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Two Planets Discovered Sharing the Same Orbit
Popular Science ^ | Friday, February 25, 2011 | Julie Beck

Posted on 02/27/2011 5:17:43 PM PST by SunkenCiv

It is possible that such a phenomenon could occur when matter around a newborn star forms into planets. In a planet's orbit around a star, there are two places where a third body can safely orbit. These spots, known as Lagrange points, are 120 degrees in front of and behind whichever body is smaller. The discovered co-orbiting planets, located in the four-planet system KOI-730, are always 120 degrees apart, permanent fixtures in each others' night skies.

Fifty million years after the birth of our solar system, the moon may have formed from the debris of a collision between Earth and a Mars-sized body named Theia. For this to be true, Theia would have to have hit earth at a relatively low speed. Richard Gott and Edward Belbruno of Princeton University say that this could only have happened if Theia had originated in a Lagrange point. The discovery of the KOI-730 planets shows that it is possible.

(Excerpt) Read more at popsci.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: catastrophism; humbug; keywordidiots; koi730; lagrangepoints; pseudoscience; theia; utternonsense; xplanets
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To: SunkenCiv

LOL (ahem) if that man is a doctor I don’t want him treating me!


41 posted on 02/27/2011 7:20:50 PM PST by TigersEye (Who crashed the markets on 9/28/08 and why?)
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To: Christian Engineer Mass; muawiyah; Snickering Hound; cripplecreek

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2681062/posts?page=2#2


42 posted on 02/27/2011 7:21:11 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: mikrofon
Pardon my confusion, but wouldn't one of the pair always be smaller?

Yes, and whichever one of the pair is smaller, the Lagrange points are 120 degrees in front of it and behind it.

43 posted on 02/27/2011 7:21:42 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: SunkenCiv
The Moon was captured by the Earth sometime in the last five percent of Earth’s existence.

Interesting, so sometime in the last 200-250 million years. Hadn't heard that scenario yet. Must have given the critters in the Triassic period something interesting to look at. (Just guessing it happened at the far end)

44 posted on 02/27/2011 7:23:58 PM PST by The Cajun
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To: SunkenCiv

Our moon is pulling away from the sun, our sun has a time predicted when it will die, earth will not last forever, so the spinning of these planets MUST be a finite point, no?

So when the finite is changed a bit, then what?


45 posted on 02/27/2011 7:26:37 PM PST by Beowulf9
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To: Lancey Howard

And, thusly, the Lagrange points would be 120 degrees in front of and behind the larger one too no matter which one was in front of the other.


46 posted on 02/27/2011 7:28:54 PM PST by TigersEye (Who crashed the markets on 9/28/08 and why?)
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To: pallis

Technological advancement has made extrasolar planets discoverable, and estimates of their mass and other characteristics are based on continued info gathering. Among the things that get gathered are more planetary discoveries, which make it possible to make better estimates of the masses of all the bodies. This particular discovery relied on the regular interruptions of the star’s light (it dims just a little as each of these “twin” planets occult the star).


47 posted on 02/27/2011 7:29:07 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: LonePalm; BenKenobi

Thanks!


48 posted on 02/27/2011 7:29:34 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: SunkenCiv; TigersEye
“Why do we call asteroids asteroids and hemhorrhoids hemhorrhoids? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”

I always thought were called hemhorrhoids because they affected both hemhospheres.

49 posted on 02/27/2011 7:30:32 PM PST by bigheadfred (THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE HAS BEGUN)
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To: cripplecreek
Also interesting is the fact that supermassive objects fling small ones way out at astounding speeds.

I've seen evidence of this with people at Walmart.

Just sayin'.

50 posted on 02/27/2011 7:30:32 PM PST by SIDENET ("If that's your best, your best won't do." -Dee Snider)
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To: Beowulf9

Splat. :’)


51 posted on 02/27/2011 7:32:30 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: The Cajun; KoRn

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2681062/posts?page=2#2


52 posted on 02/27/2011 7:33:34 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: SIDENET; bigheadfred; TigersEye; jurroppi1

:’D


53 posted on 02/27/2011 7:36:50 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The 2nd Amendment follows right behind the 1st because some people are hard of hearing.)
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To: BenKenobi
Sorry, those are the L4 & L5 points.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)

LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

54 posted on 02/27/2011 7:36:56 PM PST by LonePalm (Commander and Chef)
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To: Christian Engineer Mass

“Complete nonsense.”

Same thing was said about putting a man on the moon or having geosychronous satellites.


55 posted on 02/27/2011 7:40:47 PM PST by CodeToad (Islam needs to be banned in the US and treated as a criminal enterprise.)
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To: Christian Engineer Mass
“the moon may have formed from the debris of a collision between Earth and a Mars-sized body”

Complete nonsense.

Ok...how do you think the moon did come about?

56 posted on 02/27/2011 7:45:58 PM PST by Abin Sur
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To: TigersEye

I don’t know where the “thusly” comes from, but I didn’t read that the Lagrange points were 120 degrees in front of and behind the larger one. I read they were in front of and behind the smaller one. Whatever.. I’m just glad there aren’t three.


57 posted on 02/27/2011 7:48:03 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: SunkenCiv; SIDENET; bigheadfred; jurroppi1

"Wal-Mart. It's just like the universe only closer to home."

58 posted on 02/27/2011 7:51:50 PM PST by TigersEye (Who crashed the markets on 9/28/08 and why?)
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To: SunkenCiv
Thanks for the link.....good little discussion by you and RA.
Wish he wouldn't have gotten hung up in the Rudy-Tootie war.
59 posted on 02/27/2011 7:54:30 PM PST by The Cajun
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To: TigersEye; Lancey Howard
No. Please see my post #54.

The size of the Lagrange points are determined by the mass of the solar body and the mass of the planet involved.

The IAU therefore resolves that planets and other bodies in our Solar System, except satellites, be defined into three distinct categories in the following way:
(1) A "planet" is a celestial body that: (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (c) has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.
(2) A "dwarf planet" is a celestial body that: (a) is in orbit around the Sun, (b) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, (c) has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit, and (d) is not a satellite.
(3) All other objects except satellites orbiting the Sun shall be referred to collectively as "Small Solar System Bodies".

At best, an object in a Lagrange point could be a 'dwarf planet'. Anything larger would have sufficient gravity of its own to perturb the orbit of the planet in whose Lagrange point it occupies.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)

LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

60 posted on 02/27/2011 7:55:28 PM PST by LonePalm (Commander and Chef)
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