Strange Mini Solar System Found

Posted by timothy on Monday February 7, 2005 @03:58PM from the that's-where-my-relatives-came-from dept.

starexplorer writes "In 1990, Penn State's Alex Wolszczan found the first exoplanets. But he never got much credit from mainstream researchers, because his planets (3 of them, roughly Earth-sized) orbit pulsars and hold no chance for harboring life. Now he's found a 4th object on the outskirts of the system, SPACE.com is reporting. Call it a planet, call it an asteroid, Wolszczan says, but call the setup a dark, eerie twin of the inner half of our solar system. Also in the same story, news of a brown dwarf just 15 times the mass of Jupiter that has a planet-making disk of stuff around it. Together, more problems for astronomers, who still don't have a basic definition for the word planet or a firm idea of what separates planets from stars."

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Definition by Tablizer · 2005-02-07 16:08 · Score: 1, Redundant

Together, more problems for astronomers, who still don't have a basic definition for the word planet or a firm idea of what separates planets from stars.

Rather than search for a scientific or mathematical definition, why not just go by marketing: If it looks pretty on a poster or mobile, it is a planet. If it gives a comfy warmth brightness, then it is a star.

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