"Note: absolutely no vampires in view."

Damned if I'm moving, then.

How soon can we send some moonbats to populate the place? If it's a barren wasteland as described, it'll fit right in with their view of life. As a matter of fact, it'll fit right in with their ability to think at all.

What about thetans? Because I heard from this guy named Tom that thetans are worse than vampires. Cost more to get rid of too.

So, we've finally found Tatooine? Out in the ass-end of space? Cool.

Actually lawhawk, binary systems are quite common, and a number of planets have been "found" orbiting around them.

This is big news because it's the first planet found around a *trinary* star system. Like Ace said, cool.

Still, one thing I haven't heard a good explanation for is how come so many of these systems found include planets incredibly close to their stars. Very few (if any) planetary systems involve planets in the so-called "habitable" zones like here at home. And, even when planets are found further out, there's still usually one of these crazy characters racing close-in around their star.

I'm wondering if all these folks are doing their math right, because otherwise, we may really be getting pretty unique.

Then again, since these systems are all found through gravitational observations, i.e. wobbling, that's made it a lot easier to find systems with big honkin' giants, much larger than even Jupiter. It may be the case that these super-giants will inevitably end up falling close in to their stars over time, thus giving us these wacky orbits.

My guess is, as our measurements improve and we can find more systems with Jupiter-size planets (and eventually smaller), we will probably find more systems laid out like ours. Or perhaps not.

Damn, the universe is a wild place, huh? I only wish I could stick around to learn a whole lot more. Damn mortality, ruins all the fun.

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

I don't believe a word of it. These "scientists" are just whoring for grant money.

Let's invade it.

Just think how much that will annoy Michael Moore.

If I remember my Popular Science level astrophysics correctly, most of the planets found so far have been gas giants (because they have an easy enough size to detect gravitationally). However many of them have been found in the inner system, in complete contradiction of the established theories.

Of course the old theories were created by looking at our solar system and assuming all of the rest of creation must look the same. It seems a little myopic nowadays.

Howard - yep, the easiest planets to find are large gas giants in close orbit around their suns. And that's what we've been finding.

As you say, that has led to a certain amount of re-thinking for the planet-formation theorists.

Did vin diesel crash land on this planet?

Actually, some extra-solar planets have been found when the plane of their orbits take them in front of their parent star from our point of view. This method produces a distinct pattern of brightness dropoff, but also favors planets close to their star. It is hard to discover alien Neptunes or Plutos in this manner due to the length of time between transits.

I blame Bush.

It will take some advancing of telescope technlody before we can spot any terrestrial extrasolar planets...the gravitational forces of a star would likely pull apart any rocky planet big enough fro us to see now, so what we usually find is gas giants. There are probably millions of smaller rocky planets at more reasonable distances from their suns that we just can't see. Hopefully, that will change soon.

And yeah, this wouldn't be a planet you would want to crash land on. Bloodthirsty creatures would be the last of your worries.

Damn you Kevin for beating me to the obvious Vin Diesel/Pitch Black remark.

I swear I'll get you for this. Mark my words!! *shaking fist excitedly* I'll get you!!

Yes, but what would a pair of split-crotch panties cost there?

Isn't this all just a little too convenient? HELLO!!
KKKarl Rove is being investigated, people. All roads lead to Rove, everything is related to Rove and Rove is the cause of all effects.

In summation; I question the timing.

I think I see....YES! It's a Unicorn!

Well at least you're not spotting a Unicron...