Re: The Sun had Sisters



On Tue, 24 Oct 2006 20:49:18 -0700, Klaatu
<mutster8_nospam_@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/061024_sun_sisters.html

"The Sun had sisters when it was born, according to new research, hundreds
to thousands of them.

And at least one was a supernova, providing further support for the idea
that there could be lots of planets around other stars since our solar
system emerged in such an explosive environment..."

Is it just me or is the growing number of discoveries of planets
around other stars just the expected result? Why should our solar
system be "special" in the galaxy?

The idea that there are gobs of planets out there doesn't especially
surprise me. I think the methods of finding them are interesting, but
the result is not unexpected. It would be more astounding if we were
not finding planets.

What will be much more thrilling to me personally is the eventual
discovery of a rocky planet covered with liquid water orbiting around
another star.

---
Michael McCulloch
.



Relevant Pages

  • Re: Observing & Predicting Planetary Orbits (Easy Step-By-Step Instructions)
    ... the naked-eye visible planets in sidereal ... that ancients didn't have other means to see the stars. ... Mercury whose orbit you can see is eccentric. ... I think this is what makes modern astronomers angry at ...
    (sci.astro)
  • Daily # 4226
    ... Bipolar Nebula around a Binary ... the tranformation of AGB stars to planetary nebulae. ... and - through simultaneous parallel observations - deep NICMOS {F110W, ... Astrometric Masses of Extrasolar Planets and Brown Dwarfs ...
    (sci.astro.hubble)
  • Astronomers Map Out Planetary Danger Zone
    ... Astronomers Map Out Planetary Danger Zone ... cooler stars are in danger of having their developing planets blasted ... stars inside the zone are likely to see their potential planets boiled ... protoplanetary disk, that swirls around a young star. ...
    (sci.space.news)
  • Planetary systems can form around binary stars (Forwarded)
    ... Washington DC -- New theoretical work shows that gas-giant planet formation can occur around binary stars in much the same way that it occurs around single stars like the Sun. ... The results suggest that gas-giant planets, like Jupiter, and habitable Earth-like planets could be more prevalent than previously thought. ...
    (sci.astro)
  • Planet-Forming Disks Might Put the Brakes on Stars (Spitzer)
    ... Planet-Forming Disks Might Put the Brakes on Stars ... Astronomers using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have ... full-grown planets. ...
    (sci.space.news)