New Mars Forums

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: Solar System:  How Special is It?

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.htm … 4743]Click

*They are skeptical about the existance of many Earth-like extrasolar planets habitable by life.  Article discusses "Super-Jupiter" planets commonly found in extrasolar systems.

"On the evidence to date, our solar system could be fundamentally different from the majority of planetary systems around stars because it formed in a different way. If that is the case, Earth-like planets will be very rare..."

"In our solar system, the orbits of all the major planets are quite close to being circular (apart from Pluto's, which is a special case), and the four giant planets are a considerable distance from the Sun. The extrasolar planets detected so far - all giants similar in nature to Jupiter - are by comparison much closer to their parent stars, and their orbits are almost all highly elliptical and so very elongated."

*Particularly interesting (gas-giant development):

"In the picture of planet formation developed to explain the solar system, giant planets like Jupiter form around rocky cores (like the Earth), which use their gravity to pull in large quantities of gas from their surroundings in the cool outer reaches of a vast disc of material. The rocky cores closer to the parent star cannot acquire gas because it is too hot there and so remain Earth-like." 

*Great article...I can't imagine why they'd have it tucked into a side column at the main web site.  :-\

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Cobra Commander

Member

From: The outskirts of Detroit.

Registered: 2002-04-09

Posts: 3,039

Re: Solar System:  How Special is It?

Yet as the article states, we may be skewed by what we're able to detect at the moment. A bit too early for any real conclusions.

Still, for some reason I have this nagging suspicion that Earth-like planets are a bit odd, but Earth-like moons are a bit more common. Don't know why, can't back it up...

At any rate, I'm looking for something tidally locked with good atmospheric circulation. Perpetual night, windy and a constant 80 degrees Fahrenheit sounds about perfect. 

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Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.

C M Edwards

Member

From: Lake Charles LA USA

Registered: 2002-04-29

Posts: 1,012

Re: Solar System:  How Special is It?

At any rate, I'm looking for something tidally locked with good atmospheric circulation. Perpetual night, windy and a constant 80 degrees Fahrenheit sounds about perfect. 

There's some property for sale just south of the Union Carbide plant in Cancer Alley that you might be interested in...

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"We go big, or we don't go."  - GCNRevenger