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Oldest Planet Ever Discovered

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the brand-new-old-stuff dept.

crymeph0 writes "NASA has found the oldest known planet in a globular star cluster in the constellation Scorpius. At 13.7 billion years old, it's just slighly (~1 billion years) younger than the universe itself. Get more info from HubbleSite"

8 of 370 comments (clear)

  1. A planet younger than the universe? by pilybaby · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now that IS impressive!

  2. I understand now... by borgdows · · Score: 5, Funny

    NASA has found the oldest known planet in a globular star cluster in the constellation SCOrpius.

    Go back to your planet Darl!

  3. Re:In case of slashdotting - full text of report by ramk13 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm sure the *New York Times* runs for cover everytime /. links one of it's stories. I heard they just upgraded from 128k DSL to 384k cable, so maybe they can handle it this time. If they can't you have them covered, don't you?

  4. Re:In case of slashdotting - full text of report by Valar · · Score: 4, Funny

    And in case the comment db holding his slashmirror gets slashed:


    Oldest Planet Is Revealed, Challenging Old Theories By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD

    In new observations of a distant region of primitive stars, astronomers have found the oldest known planet, a huge gaseous object almost three times as old as Earth and nearly as old as the universe itself...

    Just kidding.

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    Crudely Drawn Games
  5. Planet or Brown Dwarf by patch-rustem · · Score: 5, Funny
    From the article:
    Was it a planet or a brown dwarf? Hubble's analysis shows that the object is 2.5 times the mass of Jupiter, confirming that it is in fact a very large gnome.
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    Karma: Bad due to google bombing - Robert Watkins woz 'ere.
  6. Been reading too much slashdot when.. by Phoebus0 · · Score: 4, Funny

    You glance at the title and see "Oldest patent discovered" and wonder what it was for and who's trying to make money from it.

  7. Re:Having taken one semester of astrophysics... by Rogerborg · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's a four step process.

    • Declare exactly what sort of infinitesimal readings you expect object X to produce, should it exist.
    • Declare that you have found that infinitesimal reading, thereby proving both the existence of object X and the validity of your theory.
    • ...
    • Tenure!
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    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  8. Re:universe age by carlos_benj · · Score: 4, Funny

    How do they know the universe is 14.7 billion years old?

    Simple. They cut it in half and count the rings....

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    As a matter of fact, I am a lawyer. But I play an actor on TV.