Solar System Census

[Chris Ingersoll]

Solar System to expand to 12 planets?

Just an interesting bit of science trivia that may or may not happen sometime soon. The part that really grabbed my attention as far as being a CotG fan was that the asteroid Ceres could return to the planetary status it apparently had centuries ago.

[blueraider1]

yeah i read about it in the paper as well chris.its seems to be big news.

[Matt]

Interesting.

[Splattercat]

Re: UB313: I think Icarus would be a nice name for a new planet...A lot better than freakin' Xena anyway.... ;D

[Chris Ingersoll]

I don't think you could name a planet that far from the sun Icarus.

[Splattercat]

Well, At least you wouldn't have to worry about it's orbit melting from the heat of the sun and crashing into the sea...

That would suck...

[Big Bri]

This is probably being done so more money goes to astronomical research and building billion-dollar spacecrafts instead of more worthwhile causes like finding cures for terminal diseases, ending world hunger, etc. You know, things that should really matter to most Earthlings. I'm not an activist or anything, but that's just my take on it.

[Omen]

I don't know I like Xena and the blonde chick too..

[JimSteel]

I saw that

Its interesting and maybe we will find life on other planets

[gwffantrav]

Just curious, does anyone else believe there is life out there besides Earth?

[Knapik]

If the universe is infinite there has to be, right?

[JimSteel]

Yes I believe there are life on other planets and some of those aliens are here on earth

[Darth Turkish]

I think it is pretty egotistical and shortsighted to think that there is no other intelliegnt life in a such a vast place that we have only explored an iota of.

[offspring515]

I have no doubt there is alien life in our universe. Will it be little green men, or "grays" or anything like that? Maybe not. It might not even be something we can comprehend. But I believe it's out there.

[GalactiKing]

Please not Xena.......Vulcan.....or Bacchus or something.

[Chris Ingersoll]

Pluto officially demoted to "dwarf planet".

Only 8 planets currently in our solar system now. Astrologists everywhere mourn the loss of a ruling celesital body; nobody else really cares all that much.

[pikemojo]

I don't believe there is life outside of Earth and it is not because of my massive ego. Scientists believe that the chain of events and circumstances that had to happen are such a near impossibility that we shouldn't have even happened. I highly doubt that these insane set of circumstances happened at other places all through out the galaxy.

It is pretty safe to say that I don't really trust scientists. They always believe that what they know now is the absolute truth and then when that is proven to be false then they completely abandon that and have a new idea to follow. Why should I listen to them now when they are just going to find out that they are wrong in 10 years?

[cakejedi]

I don't believe there is life outside of Earth and it is not because of my massive ego. Scientists believe that the chain of events and circumstances that had to happen are such a near impossibility that we shouldn't have even happened. I highly doubt that these insane set of circumstances happened at other places all through out the galaxy.

The example I often give about how unlikely it was that all these required elements fell together randomly to produce life is this: It would be like buying a puzzle, shaking up the box, opening it up, dumping it on the floor, and then have all the pieces fall perfectly together to complete the puzzle. And all the factors that came together to produce life are a lot more complex that a puzzle. For life to have developed elsewhere in the universe is not impossible, but highly unlikely.

It is pretty safe to say that I don't really trust scientists. They always believe that what they know now is the absolute truth and then when that is proven to be false then they completely abandon that and have a new idea to follow. Why should I listen to them now when they are just going to find out that they are wrong in 10 years?

I remember very vividly a pretty heated debate in my 6th grade science class. The teacher taught that the universe is infinite. One of my classmates could not grasp the idea of an infinite universe. He kept insisting that the universe had to have an end to it somewhere. The teacher asked sarcastically "What do you think, there is a brick wall in space to indicate the end?" Today it is taught that the universe is expanding, because they can trace particles from the big bang moving away from the center of the universe. Now, an infinite universe and an expanding universe are two totally different concepts. The biggest problem with scientists is their arrogance when presenting a scientific THEORY as FACT.

Finally, you gotta feel sorry for Pluto. It must stink to be demoted from being a planet

[Splattercat]

Well, in theory a theory is fact...

[Trent Lawless]

I think the jigsaw puzzle analogy is somewhat apt, but also a bit of an oversimplification. I see where you're headed, though.

I'll refer folks to the Drake Equation for the possibilities of life elsewhere in the universe. Wikipedia's is as good as any: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation

Personally, if we're it, I'll be very depressed.

I've also been reading a cool book called Centauri Dreams by Paul Gilster about the challenges of interstellar spaceflight. It also talks about possibilities of life elsewhere reaching us, or whether or not it already has. Cool stuff.