Our Solar System As Seen By Alien Astronomers

[UM-Bot]

If alien astronomers from a nearby star system pointed their version of the Hubble Space Telescope at Earth, astronomer Markus Landgraf believes they would not see our planet but they would find hints of our presence.

With their infrared camera, the smart aliens would detect a vast donut-shaped ring of dust with a classic hole in the middle, all surrounding a yellow star. A little math, Landgraf says, and they could deduce the presence of a large planet, like Jupiter, that had cleared out the hole. They would also spot Neptune's signature scrawled in the dust.

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http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/dust_view_020212-1.html

[Dowdy]

this is a bit irrelevant to the topic but it's on space anyway. I saw this documentry a few days ago with Sam Neil as host and he brought up some interesting facts but in particular he mentioned about the number of stars in the galaxy. He said For every grain of sand on a beach there are about one million stars. So 2 grains of sand, 2 million stars (and he was talking about all the beaches on the world).

NOW THAT IS ALOT OF STARS!!!!!!!!

Edited November 5, 2004 by Kismit

[Saru]

Dowdy,

I can remember seeing that series a few months ago, it was called quite simply - "Space".

I also remember that part about the grains of sand. He said "There are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on every beach on earth". I doubt anyone could really give a very accurate estimate for the number of grains of sand on the planet, but it just goes to show how many stars there are out there.

Quite a few, to say the least.

;D

[Dowdy]

Well actually the show was called The Big Picture and for all you Aussies out there it's on again Tuesday February 19th on the ABC @ 9:30pm

I think when people say"There are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on every beach on earth" or "For every grain of sand on a beach there are about one million stars" it's just scientific way of saying that space is infinite

[Saru]

Dowdy,

Ah, you must have a different name for that series in Australia, either that or Sam Neil has presented more than 1 space documentary series, which is a distinct possibility.

I heard recently a suggestion that the actual amount of stars in the universe may be exaggerated by some sort of cosmic "reflection" much in the same way as you see many of yourself when walking into a hall of mirrors. They suggested that some galaxies may be reflections of other galaxies, including our own. This is a bit of a wild theory, and there is little evidence to support it, but if it's true, then perhaps the number of stars out there isn't as incredible as we believe it to be.

[PurpleStuart]

Was that something to do with the time it took for the light to travel here or for another reason?

[Sheff_Pud]

A bit of a pointless argument this isn't it.

A hell of a lot is just a hell of a lot and it doesn't really matter how many give or take a zillion or so does it?  :s03

[PurpleStuart]

good point, well made  ;D