We may not find ET after all..

[fatal291]

If we get 12 planets.. When aliens find Voyagers they will get the wrong directions.<br /><br /><br />Alien Assistant: <br />"Well sir we are getting strong signals from this section of the Milky Way but I think it is actually 12 planets here unlike how this probe clearly says 9 in both audio and visually."<br /><br />Alien Captin:<br />"No the plate clearly has 9 planets"<br /><br />Alien Assistant:<br />"But sir.. We are getting some German messages from this section of the sky.."<br /><br />Alien Captin:<br />"Listen u fool they can add prime numbers, I'm sure they know their own universe"

 

[enigma10]

Just dont send them the updated planet definition and list. We'll be just fine. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"<font color="#333399">An organism at war with itself is a doomed organism." - Carl Sagan</font></em> </div>

 

[qso1]

IMO, we would probably never find ET in this manner regardless of whether we had a plaque on the Voyagers that said 9 planets or 90 planets.<br /><br />The odds of anything coming into contact with Voyager are incredibly remote considering the vastness of empty space. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

I fully endorse Wether ther is ET at all I desist from commenting.

 

[fatal291]

exactly!

 

[MeteorWayne]

It's pretty much done with the inner solar system (the eight planets <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />).<br />It will be a looooooong time before it escapes the sun's gravity. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[qso1]

SVMsmiles:<br />We dont even concider the odds that voyager makes it out of the solar system....<br /><br />Me:<br />Voyager has no choice but to leave the solar system. It is at the mercy of the laws of physics which gives it a virtually 100% certainty of making it out. It could collide with a KBO, get picked up by aliens, but both are remote possibilities in the extreme. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

Voyager is proven fact,ET is presumption.Two are not on same footing.

 

[dannyd]

I predict that Voyager will indeed encounter intelligent life - our own far into the future descendents. They shall go on a quest for the untouched ancient space-beaten relic and haul it in and return it to museum Earth and put it on display. Of course I am the same guy that predicted the Buffalo Bills would win the Super Bowl back in the 1990s. -dannyd

 

[gsuschrist]

True. It will end up in a museum as a testament to man's early space technology. There will be treatises written pondering how irrational we were in puting those symbols on the side. Didn't we have a clue about the size of the solar sytem let alone the distance to the stars? Were we really that ignorant? The contradiction in the technology needed to send such a probe and our utter ignorance of distance will have them puzzled.

 

[pioneer0333]

In that perspective, why not also collect other early machines like the mars rovers. If you really think about it, why not put those devices in a museum in the distant future. I'm sure that my great, great, great, great, great, great, grand children would want to see them too(assuming that they love space as much as I do). <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[dannyd]

I'velong had this vision of the far off future where mankind has spread itself across the galaxy and the earth has been restored to its pristine condition and is a sacred place where one makes a pilgrimage to once in his or her thousand year long life and pays homage to the genesis planet and its early on gutsy but barbaric peoples. -dannyd.

 

[qso1]

No question about that.<br /><br />Any reference I have made to remotely even encountering ETs with Voyager should be understood to assume ETs exist which is necessary to postulate on any possible chance meeting.<br /><br />But yes, you are correct, we have no evidence for ETs at this time. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[qso1]

Or make the landing site the museum so humans can visit the places where these fantastic machines have roamed. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[dannyd]

Is Voyager attempting to exit the solar System on the plane of the ecliptic? Does the Oort Cloud extend off the ecliptic? Also, might there be "plutons" and planetoids beyond the pull of the sun that just sort of linger in a uncaptured darkness between stars? thanks -dannyd.

 

[nexium]

The probability of Voyager hitting something with more mass than Voyager is about one in a billion per decade and the probability is decreasing, as Voyager and Pioneer move farther from the Sun. If there were trillions of Mars size objects in the Oort cloud, they should ocult = eclipse several distant stars every night. Because we don't see that happening, we assume Mars size objects are few and the average density of the Oort cloud is much lower than the average density of the asteroid belt. The Oort cloud is thought to be aproximately equal density in all directions, but it likely favors the plane of THE ecliptic (or some other plane at least slightly)<br />Can a house size object, a trillion miles from Earth occult a distant star in a detectable manner? I presume the dimming would only last about one second? Neil

 

[nexium]

Our solar system has 8 planets, by official decree. Earth has not cleared it's orbit of small solar system objects, so perhaps Earth is not a planet. The SDC article has already been revised to indicate that a planet must clear it's orbit of large objects. Does large mean large dimension over 100 kilometers?<br />None of the 8 are round and neither are the others that will be called dwarf planets. I wonder why they did not say sphereoidal instead of round? Is a 5% non-speroidal dimension OK?<br />Does a single electron, quark, proton, nutron or ion orbiting the sun qualify as a small solar system object, in the same class as Vesta and Pallus? Ceres may be the only asteroid promoted to dwarf planet.<br />Did most of 2nd committee members cheat their way though college, or is most of the problem with the SDC writers? This illustrates that writing definitions can cause as much confusion as it fixes. Neil

 

[qso1]

SVMsmiles:<br />does the forces of gravity strengthen in celestrial settings?<br /><br />Me:<br />The best available data we have currently shows that gravitational strength of bodies regardless of settings, diminishes. Once you leave solar gravity, you are in the domain of galactic gravitational influence until you begin to get within close proximity to another celestial body. A probe leaving the sun and approaching another star would be influenced by the other star at some point. And if entering this stars sphere of gravitational influence, might come close enough to a planet orbiting such a star so that it might fall under the planets gravitational influence and eventually orbit the planet.<br /><br />SVMsmiles:<br />How much none solar system material hit our solar system exactly?<br /><br />Me:<br />Nobody has the answer to this at this point but I would guess we have some material exchange occuring between star systems. The main problem is most of the material orbiting stars is tied to whatever stars by that stars gravity. Any material we encounter could be remnant gas and dust floating around in the galaxy itself.<br /><br />As for Pluto your right, it definetely is not our smallest planet. Especially if one applies roundness criteria. But now Pluto is not going to be considered a planet. Guess will have to wait another week to see the next list when everyone changes this one.<br /><br />And its the not knowing all about whats out there that keeps astronomy an interesting field of study to me. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[ldyaidan]

I've always thought the original moon landing site should be preserved as a museum. glass it in to protect it, and build the rest of the museum around it.<br /><br />Rae

 

[qso1]

I agree, protect it some way from lunar tourists who will most likely visit it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[flash_gordon]

I think terrestrial planets and gas giants should each be classified differently too. It's a clear boundary of demarcation. <br /><br />We should call the rocky planets "Planets" and the Gas Giants "Gassiants". Lets vote on it and then let the Astronomical Society know our ruling on the matter. <br /><br />The rest can be called "Rubble".

 

[alokmohan]

Who is to bell the cat,I mean build the museum?Lunar tourist?Centuries awy.We may go to moon in heat shields etc for now.No fear of tourists now.

 

[qso1]

One day gassiants may well be a new terminology. Don't forget to let them know you originated it.<br /><br />Eventually, I think were going to see classification of gas giants. Especially upper tier classifications of Jupiter, Jupiter mass planets and planets many times more massive than Jupiter. If we had a detailed image of say, a 30 J mass planet, would it look like a simmering brown dwarf? A star barely ignited? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[qso1]

Thats right, lunar tourism is not much of a problem now. But when it comes, if it comes, we might have to afford the artifacts some protection from say a small spacesuited child (In an unenclosed facility) playfully throwing a rock at one of the artifacts. Or others who might try to take peices of leftover equipment away. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><strong>My borrowed quote for the time being:</strong></p><p><em>There are three kinds of people in life. Those who make it happen, those who watch it happen...and those who do not know what happened.</em></p> </div>

 

[alokmohan]

I am as optimistic on Lunar tourism as on cryonicshttp://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=79&art_id=qw1156583885502B223&newslett=1&em=52618a6a20060826ah