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Aftermath of Distant Planetary Collision?

gazurtoid writes "Astrobiology Magazine is reporting that astronomers have announced a mystery object orbiting the 8-million-year-old brown dwarf 2M1207 170 light-years from Earth might have formed from the collision and merger of two protoplanets. The object, known as 2M1207B, has puzzled astronomers since its discovery because it seems to fall outside the spectrum of physical possibility. Its combination of temperature, luminosity, and age do not match up with any theory. 'Hot, post-collision planets might be a whole new class of objects we will see with the Giant Magellan Telescope', said Eric Mamajek of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics."

3 of 97 comments (clear)

  1. It's a whatsit? by eyenot · · Score: 1, Troll

    I hope astronomy never goes the way of Egyptology and Archaeology in failing to address or acknowledge the existence of any anomaly. Or has it already?

    --
    "Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
  2. Re:What Is the *REAL* Story in this Image? by pln2bz · · Score: 0, Troll

    Basing them on a very low-res image of something that looks like a cheap particle effect in a 3D game (at least at this resolution it does) is unlikely to provide any new insight.

    Were the information as sparse as you suggest here, I would wholeheartedly agree with you. But what's happening is that there is an entirely new cosmology being constructed right before our eyes, and it works *very* well -- in fact, far better than the conventional theories are working. You wouldn't know it if you weren't paying attention -- and very few people on Slashdot in fact are.

    If I can digress for a moment, I'd like to point out something somewhat subtle and very important for the Slashdot scene. There is a psychological phenomenon called "jeer pressure", and you can see it in action on the Slashdot forums whenever the subject of a plasma-based or electric universe comes up:

    Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 26, No. 4, 474-485 (2000)
    DOI: 10.1177/0146167200266006
    © 2000 Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

    Jeer Pressure: The Behavioral Effects of Observing Ridicule of Others
    Leslie M. Janes
    University of Western Ontario

    James M. Olson

    University of Western Ontario, jolson@julian.uwo.ca

    Two experiments examined "jeer pressure," which is a hypothesized inhibiting effect of observing another person being ridiculed. Jeer pressure was expected to induce conformity to others? opinions; concern about failing or standing out; and conventional, uncreative thinking. In both experiments, participants observed videotapes containing either other-ridiculing humor, self-ridiculing humor, or nonridiculing or no humor. Participants then completed tasks that assessed conformity, fear of failure, and creativity. Results of both experiments showed that participants who viewed ridicule of others were more conforming and more afraid of failing than were those who viewed self-ridicule or no ridicule. Creativity was not influenced by the humor manipulation. Experiment 2 also included a lexical decision task to assess whether salience of potential rejection mediated the obtained behavioral effects. Salience of rejection mediated the effects of humor on fear of failure but not the effects of humor on conformity.

    http://psp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/26/4/474

    What's happening is that every time that I try to educate people on Slashdot about what the Electric Universe states, people inevitably ridicule me. This ridicule is basically acting as a normalizing force that results in conformity on this board.

    The Slashdot forums have been taken over by "bullies". These people have no problem with ridiculing things that they've actually read very little of. They believe that they can judge competing theories in about ten minutes of reading. What they are actually doing is reading far enough to learn what the theory's conclusions are, and basing their own willingness to read any further on whether or not they appreciate the conclusions.

    The Plasma Universe theory, perspective or point of view -- whatever you want to call it -- is real, very alive, relatively rich in detail and history, and supported by multiple unrelated disciplines. It is a true synthesis of all of the natural sciences, but what it concludes is that plasmas in space are being mathematically modeled incorrectly. And this is where people tend to turn off. In plasma-based cosmologies, plasmas are electrodynamic entities that, like in the lab, respond with electrical resistance and luminosity to changes in their charge density. In conventional cosmologies, astrophysicists *assume* that plasmas are "perfect conductors", they *assume* that space is "quasi-neutral" -- that a given volume of space essentially has equal numbers of positive and negative charges -- and they *assume* that magnetic fields are "frozen-in place" within a plasma (as opp

    --
    "A man cannot begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows." --Epictetus, 1st Century A.D.
  3. Re:Update: can't find it; help pls by pln2bz · · Score: 0, Troll

    Nereid --

    You don't deserve to be alerted to it, but you should check the January 2008 issue of Astronomy Magazine. Although I don't have a copy, there is apparently an article in there that asks the question if Jupiter is powered by a Z-Pinch. Perhaps you should write *them* a letter demanding the equations!

    How many people must be talking about it before you decide to actually investigate it and contemplate it for yourself, Nereid?

    --
    "A man cannot begin to learn that which he thinks he already knows." --Epictetus, 1st Century A.D.