• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Strange news from a distant star

JamesM

Graduate Poster
J
Joined
Mar 10, 2002
Messages
1,821
Full story (plus a little animation) here

Strangest Star Known is the 'Talk of Astronomy'
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 05:00 pm ET
26 May 2003

NASHVILLE -- A handful of astronomers first learned about a peculiar star called V838 Monocerotis in January 2002, when an unusual outburst was detected. The larger community didn't find out about V838 Mon, as it's called, until a year later, when researchers previewed striking Hubble Space Telescope images that revealed a puzzling series of newfound shells containing gas and dust around the star.

The public saw the images in March, when they were published in the journal Nature.

And though several research teams have been investigating the star since the initial outburst, no one can explain it. Today, things got even stranger.
Click to expand...
 
JamesM said:
Full story (plus a little animation) here
Click to expand...

In college, I had an (published) astronomy professor whose theory was that planets did NOT condense from gas, but rather sprang from the sun by some unknown mechanism. His argument (as I recall it) was essentially that the universe doesn't condense, ever, it expands always. This makes me wonder if he could have been right.
 
Re: Re: Strange news from a distant star

Mark said:
In college, I had an (published) astronomy professor whose theory was that planets did NOT condense from gas, but rather sprang from the sun by some unknown mechanism. His argument (as I recall it) was essentially that the universe doesn't condense, ever, it expands always. This makes me wonder if he could have been right.
Click to expand...

Hmm, sounds like a crackpot, to be honest. There's no mechanism by which a planet could be ejected from the star and wind up in a nearly circular orbit while conserving angular momentum. In fact, the vast majority of the solar system's angular momentum is contained in the orbiting planets, and it's hard to imagine how that could happen if they got burped out of the star to begin with. The accretion disk idea is the only one that makes sense.

Jeremy
 
Re: Re: Re: Strange news from a distant star

toddjh said:


Hmm, sounds like a crackpot, to be honest. There's no mechanism by which a planet could be ejected from the star and wind up in a nearly circular orbit while conserving angular momentum. In fact, the vast majority of the solar system's angular momentum is contained in the orbiting planets, and it's hard to imagine how that could happen if they got burped out of the star to begin with. The accretion disk idea is the only one that makes sense.

Jeremy
Click to expand...

I'm sure you are right. But I wish I still had his book (my ex-wife threw it away in a cleaning frenzy). I do remember that in it he claimed the mathematics of the current model for solar system formation were as convoluted as "epicycles." This was years ago...I have no idea if he ever changed his mind.
 
Nucular said:
What was his name? Sounds intriguing
Click to expand...

Dr. Fred Johnson, Cal State University Fullerton. I think it is very likey he has passed on by now. I sure would like to find a copy of the book, though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom