Astronomy quotes

Non Young Universe Astronomy Overall
We cannot even show convincingly how galaxies, stars, planets, and life arose in the present universe.

Solar System
All the hypotheses [regarding solar system formation] so far presented have failed or remain unproven when physical theory is properly applied.

I think all suggested accounts of the origin of the Solar System are subject to serious objections. The conclusion in the present state of the subject would be that the system cannot exist.

Galaxy Formation
The problem of explaining the existence of galaxies has proved to be one of the thorniest in cosmology. By all rights, they just shouldn’t be there, yet there they sit. It’s hard to convey the depth of frustration that this simple fact induces among scientists.

Planets
The leading theory for giant planet formation has encountered a mortal blow, and the reaction is to put the theory on life support by invoking a physical phenomenon, core erosion, that had never before been raised.

... most every prediction by theorists about planetary formation has been wrong.

It turns out to be surprisingly difficult for planetesimals to accrete mass during even the most gentle collisions.

No one knows quite how planetesimals ever attain protoplanet status. Building Jupiter has long been a problem to theorists.

Stars
We don’t understand how a single star forms, yet we want to understand how 10 billion stars form.

The truth is that we don't understand star formation at a fundamental level.

The universe we see when we look out to its furthest horizons contains a hundred billion galaxies. Each of these galaxies contains another hundred billion stars... The silent embarrassment of modern astrophysics is that we do not know how even a single one of these stars managed to form.

In fact, given our current understanding of how stars form and the properties of the galactic center, it’s [stellar evolution near the galactic center is] not allowed to happen.

For example, no one can explain how the stars—which are 15 times heftier than our sun—got there [near the center of our galaxy]. According to most astronomical models, they are too big to have formed in the chaos of the galactic center but appear to be too young to have moved there from farther out.

Nobody really understands how star formation proceeds. It’s really remarkable.

Related Link

 * Walt Brown, "Astrophysical Sciences," In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for the Creation and the Flood, May 28, 2008. Accessed June 1, 2008.