Augie
The Fart Meister
Posts: 491
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Post by Augie on Oct 10, 2006 17:50:25 GMT
Hi folks,
The October 2006 issue of "Astronomy" magazine contains several articles about "exoplanets" (planets outside our solar system). They are very interesting.
They discuss the different types of planets (gas planets, terrestrial planets, etc.) and the different types of materials they may contain (water, etc.). Typically, the types of elements contained in that system's star will dictate the types of materials contained in the planets in orbit around that star.
These articles also discuss a star's "habitalble zone", a zone where water can exist in liquid form. The Milky Way galaxy even has a "special" area where life is more likely to exist (a place far away from all of the action). Of course, our own solar system lies in this area.
There is one article that discusses exoplanets that are in orbit around brown dwarf stars that may be VERY close to our own solar system. Most of them haven't even been discoverd yet because brown dwarf stars give off very little light. Some brown dwarf stars (and their planets) may even be closer to us than the Alpha Centauri star system. There may even be planets wandering around our galaxy that are not in orbit around a star. Some of them may be VERY close to our own solar system. Again, we have yet to discover them.
Augie
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