Water Claimed in Evaporating Planet HD 209458b

djm · Post by **djm** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:59 am

The presence of water in a gas giant (the only type of planet identifiable at present) is no more indication of the possibility of extraterrestrial life than .... what was I saying?

djm

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 6:59 am

I have no doubt of extraterrestrial life, I mean, it would be foolish (considering the sheer number of galaxies and subsequent solar systems that we have documented... practically nothing on the cosmic scale) to think otherwise. I wonder at the mentality those who consider life beyond our own system "controversial".

I guess humanity still wants to be the biggest fish in the pond.

djm · Post by **djm** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:17 am

Yeah, sure, and next you're going to tell us you believe in Darwin's evolution theory and the Easter Bunny.

djm

Brian Lee · Post by **Brian Lee** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:24 am

djm wrote:The presence of water in a gas giant (the only type of planet identifiable at present) is no more indication of the possibility of extraterrestrial life than .... what was I saying?

djm

That's actually completely inaccurate anymore. Smaller planets have been discovered as well. After ten years with our local planetarium you learn a few things.

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:38 am

Do you still work over at Clarke, Brian?

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:41 am

djm wrote:Yeah, sure, and next you're going to tell us you believe in Darwin's evolution theory and the Easter Bunny.

djm

... what, you don't?

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:42 am

That's beautiful. I like it a lot.

I never (well, rarely) read the text, I just look at your pictures.

Brian Lee · Post by **Brian Lee** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:42 am

Tyler Morris wrote:Do you still work over at Clarke, Brian?

No - though most of my time was there when it was still Hansen Planetarium. I worked in the education and production depts. Miss doing the star shows! I still spend a fair amount of time over there however, seeing what's new, visiting old friends and every now and again helping with the odd show.

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 7:57 am

Very cool!
The planetarium is one of the activities (among many others, of course, one per week) we always try and take our group of disabled individuals to, sometimes twice a year.

djm · Post by **djm** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 8:38 am

Brian Lee wrote:That's actually completely inaccurate anymore.

Tongue + cheek .... lotsa cheek.

Its been many years now since the McLaughlin Planetarium in Toronto was shut down. I think they ran out of money and imagination long before they ran out of things you can do with that big ol' Zeiss projector.

djm

Brian Lee · Post by **Brian Lee** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 8:48 am

It's a shame really. Simillar thing happened here. Our old projector "Jake" was parted out and so far as we know *mostly* ended up in a museum somewhere in S. Africa. Now they use the Digistar III exclusively. It's a far cry from the beauty of the older projectors, but because it can render fuzzy images full dome in sad washed out colors and stars look more like fuzz balls....it's somehow "better".

Montana · Post by **Montana** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:04 am

Man, isn't that cool!

Sometimes I look at these and think, "That has *got* to be photoshopped." It seems too colorful and of such incredible perspective that it can't be real. Great stuff, Denny.

Innocent Bystander · Post by **Innocent Bystander** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:17 am

Montana wrote:Man, isn't that cool!

Sometimes I look at these and think, "That has *got* to be photoshopped." It seems too colorful and of such incredible perspective that it can't be real. Great stuff, Denny.

Take note of those words "Artist's Impression".

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:22 am

Innocent Bystander wrote:
Montana wrote:Man, isn't that cool!

Sometimes I look at these and think, "That has *got* to be photoshopped." It seems too colorful and of such incredible perspective that it can't be real. Great stuff, Denny.

Take note of those words "Artist's Impression".

who can say what the artist sees?