Posted on 03/30/2012 6:30:02 PM PDT by U-238
German astronomers have discovered an ancient planetary system thought to be a survivor of one of the earliest cosmic eras, from 13 billion years ago. The system consists of the star HIP 11952 and two planets. Such an old system will help shed light on planet formation in the early Universe, which occurred under conditions quite different from those of later planetary systems such as our own.
Accepted planetary theory states that, generally speaking, a star that contains more 'metals', (i.e. chemical elements other than hydrogen and helium) is more likely to have planets; it is also widely accepted that planets are formed in discs of gas and dust that swirl around young stars. The team noted with interest, then, that despite this observed trend for planets to form within clouds that contain heavier chemical elements, a star containing very little bar hydrogen and helium has two planets orbiting it.
HIP 11952, which belongs in the large northern constellation Cetus, is situated about 375 light years from Earth. By carrying out a planet survey into metal-lacking stars, German researchers identified two giant planets around this star. Although these planets are not particularly unusual in themselves, it is out of the ordinary that they should orbit such an old and metal-deficient star.
These findings, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, therefore throw up questions about what it actually takes to make a planet. If metal-rich stars are more likely to form planets, how were the two planets around star HIP 11952 formed?
In the beginning, the Universe contained almost no chemical elements other than hydrogen and helium. Nearly all the heavier elements were produced over time inside stars, before being flung into space as massive stars and ending their lives in giant explosions called supernovae.
(Excerpt) Read more at balkans.com ...
Ping
Ping
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Yeah well, then there was humans and global warming.....
Well, maybe not so far far away, but it was a long time ago.
This planetary system is 376 light years away
Star mining. Just don’t pig out and collapse that pig.
Galactically speaking, not all too far.
This star and its system had to be formed somewhere else.
“one of the earliest cosmic eras, from 13 billion years ago”
assuming “time” passed at the same rate as at present*
(See Einstein on Relativity for a discussion of the relationships between time, gravity, and space)
You may think that if our solar system is 4.5 billion years old then a 13 billions years old planetary system should be millions of lights years away...but they are saying it is only 376 lights years away?...Hard to believe...
It says it was formed somewhere else and this galaxy picked it up.
Yeah but that is a weak theory...
Rogue Planets are not unusal in astronomy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13416431
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/05/18/the-galaxy-may-swarm-with-billions-of-wandering-planets/
Astronomy, the Science with a lot of BS... Not all of it but a huge part of it is just BS...
That is how you feel. I cannot argue with that.
Not a feeling. I have a bachelor of science in Physics and a master in Mechanical engineering and I am just applying scientific logic and analysis here... A lot of so called theories in astronomy do not make sense...
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