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Thursday, November 13, 2008

Geocentric Universe Takes Another Hit; Damn You Science!

Posted by Jonathan Golob on Thu, Nov 13, 2008 at 5:50 PM

Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the first pictures of planets like our own solar system's circling a star like our own.

First, from the Keck Observatory, two planets orbiting a star about a 130 light years away:
TwoPlanets.jpg

Next from the Hubble, of one planet orbiting a star a mere 25 light years away:
One_planet.jpg

Expect Bush to issue a desperate Executive Order, demanding equal time for the intelligent falling theory in American classrooms.

(Via an uncharacteristically hysterical Discover Magazine blog.)

 

Comments (24) RSS

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1
Mmmmm...
Posted by Mr. Poe on November 13, 2008 at 6:37 PM
2
eye of sauron; or gigantic fiery vagina? Fox reports, you decide.
Posted by rococo on November 13, 2008 at 6:47 PM
3
Perhaps one of them is Kolob.
Posted by flamingbanjo on November 13, 2008 at 6:53 PM
4
Alright, we're gonna need someone on the INSIDE to do this. But Joseph Smith is totally somewhere out there, and the only way you can get to him is to leave your flesh.

Also, they have to "bring" their kids.
Posted by vrooom! on November 13, 2008 at 7:12 PM
5
bullshit.
Posted by macro on November 13, 2008 at 7:34 PM
6
am i to understand that this is somehow proof against "intelligent design"? i don't get it.
Posted by ellarosa on November 13, 2008 at 7:45 PM
7
phil plait getting hysterical is uncharacteristic? you must not read his blog much. he gets happily hysterical quite a bit.
Posted by Tiffany on November 13, 2008 at 8:01 PM
8
Those scientists just pull numbers out of the air. Oh, and my kid could paint that!
Posted by Jude Fawley on November 13, 2008 at 8:02 PM
9
Whoa, Tim Keck has a whole observatory, too?
Posted by Fnarf on November 13, 2008 at 8:12 PM
10
@8

But "those scientists" don't just pull numbers out of the air - that's what makes them scientists. If you weren't so intellectually lazy, you could obtain the the scientific journals which detail those "numbers", but I suspect you'd much rather go to a Palin 2012 rally instead.
Posted by montex on November 13, 2008 at 8:14 PM
11
@10:

I believe @8's comment falls into the category of what is generally known as "sarcasm".

In any case, direct visual evidence of extra-solar planetary systems is still mighty impressive, considering all we've accumulated to-date has been indirect, based on gravitational lensing and offsetting "wobbles" and such.
Posted by COMTE on November 13, 2008 at 8:27 PM
12
Um, what's the scale? Planet B is two inches from its sun, and planet A is half an inch away? Or does the " character mean something else in astronomy?
Posted by Dr_Awesome on November 13, 2008 at 8:59 PM
13
These are pictures of planets, to be sure. But where is the proof they don't all orbit the Earth?
Posted by elenchos on November 13, 2008 at 9:22 PM
14
12. I believe those marks signify 'arcseconds', as in degrees, minutes, and seconds. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcsecond#A…
Posted by That annoying 'interest troll' on November 13, 2008 at 10:14 PM
15
Who cares? Their sun is only, like, 1.5" in diameter.

Peh.
Posted by jnonymous on November 14, 2008 at 5:07 AM
16
That's really, really cool.

I understand that there's some sort of documentary coming out before too long about how we're building a starship. The pictures of that look pretty awesome too. Maybe we can go visit one of those planets.
Posted by violet_dagrinder on November 14, 2008 at 6:25 AM
17
Stars, like our own, develope planets by accretion. Scientists believe this is happening around billions of stars much the same way it happened around our own with heavier iron core planets closer to the star and gas giants further out. This means the odds of planets like our own developing in habitable zones (orbits neither too close nor too far) where life can flourish are vast. Get ready for more surprises!
Posted by Vince on November 14, 2008 at 6:57 AM
18
"[...] we'll be saying a big hello to all intelligent life forms everywhere ... and to everyone else out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together, guys."

http://www.planetclaire.org/junk/rocks.m…
Posted by NaFun on November 14, 2008 at 7:36 AM
19
Hm, four times the distance from its star of Neptune to the Sun, and about the same size as Jupiter. Cold and gaseous. Not likely to support life. But! planets in general look a lot more common than you'd think...
Posted by David on November 14, 2008 at 9:24 AM
20
And just in time for the new Star Trek!!
Posted by katy on November 14, 2008 at 9:50 AM
21
This is awesome. And yet somehow I doubt the geocentrists will be convinced.
Posted by julia on November 14, 2008 at 10:34 AM
22
Dang! Those are some planets! BTW, looks like your website got hacked. What happened?
Posted by dashel on November 14, 2008 at 10:35 AM
23
Hello again! I believe it was Giordano Bruno who speculated about this very thing some five hundred years ago. It got him burned alive at the stake by the Catholic Church!
Posted by Vince on November 14, 2008 at 11:17 AM
24
Gee, you guys are easily convinced. All I see are dots. I will be convinced only when I can see dinosaurs on them. And what has that got to do with disproving geocentrism. That biblical order has everything going around the earth. So how does a few new dots out there disprove what we see every day/
Posted by James on November 19, 2008 at 4:27 AM

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