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 ...
Great topic to which I have nothing to offer at this time. So, I'll just get the popcorn and read along. : )
"I can't believe they'd actually write an article like this."
Look at the source, Reuters. The combined IQ of all the Reuters reporters added together would get smaller, when squared.
The orbiting earth detector telescope is due for launch in just a few years. Earlier they had looked back at earth to get our characteristic signature in case they spot another earth out there so they would recognize it.
Science PING!
Of course all the newly discovered solar systems are big gassy planets orbiting close to their stars. Those are the only systems our science can currently detect.
Actually, its 650+ now. I have about as much experience in thread volume as anybody on FR. Maybe the most. This definitely qualifies as a high-volume thread. Yours is the only complaint. Therefore, you are DEFINITELY in the minority and your comment becomes more asinine by the minute.
As for the 'waiting a week before signing up', I've been doing the FREE REPUBLIC thing for many years now. Not my fault sensitive people like you read them and cry and try and get me blocked.
The only thing I can see is that you signed up last week. Should I take your word for it that you've been around for years? You sure don't act like it. Most people here grow up real fast. BTW, I have not "tried to get you blocked," though if others have in the past I can't say that surprises me.
Then again, a sense of humor probably wouldn't appeal to such an 'intellectual' like you. He can post this stuff all he wants, I could care less. In fact, I urge more posts like this. Please post more stuff from newscientist.com and slashdot.org. Perhaps I'll start a post of my own on 'UNIX Firewalls' and 'Scientists isolating the genome responsible for lamers like you'. Get a life.
Most people here will tell you that I have a fantastic sense of humor. That's not the problem. The problem is that you are not nearly as witty as you believe you are. You are not really even annoying. Your comment is just lame. It probably comes from hanging out at U Cal Berkely for so long.
I'm doing you a favor here. Take a break, and give it a rest until you get a better feel for what passes for etiquette here.
Astronomers have detected a gaseous discharge from the soft core of Uranus.
Sorry, I've been saving that for just such a thread.
I do not expect any positive answers from the Hubble replacement or the earth searchers. I do not expect any positive result for the next million years. If we get a positive result tomorrow, fine, but I don't expect it. I do expect development of natural resources on the moon, on Mars, and in the Asteroid Belt fairly soon. That's far enough for now, IMHO, although they can scout around all the way to the next solar system in the interest of science.
I'll by this argument when they can explain where the universe came from - you know, how did we get something from nothing?
jonno
by = buy
sheesh!
What the something might be is highly speculative. There might be nothing behind the appearance of the world except a lack of symmetry, and even that might be deceptive. We can't know, says Kant.
What you have here is your basic newbie loser who's pretending to post, but is mostly promoting his own web site.
Don't you know that "first there was nothing and then it exploded."
But its so big even local rarity doesn't make it rare. I guess its a definition of rare question. Are diamonds rare? Compared to sand yes. But there are diamonds all over the place. Pretty much every woman in the USA has at least a few. Now if I asked "are women in the USA rare" you would say no.
There are estimated to be 10^21 stars. If only one in a million has a earth type planet that is still 10^15 "earths" out there. If only one in a billion has an 'earth' there are still 100 billion "earths".
Each human could have 20 of their own? Is that rare??
Sounds kinda dumb. Let's see, we looked at 120 other solar systems. How many trillions of suns are out there? I'd say we would need to study a few hundred million solar systems to come up with the observation that ours is truely unique.
Yes.
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