Comments on: Exoplanet’s Surprising Detour Reignites Astronomical Debate

By: Geack

Geack — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 19:27:20 +0000

Geez, what a bunch of geeks. It’s nice to be among my own kind ;-)

By: John Kwok

John Kwok — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:14:45 +0000

@ PapaV -

You have a much better chance of meeting Seven if the USS Voyager uses the Kirk slingshot effect and travels backward in time!

I have a hunch, however, that the Borg starship might really be either one of the Shadows or the Vorlons!

By: PapaV

PapaV — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 23:55:51 +0000

If it is a Borg spacecraft and it comes here and assimilates me, I hope I get to meet Seven in person. :-)

By: John Kwok

John Kwok — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 14:20:15 +0000

@ nephelegereta -

Didn’t the Borg Queen have a date with Captain Janeway?

On a more serious note, the nationally syndicated radio talk show hosted by John Batchelor had an excellent discussion on this which aired either last night or the night before. You can listen here:

http://wabcradio.com/sectional.asp?id=33447

By: torres

torres — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 16:46:13 +0000

Not exactly the topic, but my curiosity has me asking: How would scientists differentiate between an exoplanet and an exocomet? We have planets in our solar system and comets, such as Halley’s, that both orbit the Sun.

By: nephelegereta

nephelegereta — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 00:00:39 +0000

@Ernest – the Borg Queen out for a cruise? Ever since Jean-Luc left, she’s not been the same..assimilation has lost its joy :)

By: Ernest

Ernest — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:45:58 +0000

@nephelegereta Don’t think it could be a rogue planet. Pictures suggest it’s orbiting the star. I’s more likely a glitch in the instrument or something else affecting the planet’s orbit.
Could still be a borg ship, they also have spheres.

By: Simplylisette

Simplylisette — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 07:31:51 +0000

Perhaps the body itself is an eccentric shape with a lopsided center of gravity, or there is a sneaky little black hole nearby:)

By: Caleb

Caleb — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 06:05:02 +0000

I’m with Bean Soup & Liath on this one.. hmmm.. although, why would such a large and advanced spacecraft allow itself to be so visible. So logic leads me to believe that this is a “triple Jupiter mass” gas giant transporting Borg.

By: Chrysoprace

Chrysoprace — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 04:01:23 +0000

Has this system been analyzed with other means of planet detection? I am certainly no expert but couldnt an object have an erretic orbit if there were another very large body acting on it, say a triple Jupiter mass gas giant?

By: Lila Sovietskaya

Lila Sovietskaya — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 02:30:47 +0000

When I read the article, the same weird idea commented by Bean Soup and Liath. So I was amazed to see other people with weird idea as mine. The truth might be some malfunction in the instrumentation taking the data, or the exoplanet might be falling into a gravitational distortion of some other unseen wandering object. has the stardust affected the path? That is a very likely explanation that could be examined.

By: M Tadano

M Tadano — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:55:08 +0000

Well… there are people who obviously like to “demote” planets to something else. Just ask Pluto! :-)

By: nephelegereta

nephelegereta — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:49:09 +0000

Could still be a planet, but a rogue one, which would explain anomalous IR signal – not as young as they thought, but still reflective because of accrued dust.
@ Bean Soup – couldn’t be Borg, isn’t square ;)

By: Liath

Liath — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 19:47:39 +0000

Obviously what we have here is a gigantic spaceship carrying the entire population of their home planet that they had just finished trashing. Perhaps we should consider a similar space bound project.

By: Bean Soup

Bean Soup — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 19:46:33 +0000

Large Borg spacecraft?