[Matthew-Spaltro]

http://news.yahoo.com/fc?tmpl=fc&cid...asolar_planets

 

[andrzejpw]

very, very cool! The size of Jupiter.

 

[gerG]

Nice!

I hope that they don't figure out that they are only discovering mosquitos flying past the telescope

That pig orbits it's sun every 29 hours??? Kind of like swinging a Buick around your head on a string isn't it? What is the orbital velocity of that thing? Also, how the hell do they know that it rains iron? Maybe they meant that it rains irons. Hey, it could happen! I've seen whole groups of pissed off golfers before, and...

<control to gerG: go away>

<gerG to control: ok>



gerG

 

[Onix]

It sounds too bloody fast. Somehow I aways expected Jupiter type planets to have slow exterior orbits. I wonder if there´s some sort of gravitational drag caused by the planet on the star and how it may affect the orbits of the probable other planets in the system. I mean, just imagine what could be our solar system like if we placed Jupiter in Mercury's orbit. The gravitational pull alone would severily affect Earth's orbit, not to mention that cometary and meteoroid impacts on our planet would be more common, since there would not be a bigger planet than Saturn atracting space bodies in the outher regions of the system. I know this ocurrence, the pressence of big planets close to their suns, seems to be very common in the newly discovered planetary systems, so I am kinda wondering if our system, with inner orbit rock planets and external gas giants, is more like an oddity in the universe and not the norm.

Anyway, is really cool to see people tackling different subjects here besides cans and chicks. Not that I mind talking about girls

 

[Audio Redneck]

Quote:

Originally posted by gerG Nice! I hope that they don't figure out that they are only discovering mosquitos flying past the telescope That pig orbits it's sun every 29 hours??? Kind of like swinging a Buick around your head on a string isn't it? What is the orbital velocity of that thing? Also, how the hell do they know that it rains iron? Maybe they meant that it rains irons. Hey, it could happen! I've seen whole groups of pissed off golfers before, and... <control to gerG: go away> <gerG to control: ok> gerG

That thing is flying! That little star must have an incredible gravity field!

How do they tell its iron: last I heard they were using light spectrum analysis to determine the chemical make up of planets. Every element reflects a specific frequency and filtering the frequency of known elements, you determine the chemical makeup (at least of the surface) of the object.

 

[gerG]

hmmm, spectral analysis would be tough on an object that you can only detect via a miniscule fluctuation in intensity as it transits in front of a star. I suspect that the raining iron statement is an overstatement of a hypothesis based upon the proximity of the planet to it's sun, some estimates of temperatures based on radiative heat transfer, and probability of resident elements based on accumulated data.

Still, it would play hell with your car's paint job, wouldn't it?

gerG

 

[jessica00]

a jupiter sized planet, close enough orbit to be detectible..that thing must be moving FAST.

 

[Audio Redneck]

Quote:

Originally posted by gerG hmmm, spectral analysis would be tough on an object that you can only detect via a miniscule fluctuation in intensity as it transits in front of a star. I suspect that the raining iron statement is an overstatement of a hypothesis based upon the proximity of the planet to it's sun, some estimates of temperatures based on radiative heat transfer, and probability of resident elements based on accumulated data. Still, it would play hell with your car's paint job, wouldn't it? gerG

Everything I ever heard about astronomy refered back to spectral analysis for any object beyond our "reach", but I can agree with your supposition.

Especially the paint job part