Space. Just when you think you've nailed something down, space throws a curve ball.
I love space news. ^.^
I love space news. ^.^
New Planet Puzzles Astronomers
- Thread starter Lauren Admire
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Planetary/star formation theory is a slightly different ballgame compared to grand-scale cosmological theories. So far our cosmological theories are fairly solid (besides the mysteries of Dark Matter, WIMPS and Higgs I mean) and discovery of weird planets doesn't really change any of that.
Overall planetary formation is really "behind" compared to other fields like star formation because planets are just so damn hard to observe and study. They are extremely tiny, hardly reflect light, don't generate their own light, etc.
For now whenever strange rogue planets are observed in places where they couldn't form, it's not difficult to imagine that they were once part of a system and were flung out of orbit (unstable orbit or something else disturbed their orbit). Happens all the time with asteroids/comets.
I was watching a documentary of how they found a gas giant 40% larger than Jupiter orbiting it's star at a closer distance than Sun to Mercury. Theoretically a huge gassy planet couldn't possibly form that close to the star, but they found out that it was once quite a large distance away until it's own orbit decayed and caused it to spiral into an extremely tight orbit. That planet only has around 10 million years to go before it completely vaporizes.
Overall planetary formation is really "behind" compared to other fields like star formation because planets are just so damn hard to observe and study. They are extremely tiny, hardly reflect light, don't generate their own light, etc.
For now whenever strange rogue planets are observed in places where they couldn't form, it's not difficult to imagine that they were once part of a system and were flung out of orbit (unstable orbit or something else disturbed their orbit). Happens all the time with asteroids/comets.
I was watching a documentary of how they found a gas giant 40% larger than Jupiter orbiting it's star at a closer distance than Sun to Mercury. Theoretically a huge gassy planet couldn't possibly form that close to the star, but they found out that it was once quite a large distance away until it's own orbit decayed and caused it to spiral into an extremely tight orbit. That planet only has around 10 million years to go before it completely vaporizes.
I don't believe all our theories about space. But this is what I really like about science:
'A theory is there because it's a rule which seems to apply, true or not. If something comes along and contradicts a current theory, they re-examine that theory.'
'A theory is there because it's a rule which seems to apply, true or not. If something comes along and contradicts a current theory, they re-examine that theory.'
im curious about this. what would happen if a planet collided directly with the Earth? would both just break apart?Dr.Awkward said:
Yeah, but we know next to nothing about space, really. We're just throwing stuff around hoping to find something interesting. I'm curious about the color, though. I do wonder what sort of gas that planet has to make it that color.MinionJoe said:
Agreed. I was born in the wrong period of time. I'd rather have been born when we could actually travel in space.Redlin5 said:
[sub]I know how unrealistic that may be. Let me have my dreams, dammit.[/sub]
Ladies. Gentlemen. Aliens across the galaxy. I'm pretty sure we all know what has happened here. There is only one thing that can explain this mysterious phenomenon.
[HEADING=1]DEM PAINT SKILLS![/HEADING]
No other explanation is necessary.
[HEADING=1]DEM PAINT SKILLS![/HEADING]
No other explanation is necessary.
But... I think the pink hue was the most interesting part...Lauren Admire said:
I want to know why it is pink.
Actually one of the current theories about the moon is that when the system was forming and the planets were still colliding (smaller ones collide to form larger planets) 2 planets collided and destroyed themselves, the remains then formed into the earth and moon. If it was to happen today it would depend on what sort of planet hit as to what would happen. If we're talking moon-pluto size it'd do alot of damage for certain but weather it would destroy the earth completely is hard to say, I'd guess probably it would destroy the planet but it's possible it would survive (anyone on Earth at the time would be having a rather bad day either way). A planet Mars-Earth size would defiantly destroy earth, although like the moon theory it's likely the remains would form into another planet (possibly being sucked up by the moon to be formed into it's own planet). If it was a gas giant like Jupiter or this pink thing then it'd just swallow earth like a small snack (seriously the great red spot on Jupiter is larger than our planet, we're tiny) and continue on it's way without noticing, the Moon would probably be the side dish.bullet_sandw1ch said:
And their the more generous options, neutron stars, black holes and other massive objects would all easily wipe this planet from existence and not even notice they had done it. Nice to know how small we really are....
One of the reasons this is seen as unusual is that on the current theory when a system is born the lighter elements that make up gas giants are actually pushed to the outer parts of the system and then small planets gather them and eventually form into this massive balls of gas (and if they get big enough possibly into a star themselves). The theory says that only rock and other heavy elements can make up planets closer to the system for this reason (basically when the star ignites the shock wave/blast and solar winds pushes the lighter elements to the outer edges).piinyouri said:
You are wonderful, you know that?Andy Shandy said:Ladies. Gentlemen. Aliens across the galaxy. I'm pretty sure we all know what has happened here. There is only one thing that can explain this mysterious phenomenon.
[HEADING=1]DEM PAINT SKILLS![/HEADING]
No other explanation is necessary.
That was my first thought, too. I mean, you have a planet, and it's massive. It seems like it's more massive than the debris around it could produce because, and here's your evidence, there is NO debris. I mean, it seems rather obvious.weirdguy said:
Mother of God..Andy Shandy said:Ladies. Gentlemen. Aliens across the galaxy. I'm pretty sure we all know what has happened here. There is only one thing that can explain this mysterious phenomenon.
[HEADING=1]DEM PAINT SKILLS![/HEADING]
No other explanation is necessary.
Wait! Wait! That means that there's a Meta Knight planet somewhere out there too. Niiiice.
this may sound dramatic, but i had a bit of a panic attack when i began to think of how small we are, and what it would look like to see jupiter consume the earth from the surface.RicoADF said:
No problem mate, that realization does hit you hard (I had mine when I was like 10, been watching docos and had a big interest in space for years now).bullet_sandw1ch said:
Funny timing of this topic as I found a great doco on youtube the night before this news was posted, it's called Evacuation Earth and was discussing what might happen if a neutron star decided to go for a stroll through our system. Here's the full doco:
<youtube=1YVQJA8HNB0>
And a cut to the final moments (if you don't want to watch the whole how we would evacuate etc parts):
<youtube=tlTSXr4PfSg>
Also while looking for the 2nd one I found this interesting vid, it includes a "what if Mars hit earth" and Venus too, my first thought was correct Earth would survive a smaller planet like Mars (we would be screwed) but a planet our size of bigger would end badly.
<youtube=AtynD9d6VeI>
Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any nightmares and/or other personal realizations those that watch these may or may not have.
A. It's that big because it's absorbed all surrounding debris where there used to be a shit ton, and now there's none left and it's essentially at maximum size.
B. It came from an area of space where there used to be a shit ton of debris but now it's one of those nomadic planets on its aimless journey through the void.
Eh?
B. It came from an area of space where there used to be a shit ton of debris but now it's one of those nomadic planets on its aimless journey through the void.
Eh?
