Slashdot Mirror


User: Convector

Convector's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
433
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 433

  1. Re:waiting on Pluto Making a Comeback · · Score: 1

    We'll just have to name the planets such that it's easy to remember. It's just like Tom Servo doing a walkathon for HELPING CHILDREN THROUGH RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT or: Hi, Everyone. Let's Pitch In 'N Get Cracking, Here In Louisiana Doing Right, Eh? Now, Then. Hateful, Rich, Overbearing, Ugly Guys Hurt Royally Everytime Someone Eats a Radish Carrot Hors d'eaurve And Never Does Dishes. Eventually Victor Eats Lunch Over Peoria Mit Ein Nuremburger Tot.

  2. Astro v. Geo on Geologists Angry About New 'Pluton' Definition · · Score: 1

    Astronomers and Geologists also have different meanings for the abbreviation "CMB". It's either Cosmic Microwave Background, or Core-Mantle Boundary. As a planetary scientist, I talk to people from both groups and have to be careful about the use of that abbreviation.

  3. Re:Pluto, though, is the Underworld god on Geologists Angry About New 'Pluton' Definition · · Score: 1

    Well, Neptune is at least blue. Though it does seem odd to me that two of the more important gods in the Roman Pantheons are the names of more distant planets. I've heard that Clyde Tombaugh chose the name Charon for Pluto's companion because of the similarity to his wife's name, Sharon. Whether or not that's true I really can't say. I'd have suggested Persephone would have been a better choice but a) Nobody asked me anything, and b) I wasn't around in the 1930s.

  4. Re:Wait a minute... on Moon's Bulge Explained · · Score: 1

    A few more nits to pick, if I may. The mantle is indeed solid, but behaves as a fluid on geologic timescales. And the planets bulge because they are viscous to some degree, not because they are elastic. The term "elastic" refers to a material's ability to recover its original shape after the deforming stress is released, and its ability to support stresses without deforming. Colloquially, "elastic" means "stretchy" which causes the word to be misused a lot. In a geological context, "elastic" really means "rigid". "Viscous" means that a material will flow. The planets bulge because they behave as spinning fluids or did when they were warm. As they cool, they become more elastic. Even if the spin rate changes, the elastic bulge will not change that much because the new stresses are being supported.

  5. Re:Wait a minute... on Moon's Bulge Explained · · Score: 1

    The correct word is "oblateness", not to be confused with "obliquity" which is the tilt of a planet's rotational axis wrt the orbital plane.

  6. Minimum Mass on Three Neptune-sized Planets Found Nearby · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I should point out that using the Doppler techinque can only provide an estimate of the MINIMUM mass of the object. The masses of the planets are not smaller than that of Neptune. It depends on the inclination of that solar system to our line of site. Only when we see the system edge-on, is the actual mass the same as the minimum mass. Since we can detect the asteroid belt with Spitzer, it's a pretty good guess that the system is close to edge-on in this case. But in most cases, you can't tell. Press releases of exoplanet detection tend to neglect this issue.

  7. Re:Earth-like real estate? on Three Neptune-sized Planets Found Nearby · · Score: 1

    Bode's law isn't based on any scientific principles. It's merely an empirical law based on observing the planets in our solar system. And it doesn't even hold for Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto (if you even want to consider that one a planet). I wouldn't make any assumptions based on Bode's Law.

  8. Impacts on Astrologer Sues NASA Over Comet Probe · · Score: 1

    Because of course comets NEVER suffer any impacts during their existence. The craters already there that Deep Impact photographed on the way in were obviously fakes. (I'm being sarcastic. Perhaps you've noticed) I've also never heard of comets being used in astrology before. Usually, it's just the Sun. If you're lucky the Moon and the planets as well, but the asteroids, and the billions of Kuiper-Belt objects are somehow irrelevant.