Neptune and the Creation Model
NASA Image

​NASA's Voyager 2 confirmed that Neptune, discovered in 1846 and the furthest planet from the sun in the solar system at 2.8 billion miles, produces significant heat and has a significant magnetic field, as predicted by Dr. Russell Humphreys. Neptune is also the only planet in our solar system not visible to the naked eye and was visited up close by Voyager 2 for the first time in history in 1989, making it the only spacecraft to visit the planet in its orbit. The existence of Neptune was predicted by mathematical models before it was officially discovered as a planet. Neptune is about four times the size of Earth and is similar in size with Uranus while also being an ice giant like its twin planet. Neptune's mass features a hot, dense fluid of icy materials including water, methane, and ammonia above a small rocky core. Neptune's atmosphere is made up mostly of molecular hydrogen, atomic helium and methane. Neptune also has 13 moons and six thin rings. Despite taking 165 years to orbit the sun, Neptune has a short day, which is about 16 hours for a full rotation. Neptune's rotational axis is nearly perpendicular to the plane of its orbit, like most planets, and this planet produces about twice as much heat as it receives from the sun, despite its large distance from the sun. This excess heat generation so far from the sun is difficult for evolutionists to explain. Neptune also has violent storms that appear and reappear in different places with strong wind speeds at 1,300 miles per hour, as confirmed by Voyager 2 and the Hubble Space Telescope. The 1989 Voyager II mission revealed two large dark spots on Neptune that were thought to be large storms. In 1994, the Hubble Space Telescope revealed that these storms disappeared but a new one appeared in another spot. Therefore, we can see that Neptune is not an idle place but has a complex atmosphere with much activity occurring. Evolutionist models have difficulty explaining how a large planet so far from the sun could produce so much heat and maintain a magnetic field. The magnetic field measured by Voyager 2 was significantly more than what evolutionists expected. Evolutionists also have difficulty explaining how the large planets such as Uranus and Neptune exist at all considering their distance from the sun and how their offset magnetic fields have existed for billions of years. Evolutionists also support solar nebula theory for an explanation of planetary formation, including large clouds of dust and gas clumping together to form planets over billions of years but this process is difficult to explain even within a 4.5 billion year period. While evolutionists have difficulty explaining a naturalistic formation and existence of these planets and their unique characteristics, creationists accept the 6,000 year time frame for a special creation event and science supports the creationist model.

Neptune's Offset Magnetic Axis

A unique feature of the magnetic field of Neptune's sister planet Uranus is that the magnetic axis is offset from the rotational axis by 60 degrees, as detected by the NASA Voyager 2 satellite. Therefore, the magnetic axis does not pass through the center of the planet but is shifted to one side of the planet. This shifted magnetic axis violates the evolutionist dynamo theory, which is their theory of how planets generate magnetic fields by electric currents and sustains them over billions of years. In addition to not producing enough heat to generate a magnetic field, the magnetic axis is shifted 60 degrees-unusual and unique features that makes the existence of a magnetic field difficult to explain in addition to how Uranus kept this magnetic field for supposedly billions of years of time. Also, when evolutionists discovered this offset magnetic axis, the assumption was that the magnetic field was going through a magnetic polarity reversal, where the magnetic field reverses polarity in opposite directions. However, three years later it was soon discovered by the Voyager II NASA satellite that Neptune also has its magnetic axis significantly offset by 47 degrees. Therefore, the likelihood that two planets were experiencing a magnetic polarity reversal at nearly the same time was unrealistic, leaving evolutionists confused. Such an unstable setup leads us to wonder how these planets could have formed and sustained a magnetic field for billions of years. While the evolutionists' models have difficulty of explaining the unique features of the planets with naturalistic explanations and their theories make incorrect assumptions, the creationists have better models that accept a unique creation within the 6,000 year time frame.

Jason Lisle, Ph.D. 2014. The Solar System: Uranus. Acts & Facts. 43 (2).
D. Russell Humphreys, Ph.D. 1990. Beyond Neptune: Voyager II Supports Creation. Acts & Facts. 19 (5).
NASA Science Solar System Exploration. Neptune The Windiest Planet. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/neptune/overview/.