Massively Overhyped Astronomy

[kham]

I realize these days the hard sciences have taken a hit, but it's not helping when you have hyperventilating screamers trumpeting "SECRET PLANET DISCOVERED!!! KEPT CLASSIFIED!!! EEEEEEEELLEENTYY111!!!!!"


The reason, it wasn't revealed right away, Francine... was that they weren't certain of it's existence. Since it's small. And rocky. And hard to spot. So, unlike the average hyperventilating asshole, they ACTUALLY wanted to confirm their findings.

But even so, some of the stuff just makes you shake your head
Yes, just like some hoped, our closest neighbour , Proxima Centauri, a mere 4.2 ly distant has a rocky planet estimated 1.3 Earth-masses. Now, they all going wild about it's in the goldilocks......fzzzzzzt!! Stop right there, girls
It orbits 7.5 million km from the primary. And has an orbital period of 11.2 standard days. Which means, it's likely (like near -100% certainty) tidally locked. And while the hand wavium about how Proxima is a Red Dwarf, and cooler, etc etc.... it's still an actual star. Which means that the day side will probably be too hot. Now, they trying to wave that away now, by claiming atmospheric circulation might make things liveable after all. Uh Huh. And they also trying to do the same with the X-Ray doses it would be taking. Basically, concocting a pile of bullshit rather than hard data. Since they don't KNOW of there is an atmosphere. Or a magnetic field.
It's a new planet, and fascinating. But don't expect the father of the warp drive to be living there....

[Boggy Man]

Here is the article that covers all the bases regarding the new discovery:

https://www.theweathernetwork.com/news/articles/newfound-planet-proxima-b-around-nearest-star-may-harbour-alien-life/71426/

[Duncan Edwards]

What it does tell you is that earth size planets that orbit stars at the right distance must be relatively common if we can find one so close with relative ease. It certainly broadens the possibility that something like earth might be out there. Right now the stats point to there being five to ten billion earth "like" planets in this galaxy alone. Then add in all the moons around giant planets that could well support life and the odds improve even further. Multiply all of that by the 100 billion + galaxies out there and it really seems unlikely that we are totally alone. In the coming years it will certainly give us some interesting targets of study with the new instruments that are coming online.

[Mynock]

I find the whole thing funny because they're really only saying the planet could maybe possibly support life....as we know it. For all you know the place is inhabited by lava monsters that fart sulfuric acid.

[kham]

It's the level of retard speculation that drives me crazy. Stop just MAKING SHIT UP and try something, like, involving actual science. Like Data. And observations. And critical thinking. And if anyone from the history channel shows up, punch them in the fucking throat and set their twitching corpse on fire

[nachtjaeger]

It's the level of retard speculation that drives me crazy. Stop just MAKING SHIT UP and try something, like, involving actual science. Like Data. And observations. And critical thinking. And if anyone from the history channel shows up, punch them in the fucking throat and set their twitching corpse on fire

I'm old enough to remember when the History Channel did actual History, and SyFy (formerly the SciFi channel) showed Science Fiction and Fantasy instead of Pro Wrestling and "Reality" shows.
Hey, SyFy? Want to do a reality show? Call it "Colony." Take a busload of people, and one 40' shipping container full of whatever they think they need, and dump them in the wilderness somewhere. They get Internet, so they have access to the Web to look up how to do stuff. Prizes are based on group achievement of goals- shelter, running water, making charcoal, smelting iron ore, distilling booze, etc. If you choose to "vote someone off" the show will pick them up- and if you choose, replace them with a fresh-killed and field dressed pig the same weight.
That could work for a bunch of seasons- set up colonies in different environments from subarctic to tropical.

[nachtjaeger]

I like speculating about how we humans would go about surviving on a planet like that. The terminator between light and dark would be massively valuable real estate. PV and solar thermal energy would be a snap. The only question is, is there water there? If not, is there a nearby source of water, similar to Saturn's moons? We humans are resourceful enough and advanced enough by now to survive any place we can get water and sunlight. If there is silica, then we can use solar energy to melt it into thick glass for habitat windows and greenhouses. Tunneling for minerals makes habitat also.
Don't think I'm going to live long enough to pioneer Luna, Mars and Proxima- but if my grandkids settle Luna, their kids settle Mars, and their grandkids settle Proxima, that will be fine with me.

[kham]

They keep trying the handwavium approach, but there's no way in the universe this rock could avoid massive X-Ray bombardment, and being blasted with the solar wind. And even granting that Proxima is roughly 1/10 the diameter of the sun, its a wash. Mercury orbits at around 70 million km at aphelion, and way closer at perihelion. And Mercury, is not a beach resort. Trying a lot of maybewhatif in the face of the stuff that would be eroding any atmosphere, and a magnetic field which would be a hope n change level idea.... nope. Find another star system.

And as far as History Chan.... I gave up when we got
THIS

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AND THIS

sqoyw.jpg

When we really need someone to do THIS

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