Planet's Reverse Orbit a New Twist in Old Evolutionary Story

ICR News ^ | Aug 13, 2009 | Brian Thomas, M.S.

[GodGunsGuts]

The Wide Area Search for Planets (WASP) project has discovered a planet that orbits backward, against the rotational direction of its star. Methodological naturalists think collisions or near-collisions are the causes of unusual cosmic phenomena like this. But this reverse-orbit observation adds to a growing list of astronomical features that should not exist if collisions and other random physical processes are all that could have caused them.[1]...

[GodGunsGuts]

Ping!

[xcamel]

Link to real story by real scientists:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=bizarre-planet-found-to-orbit-backw-2009-08-13

[DannyTN]

That is so racist!

[FormerRep]

“But this reverse-orbit observation adds to a growing list of astronomical features that should not exist if collisions and other random physical processes are all that could have caused them.”

This statement defies logic. If there were no random processes then all planets would have the same directional revolutions. Mr. Thomas again makes extraordinary leaps in logic.

[GraceG]

A wizard did it.

How about God creating a set of natural rules for the Universe and kicked things off. The randomness of the cosmos and rules of nature allows for great and interesting things to arise based off of the initial rules and conditions?

Nah, god just micromanages everything...... In other words “A Wizard did it.”

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[antiRepublicrat]

If I were a creationist and the Bible said they all revolved in only one direction, then I’d just have to discount this observation as flawed because it doesn’t agree with the Bible.

Meanwhile, scientists try to figure out what’s actually happening and will adjust any scientific theories as necessary to account for the new evidence.

[DrDavid]

Real scientists writing for “Scientific Political American?”

[cripplecreek]

Interesting but not altogether unexpected considering that some of the moons in our solar system travel in retrograde orbits around their planets.

Why is a mystery for now. Personally I suppose its possible that the planet didn’t form near that star and was captured as it passed by.

[xcamel]

political being the figment of your imagination....

[FormerRep]

Odd you should say that - there was a new story on Drudge this morning talking about Jupiter capturing a comet in 1940’s and holding it as a moon for 12 years or so. Interesting.

[xcamel]

Only Triton, and it appears it was spun that way by being hit or grazed by another massive object. The Inclination is 129.812° (to the ecliptic) so it looks like it really got ‘nuged’ pretty hard...

[NonValueAdded]

“Midnight Express” flashback /quite obscure

[BlueDragon]

What could happen when galaxies collide? If we're going to engage in "scientific" W.A.G., well then, let's do it! The possibilities are amazing. Just think. Some stars are exchanged... but most continue on with their own previous galaxy.

how many collisions? what is perhaps more amazing is there are not more collisions. sort of like, how we are barreling along on this planet, rotating around our own star, while that star itself is in movement around the core of this particular galaxy in which we, our star, and our small planet reside --- all without getting 'whacked' more often than we have in the past.

A few goodly sized space rocks could ruin your whole day

[cripplecreek]

The earth captures the occasional asteroid which becomes a temporary moon for a few years. There was a story a while back about a small asteroid orbiting the earth outside the moon’s orbit. It travels with us for a few months or years until thrown off on its own way.

Friction doesn’t apply in space so something caught in a gravity well will orbit in a direction that results from its own inbound trajectory. There is all kinds of stuff floating in space between the stars, there’s no reason to believe there couldn’t be nomadic planets floating through space.

[tractorman]

Hey, it just happened all by itself.

No inteligence required.

Just a fantastic accident.

Yea, right.

I am but a worm.

[onedoug]

A few possibilities for technological life in those relatively dustless lanes about half-way out.

[Ha Ha Thats Very Logical]

My first thought, when reading Brian’s story, was that the planet probably didn’t have the kind of mostly-round orbit you’d expect from one in a “natural” orbit formed from an accretion disk. And sure enough, the SciAm piece describes it as a “long elliptical orbit”—exactly what I’d expect if the planet’s orbit was affected by some outside force. Which makes me wonder: how do they know it’s a “planet” and not a big “comet”?

[BlueDragon]

My first thought also. As likely to not come from an original accretion disk.