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 ...
LOL (ahem) if that man is a doctor I don’t want him treating me!
Yes, and whichever one of the pair is smaller, the Lagrange points are 120 degrees in front of it and behind it.
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)
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?
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.
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).
Thanks!
I always thought were called hemhorrhoids because they affected both hemhospheres.
I've seen evidence of this with people at Walmart.
Just sayin'.
Splat. :’)
:’D
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)
“Complete nonsense.”
Same thing was said about putting a man on the moon or having geosychronous satellites.
Complete nonsense.
Ok...how do you think the moon did come about?
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.
"Wal-Mart. It's just like the universe only closer to home."
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)
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