Comments on: Astronomers find a planet denser than lead

By: Chuck

Chuck — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:31:21 +0000

Well, we know it’s not Gold, since it’s denser than lead.
and we know ( by looking at the lack of the explosion ) we know it’s not Plutonium or Uranium, so it’s probably between those two limits.

Case Solved.

Any volunteers to go out and grab a chunk of it?

By: Roger Reynolds

Roger Reynolds — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 00:32:10 +0000

I’m going out on a limb here, but what if this object is not a “failed” star, but a stellar remnant, a black dwarf, which was an impetus for the formation of the system out of a dust cloud, yet for some reason did not become the kernel of its new companion star?

By: Svlad Cjelli

Svlad Cjelli — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:11:03 +0000

WHAT 9000?!

By: Joost

Joost — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 06:27:21 +0000

If the planet’s diameter was determined by its transition across the surface of the star, can’t we also make some conclusions about the planet’s atmosphere (if there is any, that close the star)? I would have expected this to yield at least some information on the composition of the planet.

By: Ray

Ray — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:40:52 +0000

MMMMM Maybe what we’re looking at is an artificial object. This may be a low scale Dyson sphere creation by ET’s, all I can say is WOW !!!! what a weird object.

By: Bill Nettles

Bill Nettles — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:17:47 +0000

This is fascinating stuff. And I’m glad that I started thinking “brown dwarf” before I got to your section on that. BUT… you (Phil) said: but I don’t like this definition. You could have two objects that look precisely the same, yet one could be a planet and the other a BD, just because they formed in different ways. That strikes me as silly.

Not any sillier than distinguishing between gamma rays (which originate ifrom nuclei), x-rays (which originate from atomic electron clouds or accelerating electrons), or annihilation photons (electron-positron). They’re all photons, they can overlap in energy, but we use different names depending on the origin, because the process of their creation is important.

By: WEBTHUMP! Wednesday 8 October 2008 | Hecklerspray

WEBTHUMP! Wednesday 8 October 2008 | Hecklerspray — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:17:26 +0000

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