[–]darkmuffin0 points
11 points
11 points
(+11|-0)
ago
My first thought when I read that title was "but have you checked to see if any are potentially habitable?" Then I realized this was fph not amateur astronomers and I don't think I want to know the answer to that. o.o
Do you follow (real) exoplanet news? We're just short of 2000 known ones currently. I'm looking forward to the Webb telescope, which should be able to find earth-sized planets.
I anticipate that our solar system is roughly average, and most probably have a few smaller rocky planets. It would be unlikely for us to live in an extremely unusual solar system, so my data based on a sample size of 1 is based on that presumption.
I'm not the comment OP, but I do love following this stuff.
I would say our planetary system is far from average, mainly due to the fact that we have a comparatively large main sequence star. An average planetary system would most certainly contain a much smaller red dwarf star at the center. I imagine this would decrease the chances of having gas giants (though you might have some ice giants like Neptune and Uranus), since the accretion disk would have much less material for planets to form from.
Overall, it might also decrease the possibility of a stable system, since there would, most likely, be no Jupiter sized planet to shepherd in stray comets and other bits of primordial leftovers. The habitable zone would also be much closer to the star. I'm not sure if this would decrease or increase the chances of impacts to rocky planets. I'm assuming it'd be an increase, since the overall amount of space for these planets to orbit in would be much smaller, but I don't know. Do we have any astronomers in here that can shed some light on this?
[–] darkmuffin 0 points 11 points 11 points (+11|-0) ago
My first thought when I read that title was "but have you checked to see if any are potentially habitable?" Then I realized this was fph not amateur astronomers and I don't think I want to know the answer to that. o.o
[–] Robotick 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
I guess you could slice them up like a tauntaun to endure a cold winter night.
[–] DessertFox 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
Do you follow (real) exoplanet news? We're just short of 2000 known ones currently. I'm looking forward to the Webb telescope, which should be able to find earth-sized planets.
I anticipate that our solar system is roughly average, and most probably have a few smaller rocky planets. It would be unlikely for us to live in an extremely unusual solar system, so my data based on a sample size of 1 is based on that presumption.
How about you? We live in interesting times.
[–] TunaAndCucumbers ago (edited ago)
I'm not the comment OP, but I do love following this stuff.
I would say our planetary system is far from average, mainly due to the fact that we have a comparatively large main sequence star. An average planetary system would most certainly contain a much smaller red dwarf star at the center. I imagine this would decrease the chances of having gas giants (though you might have some ice giants like Neptune and Uranus), since the accretion disk would have much less material for planets to form from.
Overall, it might also decrease the possibility of a stable system, since there would, most likely, be no Jupiter sized planet to shepherd in stray comets and other bits of primordial leftovers. The habitable zone would also be much closer to the star. I'm not sure if this would decrease or increase the chances of impacts to rocky planets. I'm assuming it'd be an increase, since the overall amount of space for these planets to orbit in would be much smaller, but I don't know. Do we have any astronomers in here that can shed some light on this?
[–] Jessee ago
With all the stuff growing in their folds you probably could