[NormsRevenge]

Thu Jul 10, 4:29 PM ET

A rich starry sky fills the view from an ancient gas-giant planet in the core of the globular star cluster M4, as imagined in this artist's concept. The 13-billion-year-old planet orbits a helium white-dwarf star and the millisecond pulsar B1620-26, seen at lower left. The globular cluster is deficient in heavier elements for making planets, so the existence of such a world implies that planet formation may have been quite efficient in the early universe. REUTERS/NASA (news - web sites)

[Support Free Republic]

She wants to look her best for her subjects.
>	Make a fashion statement. Donate Here By Secure Server Or mail checks to FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794 or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com
STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD- It is in the breaking news sidebar!

[meandog]

Considering that it is 5,600 light years away; it probably doesn't exist any longer--relatively speaking, of course!

[LiteKeeper]

INTREP

[11th Earl of Mar]

I would think NASA would be spending this time and money on finding out the cause of the Columbia explosion.

[thegreatbeast]

In your lifetime this estimate will be revised at least once a year. Along with archeological finds that reorder our conception of the age of Man. (The Leakeys are good for one themselves each year.)

[goodseedhomeschool]

MOre linear age assumptions placemarker

[longshadow]

1st generation planet in M4 PING!

[ALASKA]

"It's only a model"

[LRS]

...a whirling pulsar and a white dwarf...

They zoomed in on Bill Clinton standing with Robert B. Reich?

[Sam Cree]

bump

[N. Theknow]

NASA: Planet Formed 13 Billion Years Ago

Yippee!

I had 12.5 billion in the over/under office pool!

[AndrewC]

5,600 light-years from Earth in the constellation Scorpius. A light-year is about 6 trillion miles, about the distance light travels in a year.

8.85771E-34

[SunkenCiv]

Primeval Planet: Oldest Known World Conjures Prospect of Ancient Life
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 02:00 pm ET
10 July 2003
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/oldest_planet_030710-1.html

[SunkenCiv]

---

---

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this is a 2003 topic!

---

The View from Methuselah -- Deep within the M4 globular cluster, the oldest known planet orbits a millisecond pulsar and its white dwarf companion. Dubbed "Methuselah" by astronomers, this planet is probably only a billion years younger than the universe itself. Here we see this ancient world from one of its moons. To the top left of the planet are its pair of tiny elderly parent stars. To the far left, the center of the M4 cluster looms like a gigantic swarm of bees.

---