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NASA Creates an Alien's Eye View of Solar System
Flash Modin writes "Using the Discover supercomputer — which is capable of 67 trillion calculations per second — astronomers at NASA Goddard have created a series of images of what our solar system would look like to an alien astronomer at various points in time. Their simulations track the interactions of 75,000 dust grains in the Kuiper Belt, and show that while the planets would be too dim to detect directly, aliens could deduce the presence of Neptune from its effects on the icy region. Strikingly, the images resemble one taken by Hubble of the star Fomalhaut. NASA has put out a cute video to go with the announcement as well."
I see your point, but I don't think such a ridiculously unsupportable conclusion is being drawn from the image comparison. As it is though, I see it as interesting, but probably needs more investigation. Weren't some moons initially discovered because of disruptions in Saturn's rings? At the very least, it sounds like interesting parallels.
The North Pole view of our system seems extremely unlikely.
Virtually all the solar systems we've found were viewed from the side, and the only thing we saw was a star with a slight "bulge" on the side to indicate the presence of a giant planet.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
>>>There's no reason to think that a universal preference would exist for solar systems facing us edge on
How about the tendency for all solar systems to orient themselves in the same "up/down" direction as the galaxy, so then they'd all have an edge-on view of one another. Or maybe I'm making a false assumption?
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall