conducive to sustaining life on any planets that orbit them. Astronomers have found a few solar twins that have the same temperature, size, mass, and brightness as the sun, but nearly all of them are variable. That is, they vary in brightness. With all the concern about global warming today, it ought to be obvious that a constant sun is essential for life.

Read more at http://kirkcameron.com/just-another-sta ... QA43PHu.99

[toejamflipflop]

Kirk Cameron............ BWAH.....HAHAHAHAHAHAHA :lol:

[Phoebe]

Dear Kirk,

Just thought I'd let you know that you will never be as awesome as Neil deGrasse Tyson, no matter how hard you try.

Enjoy your Subway sandwiches for your birthday,

A Cosmos fan

[Tish Cook]

I can't even with this idiot! This man makes me so unrationally (well maybe rationally) angry, Facts are facts Kirk....the biggest one being that you are an asshole.

[ViolaSebastian]

With all the concern about global warming today, it ought to be obvious that a constant sun is essential for life.

Jeebus, Kirk. No one that has studied global warming has made the asinine claim that the sun isn't vital to life on earth. Just the opposite--in every science class I've ever taken (at ebil public school and university) it's drilled into us how important the sun is to sustaining the planet. Global warming is man-made and caused by the way we use fossil fuels. You can believe in God and Jesus and still think that global warming is happening...

Climate change deniers... :angry-banghead: :angry-banghead:

[Firiel]

Kirk says:

Given everything we now know about the brightness of other stars, it’s fashionable today to call the sun a star, even an average star. But is that really the case?

While the sun has many characteristics similar to stars, the Bible never refers to it as a star. This suggests that the sun may have some unique characteristics.

Science says:

http://simostronomy.blogspot.com/2010/0 ... r-sun.html

We often hear the distance to the nearest star quoted as being 4.2 light years away, and while Proxima Centauri is 4.2 light years distant, the nearest star to us is our Sun. Yes, the Sun is a star, a rather average star as it turns out; but still an awesome thing to behold, once you understand the power and majesty of such a beast.

Kirk says:

The sun has another property that is very important and unusual — its stability. Astronomers have spent some time looking for stars similar to the sun, because such stars might be conducive to sustaining life on any planets that orbit them. Astronomers have found a few solar twins that have the same temperature, size, mass, and brightness as the sun, but nearly all of them are variable. That is, they vary in brightness. With all the concern about global warming today, it ought to be obvious that a constant sun is essential for life.

Science says (same source as above):

When studying the effect of the Sun on the Earth, scientists measure the amount of solar energy, in all wavelengths, that falls on a given area of the top of the Earth’s atmosphere. They called this the ‘solar constant’. But, it turns out this ‘constant’ varies by as much as 0.1% over the 11-year sunspot cycle, and perhaps even more over longer periods, so now scientists use the term ‘total solar irradiance’. Although the Sun appears constant, it is a variable star that emits constantly changing energy.

Factually incorrectness aside... I mean, yeah, I'm sure there is something to be said about the importance of a star being quite stable in order to sustain life. I would suspect that scientists don't expect those super variable/unpredictable stars to be the ones with life-sustaining planets surrounding them. But so?! How does any of the rest of his post follow? How does the fact that there are more variable than constant stars prove anything other than the fact that there are more variable than constant stars?

Oh, by the way, a variable star is just a star whose brightness, as perceived here on earth, changes. That can be due to the star itself or any number of external factors that could "block" or disrupt our perception of the star.

[thoughtful]

[doggie]

Fundies and their need to use everything to try to prove the bible is true. You would think if it was so important then god would have provided facts in the bible that would be true today.

[Geechee Girl]

He needs to have several seats! \_ \_ \_ Sit down and put a sock in it, Kirk.

[Loveday]

Two things I never thought I'd see in the same sentence: "Kirk Cameron" and "astrophysics."

[doggie]

Well his ego is planet size so he may be some kind of expert.

[browngrl]

Good grief he is a stupid as a bag of bricks. For the record (in case any fundie SOTDRT folk are reading here):

THE SUN IS A STAR. JUST LIKE ALL THE OTHER STARS THAT EXIST IN OUR UNIVERSE. It is special to us because it is OUR star - BUT IT IS STILL JUST A STAR.

[slickcat79]

Huh...and I would have thought Kirk and Ray would learn their lesson after the whole banana fiasco :banana-fingers:

If you know jack shit about science, don't try to pretend like you're an expert. You sound like the Duggars after a trip to the Creation Museum.

Also, glad someone already pointed out that the sun's energy is not constant. Even if it were, its effects on Earth's life would still vary because habitat and atmosphere. And to think that there are no other life-sustaining stars out there because we haven't found one yet is utterly laughable. The area of space we've explored is infinitesimal compared to the actual size of the universe. Try again, Kirk...or better yet, don't.

[doggie]

They need to use the GOP saying "I am not a scientist but"

[merrily]

Is he trying to churn out his own bible version of Cosmos? :popcorn2:

[FloraKitty35]

My first thought when I read this post was: :lol:. Second thought: Kirk Cameron got his degree in astrophysics from Jesus and he is a shitty actor. Dr. Brian May, PhD in Astrophysics from Imperial College, London and one of the greatest guitarists and musicians ever.

[Sailing on Europa]

wow! I know they don't believe in evolution, but he's trying to say the sun isn't a star? Just that it has similar characteristics to a star? If life IS ever discovered on another planet, I wonder what the Kirk Camerons of the world will say about it.

[twin2]

The sweet baby jesus weeps at the stupidity of his followers....

[doggie]

The sweet baby jesus weeps at the stupidity of his followers....

or any followers but it really shows the gullibility of religious extremists.

[thoughtful]

[thoughtful]

Good grief he is a stupid as a bag of bricks. For the record (in case any fundie SOTDRT folk are reading here):

THE SUN IS A STAR. JUST LIKE ALL THE OTHER STARS THAT EXIST IN OUR UNIVERSE. It is special to us because it is OUR star - BUT IT IS STILL JUST A STAR.

[thoughtful]

And because sometimes even the oldest jokes are still fitting:

[Childless]

Remind again where Kirk got his astrophysics degree? Oh, that's right, he doesn't have one. :roll:

[doggie]

Remind again where Kirk got his astrophysics degree? Oh, that's right, he doesn't have one. :roll:

since when has lack of knowledge stopped a fundy thinking they are experts on something.

[ThisOlGirl]

My first thought when I read this post was: :lol:. Second thought: Kirk Cameron got his degree in astrophysics from Jesus and he is a shitty actor. Dr. Brian May, PhD in Astrophysics from Imperial College, London and one of the greatest guitarists and musicians ever.

A scientist that plays the devil's music. Ladies & gentlemen, Brian May: Fundie cryptonite.