our sun part of a binary system?

[yevaud]

<i>...so i blew my own head off.</i><br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /><br /><br />Calliarcale is one of us originals (over five years and counting). In fact, she's *the* original. We all (don't blush now, Calli) aspire to be as nice, reasoned, and informed as she is.<br /><br />S'okay. I came on too strong in my response, because I thought I was dealing with "more of the same." But the fault is mine, not your's. As I'd said, I'm getting stodgy in my advanced age here.<br /><br />Again, welcome to the Well of Chaos. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>

 

[bonzelite]

i'll drink to that. <br /><br />cheers,<br /><br />chad

 

[yevaud]

*Sleint!*<br /><br />There are a whole bunch of us regulars here who have scientific training. For example, JonClarke is a Ph.D. in Geology, and is a full planetary scientist. I worked in Electronics for 25+ years, and was a double major in Planetary and Space Science/Geography. Stevehw33 is a Ph.D. in Psychiatry. Saiph is now a Graduate student in Astrophysics. Dr. Wayne is A Ph.D. in Physics. Silylene (I think I have this right) is a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry. Calli is a Software Engineer. And so on.<br /><br />Plenty of resources here, I tell you. <br /><br />Edit: must go. Back later tonight. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>

 

[bonzelite]

cool. lots of talent. <br /><br />i have to work right now. so i'll be back later as well.

 

[yevaud]

Ahh, I was paraphrasing (since I don't believe I'd ever asked). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Differential Diagnosis:  </em>"<strong><em>I am both amused and annoyed that you think I should be less stubborn than you are</em></strong>."<br /> </p> </div>

 

[mlorrey]

No, not really. Firstly, everyone here has been yakking their opinions, without actually reading any of the papers written on the topic, or demonstrating mathematically why they don't think Nemesis exists. <br /><br />Firstly, the odds of extinctions/impact events happening with such regularity is statistically impossible if the odds of random impacts remain constant over time (i.e. impacts from random perturbations and orbit crossing). If there is no major companion, then the distribution of major impact events should be much more random than they are. Instead, they always occur within 1-4 million years of the 26 million year cadence. Right now we are in a quiet period, some 17 million years since the last major event. We are not due for a new comet shower for 8-9 million years.<br /><br />So, nothing in human history has anything to do with this cosmological cycle in major impactors/extinctions, not Tunguska, not the Arizona meteorite crater (which happened 35,000 years ago), not even the large recent (within 1000 years) crater recently found off the coast of New Zealand. These impacts are both minor and part of the intra-system random impact distribution.<br /><br />Muller, et al, have postulated a small red dwarf star (minimum mass = 0.07 Sol masses), while others have suggested a brown dwarf of between 5-50 Jupiter masses. Obviously finding a red dwarf should be far easier than a brown dwarf. Muller is currently undergoing a part-time project of parallax measurement of the more than 3,000 red dwarfs that have not had their distances measured (most stars in the sky have never had their distances measured). If Nemesis is a red dwarf, it is likely one of these. His search has been underway for several years, and he is also terrible at responding to email.<br /><br />If it is a brown dwarf, this is going to require a much more extensive and expensive infrared survey than those conducted to date, including infrared parallax observations.<br /><br />Muller theorizes that Neme

 

[mlorrey]

Also, regarding the claim that Nemesis should perturb Sols planetary orbits, this is untrue. One paper mathematically demonstrated that a 5 jupiter mass object could pass through the solar system, even inside Jupiters orbit, at a velocity indicative of a highly eccentric orbit, without causing any measurable perturbations of the planets of Sol.<br /><br />It has been common folk knowledge that there is a "Planet X" somewhere beyond Neptune, based on what early 20th century astronomers calculated were perturbations in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune. The problem is that these mathematical problems have since been resolved. The Voyager flybys of the outer planets helped astronomers measure the masses of these planets much more accurately. When the new mass measurements were plugged into the equations, "Planet X" related perturbations disappeared from the math.

 

[SpaceKiwi]

I just wanna say to everyone that I have really enjoyed this thread, even if I have had trouble visualising what some of you have described. The idea of us being part of a binary star system is the kind of stuff that gets non-science types like me really interested in trying to learn more.<br /><br />I'm glad I 'virtually' know you folks, thanks guys and girls!<br /><br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em><font size="2" color="#ff0000">Who is this superhero?  Henry, the mild-mannered janitor ... could be!</font></em></p><p><em><font size="2">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</font></em></p><p><font size="5">Bring Back The Black!</font></p> </div>