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Weird Exoplanet Orbits Could Screw Up Alien Life

astroengine writes "Life is good in the Solar System. We have Jupiter to thank for that. However, if the gas giant's orbit were a little more elliptical, there's every chance that Earth would become rather uncomfortable very quickly. Researchers looking at the zoo of exoplanets orbiting distant stars have simulated several scenarios of differing exoplanet orbits and find that many don't resemble our cozy Solar System. In fact, weird exoplanet orbits may be the deciding factor as to whether extraterrestrial life can form or not."

14 of 161 comments (clear)

  1. Save the aliens! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dear friends,

    The aliens of our galaxy have had a hard life. Please send donations to the buy-a-Jupiter-for-the-aliens fund. Your help is greatly appreciated.

    1. Re:Save the aliens! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Sounds like another Gleisian subspace mail scam to me. Let me guess, your name is 'Reverend' Tsmünqtll e'Eiïgåk, and you represent the Space Pope and all the starving spawnlings left over from the Second Great Tri-Moon Conflict.

    2. Re:Save the aliens! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Dammit, what is that whooshing sound all around me!?!?


      That's probably Uranus leaking gas....

    3. Re:Save the aliens! by CaptainPatent · · Score: 2, Funny

      Dear friends,

      The aliens of our galaxy have had a hard life. Please send donations to the buy-a-Jupiter-for-the-aliens fund. Your help is greatly appreciated.

      I hope everybody understands the gravity of the situation.

      --
      Well, back to rejecting software patent applications.
  2. Weird Exoplanets by Thanshin · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Captain. The orbit in this exoplanet is a bit weird. Summer might get be a bit warm"

    "Let's surf in the beach, warm? Or Today we all stay in the fridge, warm."

    "Sir, it'll be Hold your rifle with extended arms so the metal drops don't make holes in your boots, warm."

    1. Re:Weird Exoplanets by Shakrai · · Score: 3, Funny

      Captain: Ok, let's beam down. I want the entire senior staff to join the party along with Ensign Smith.
      Ensign Smith: Fuck.

      --
      I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
      We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  3. Re:Life adapts by Thanshin · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you lived on tropical shore where the climate was practically unchanging from day to day throughout the year, it would probably be hard to imagine life could exist in Canada.

    Have you been in Canada? It's pretty hard to imagine life can exist there, wherever you're from.

    I'm pretty sure they all migrated to some warmer place as soon as I left the country, only to return and scare the next tourists with stories about actually living there.

  4. Re:Hmmm, by thijsh · · Score: 2, Funny

    Slashdot: it's Life, but not as we know it...

  5. canadians live underground in the winter by circletimessquare · · Score: 3, Funny

    seriously

    in toronto and montreal, they started building malls underground, and linking them up, so now you can practically roam the entire downtowns of these cities, all underground

    in the distant future, us heroic stoic freedom fighting american movie hero archetypes will have to face invasions of the evolutionary future: the fearsome greater northern Canadian Humanoid Underground Dwellers

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C.H.U.D.

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  6. The Blame Game by theVP · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sure, so now when the world ends, we'll just blame it on Jupiter! "Hey, Jupiter, why'd you lose weight?" "Hey, Jupiter, how come you eat so much?" "Hey, Jupiter, what happened to that cute red spot? Did you get it removed? Because I really thought it was sexy." Why don't we just leave Jupiter alone, and quit being so judgmental?

    --
    "No one is more miserable than the person who wills everything and can do nothing." -Emperor Claudius 10 BC - AD 54
  7. Re:"Weird"? by camperdave · · Score: 4, Funny

    Maybe they feel dizzy in stable orbits, like pirates in firm land.

    Ah! That would explain why they drink copious amounts of rum; to keep the land "unsteady".

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  8. Re:"Weird"? by corbettw · · Score: 4, Funny

    I wonder if there's a way to handle creatures like that from far away? Like, in orbit. You know, just to be sure.

    --
    God invented whiskey so the Irish would not rule the world.
  9. Re:Life adapts by Aurisor · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wait, there's life in Canada?

  10. Re:"Weird"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    It's almost like we were created, or something...