The Exoplanets That Never Were

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday September 10, 2014 @11:55AM from the planetary-false-positive dept.

StartsWithABang writes In 1992, scientists discovered the first planets orbiting a star other than our Sun. The pulsar PSR B1257+12 was discovered to have its own planetary system, and since then, exoplanet discoveries have exploded. But before that, in 1963, decades of research led to the much-anticipated publication and announcement of an exoplanet discovered around Barnard's star, the second-closest star system to Earth. Unfortunately, it turned out to be spurious, and it took years to uncover, an amazing story which is only now fully coming to light.

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So close, and yet so far away. by rmdingler · 2014-09-10 13:34 · Score: 2, Insightful

You know, we're right on the verge of possessing the technology of an advanced, universe exploring, sentient life form.
Keep that in mind for perspective when the next beheading video hits the internet.

--
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Amazing story by manu0601 · 2014-09-10 16:36 · Score: 3, Insightful

I am not sure "amazing story" is something else than marketing here :-)