Amazing image revealing planetary genesis

I think this is all very interesting, but it misses the point.
What can we do to destroy it before life evolves there to threathen us?
The best defense is a quick offense after all.
 
Lukraak_Sisser said:
I think this is all very interesting, but it misses the point.
What can we do to destroy it before life evolves there to threathen us?
The best defense is a quick offense after all.
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Set phasers to stun and beam down onto one of them there planetoids, Jim. The Diolithium crystals should be able to hold out until we get there.
 
A truely awe-inspiring picture.

I wonder if this will help us better understand the Heavy Bombardment in our own planet's past. It's a time period with remarkably little geological data to work with (what with the whole "liquifying the planet" thing going on).

anglolawyer said:
What is the difficulty? Why can't a computer simulate these interactions pretty well?
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Not to dogpile or anything, but I did want to say that even if computer simulations could model the interactions, we'd still need photos like this. The thing is, we need to ground-truth all models; otherwise, we simply can't know that they DO simulate the interactions well. Often, the ways in which models fail are the most informative part about them. A classic example is Hardy-Weinburg Equilibrium, which models evolution in terms of allel frequency. It ALWAYS fails. NO population fits all the assumptions. But which assumptions they violate tell us important data about the populations.

Similarly, if the observations don't match the model we get to explore how the model fails--which means necessarily learning something new. For example, the concepts you outlined are all internal to the system. What if planetary formation requires (or is assisted by) an external factor? A star coming relatively close could cause perturbations in the disk that affect planetary formation, for example.

The most profound statement a scientist can utter is not "Eurika!" It's "Wait, what?" :D
 
Dinwar said:
A truely awe-inspiring picture.

I wonder if this will help us better understand the Heavy Bombardment in our own planet's past. It's a time period with remarkably little geological data to work with (what with the whole "liquifying the planet" thing going on).

Not to dogpile or anything, but I did want to say that even if computer simulations could model the interactions, we'd still need photos like this. The thing is, we need to ground-truth all models; otherwise, we simply can't know that they DO simulate the interactions well. Often, the ways in which models fail are the most informative part about them. A classic example is Hardy-Weinburg Equilibrium, which models evolution in terms of allel frequency. It ALWAYS fails. NO population fits all the assumptions. But which assumptions they violate tell us important data about the populations.

Similarly, if the observations don't match the model we get to explore how the model fails--which means necessarily learning something new. For example, the concepts you outlined are all internal to the system. What if planetary formation requires (or is assisted by) an external factor? A star coming relatively close could cause perturbations in the disk that affect planetary formation, for example.

The most profound statement a scientist can utter is not "Eurika!" It's "Wait, what?" :D
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Belz... said:
We don't know everything.
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I get it, thanks both. I was just surprised at the surprise about early planetary formation but my surprise was not based on anything like actual scientific knowledge or anything like that. I know more now than I did so, great.
 
MG1962 said:
Well as I mentioned early, last year on the ISS one of the visiting scientists did some informal experiments with various types of dust. It was always thought the initial static charge driven step in the process was very slow. They found significant clumping could occur in a matter of minutes.
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So the next time you pull your clothes out of the drier and they're all stuck together, do not curse the static cling. Oh no. Praise it by saying "Thank you, static cling. Without you we wouldn't exist."

Steve S
 
steve s said:
So the next time you pull your clothes out of the drier and they're all stuck together, do not curse the static cling. Oh no. Praise it by saying "Thank you, static cling. Without you we wouldn't exist."

Steve S
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Yeesh, I've been saying that since long before the ISS experiment. Pocket lint, on the other hand, I curse. I curse it good.
 
steve s said:
So the next time you pull your clothes out of the drier and they're all stuck together, do not curse the static cling. Oh no. Praise it by saying "Thank you, static cling. Without you we wouldn't exist."

Steve S
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So Carl Sagan got it wrong, we are not the stuff of stars, but the stuff of clothes dryers? Tell me thats not proof of intelligent design lol
 
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