New solar system like ours but 90 lightyears away.
To: RightWhale
how long is a "lightyear" might I ask?
2 posted on
07/03/2003 10:32:46 AM PDT by
KantianBurke
(The Federal govt should be protecting us from terrorists, not handing out goodies)
To: RightWhale
Oh great...another planet those evil white male Christian Conservatives can pollute with their gas-guzzling SUV's
/sarcasm
To: RightWhale
Are they implying that earth like planets may also be orbiting this star?
8 posted on
07/03/2003 10:42:14 AM PDT by
Sam Cree
(Democrats are herd animals)
To: RightWhale
Well, if there is a planet out there, we need to send a sizable portion of our planet to go there immediately. We're running out of room on this planet and we're destroying mother earth, you know. (snicker.)
I think we need to send the liberals first, to make sure the new planet has a functioning welfare system and environmental regulations before the rest of humanity arrives. Or at least that's what we can tell them.
To: RightWhale; PatrickHenry; RadioAstronomer; Right Wing Professor; Junior
I'll let Junior and Patrick ping the rest.
Pretty cool stuff, thanks Rightwhale!!
24 posted on
07/03/2003 11:21:48 AM PDT by
Aric2000
(If the history of science shows us anything, it is that we get nowhere by labeling our ignorance god)
To: RightWhale
Can't wait for VLT to become fully operational. I believe it'll be able to image earth-sized planets out to 50ly or so. Too bad Europeans are running the show.
To: RightWhale
PLAN 90 FROM OUTER SPACE
To: RightWhale
Reckon they have liberals there?
28 posted on
07/03/2003 11:26:25 AM PDT by
gitmo
(We've left the slippery slope and we are now in free fall.)
To: RightWhale
Hmmm. They may have found the Dagobah System.
To: RightWhale
btt
39 posted on
07/03/2003 12:07:45 PM PDT by
Cacique
To: RightWhale
Hey let's find out if it is a liveable place. Let's send all of the liberals there to set up their utiopa!
100 posted on
07/03/2003 4:04:52 PM PDT by
Knightsofswing
(sic semper tranyis [death to tryants!!])
To: RightWhale
90 light years away puts it in the Milky Way, does it not? What part of the Milky Way is it in?
To: Normal4me; RightWhale; demlosers; Prof Engineer; BlazingArizona; ThreePuttinDude; Brett66; ...
Space Ping! This is the space ping list! Let me know if you want on or off this list!
133 posted on
07/03/2003 4:54:42 PM PDT by
KevinDavis
(Let the meek inherit the Earth, the rest of us will explore the stars!)
To: RightWhale; All
Thanks for the ping, RightWhale.
For you non-astronomers out there, realize that we do NOT see the planet in orbit around its star. That would be like finding a firefly circling a bank of floodlights.
Instead, astronomers carefully plot a star's movement (proper motion). If the star seems to wobble, that is carefully measured and the mass of the unseen object is inferred from the interplay between the two objects. Incidentally, the star's mass is determined the same way.
This process can take years of exacting, precise measurements and careful data interpretation. Don't want to forget to factor in Earth's own movement (yes, that did happen - embarrassing to all involved).
Stats for this star:
HD70642 --- RA 08:21:28 dec. -39:42:21 magnitude 7.17
RA is Right Ascension (longitude) and dec. is declination (latitude) projected onto the sky. Magnitude is apparent brightness. It is a logarithmic scale of brightness, with lower numbers being brighter. The dimmest naked-eye magnitude under excellent conditions varies according to visual acuity, but averages about magnitude 6.
I'll take this opportunity to show where the constellation Puppis (the Stern) is. If Canis Major is visible (Look for brilliant star Sirius) to the left of Orion, then Puppis is to the lower left of Canis Major.
The bright streak is an overexposed Sirius.
160 posted on
07/03/2003 5:25:50 PM PDT by
petuniasevan
(Visit the Astronomy Picture of the Day and learn about the exciting universe!)
To: RightWhale
New solar system like ours but 90 lightyears away.Isn't that the distance in Star Trek to that resort planet, Risa or whatever?
162 posted on
07/03/2003 5:27:08 PM PDT by
JoeSchem
(Okay, now it works: Knight's Quest, at http://www.geocities.com/engineerzero)
To: RightWhale
The interesting thing is, if there is intelligent life there, they would only now be just starting to receive our first radio broadcast transmissions from 90 years ago (when radio first began).
Our planet would have seemed dead to them until today.
Of course it is impossible to think about travelling there, but radio transmissions travel at the speed of light so anything we pick up from each other occurred 90 years ago.
They will not be able to see our first television broadcasts (from 1927) until 2017.
290 posted on
07/03/2003 10:27:13 PM PDT by
zeebee
To: RightWhale
As interesting as it is to infer the existance of gas giants by the wobble of their parent stars, I hesitate to call this a home away from home since nothing can be inferred about any terrestrial planets that may exist in orbit. To my knowledge (which is admittedly lacking in some areas) we have only observed one planet directly, when it passed in front of its star relative to our position. The rest we see by measuring the osillations of a star and we can only measure the largest planets this way. Nothing is yet known about small terrestrial worlds like ours. Our small world wouldn't add a wobble that we could now measure from lightyears away, but we could infer Jupiter's and Saturn's pull. I think what this article boils down to is since this system has a gas giant in the middle, there might be rocky plantes closer in. Since we don't have a moonbase yet I'm nonplussed.
310 posted on
07/03/2003 11:42:56 PM PDT by
Liberal Classic
(Quemadmoeum gladis nemeinum occidit, occidentis telum est.)
To: RightWhale
when do we move?
and can we leave hillary here?
317 posted on
07/04/2003 8:37:24 AM PDT by
liberalnot
(davis bankrupted california.)
To: RightWhale
It's just God having a good laugh holding up a mirror. It's our own reflection.
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