Posted on 08/05/2004 10:56:29 AM PDT by presidio9
Our solar system may be unique after all, despite the discovery of at least 120 other systems with planets, astronomers said on Wednesday.
All the other solar systems that have been found have big, gassy planets circling too close to their stars to allow them to be anything like Earth or its fellow planets, the British and U.S.-based researchers said.
If that is the case, Earth-like planets will be very rare, the astronomers write in the latest issue of the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
"Maybe these other extrasolar systems ... contain only the giant planets," said Mario Livio of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
Livio and colleagues took a close look at what is known about the other planetary systems that have been discovered.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Let me clue you in on a little secret junior:
Every time you and I post this thread gets bumped to the top, and a new crop of lurkers get to see you make a jackass out of yourself.
Oh yes Presidio, I'm suffering greatly from all the bad things people must be saying and thinking about me. How am I to go out in public with all this humiliation? I'll never live this down :-( I might as well create a new account and start all over again. Poor me...
I see you've regressed to the "I know you are, but what am I?" stage of the discourse.
Yep, right according to schedule.
Knock it off.
I agree. Exploration has always been the provenance of the adventurer or the merchant with the main objective being fame and/or fortune. Any kind of life found on Mars should be looked at as a side benefit, not the purpose for being there.
The private sector will do that at their own expense as soon as property rights are established.
I like the idea, but I'm skeptical about it. I can't see NASA and property rights in the same paragraph without thinking about the internationalism of the NASA culture.
I saw Armstrong step on the moon in '69, and say the "...one giant leap for mankind" thing. I remember us all looking at one another wondering "what was that all about", after all Americans footed the bill for that mission. 1969 was the high point for NASA, now all they do is send out probes that don't work half the time.
It's true NASA's budget isn't what it use to be, but that's what happens to a government agency after the politicians don't need it any longer. Government can screw up anything it gets its hand on, so I'd like to see private companies get into space and do some "for profit" development there. If life was found by accident that would be great. Getting past the internationalists might be a problem though.
Really?
They are both in this report: President's Commission Report. I could see private property and NASA both in outer space. Let NASA do science and exploration, let private individuals do prospecting and development.
This is part of what is known as the Anthropic Principle...not new!
bingo.
Doesnt it take at least 10 years of study to find a system like ours? We haven't been at this long enough I don't think. These large gas planets close in have short orbit times don't they?
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