A Dangerous Summer on HD 80606b (2009 Feb 04)

[JohnD]

Isn't this just a bit too "hypothetical"?

Hypothetical life forms, hypothetical moons, and to be brutally honest, hypothetical heat patterns.
This might said to use what we know from our own planets, but in the end it's just an 'artist's impression'!

John

[Indigo_Sunrise]

I was sorta thinking the same thing. While the description is accurate and informative, the images are just a bit too symmetric - IMESHO.... 8)
(It is a neat rendering, though!)

[bystander]

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090204.html

but in the end it's just an 'artist's impression'!

Actually, its a computer simulation from gathered data. See simulation here.

Astronomers observe intense heating of a distant planet
Science Centric - 2009 January 28 - UCSC

Astronomers Observe Planet With Wild Temperature Swings
NASA Mission News - Spitzer Space Telescope - 2009 January 28

[neufer]

I was sorta thinking the same thing.
While the description is accurate and informative, the images are just a bit too symmetric - IMESHO.... 8)
(It is a neat rendering, though!)

It's downright Venereal:


http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap080226.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070501.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060717.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050625.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040516.html

[orin stepanek]

Just put the sunglasses on; rub on a little suntan oil; go to the beach and enjoy!

Orin

[neufer]

Just put the sunglasses on; rub on a little suntan oil; go to the beach and enjoy!

Just don't take any molten nickel swims.

[Dr. Skeptic]

Isn't this just a bit too "hypothetical"?

Hypothetical life forms, hypothetical moons, and to be brutally honest, hypothetical heat patterns.
This might said to use what we know from our own planets, but in the end it's just an 'artist's impression'!

John

I see it like a cheap "Pick-Up-Line" at a bar, it may be wrong in a lot of ways but you have to start somewhere to get the conversation moving.

How would you have written the dialog to engage readers to think then comment?

[JohnD]

Nice on, Dr.S!
The observations have been of the planet's orbit and that it gets hot near its sun. Are they much more than that? (I am not belittling the achievement!)
But not direct seeing of the patterns on its surface, or even the way that heat radiates from it at 'night' that could produce the patterns shown. A 'computer simulation' may have been done by applying flow dynamics and other theoretical work, but that's all it is. A scientific artist's impression!

As for the chat-up - "What's a hot planet like you doing in an orbit like this?"

John

[aristarchusinexile]

I see it like a cheap "Pick-Up-Line" at a bar

He. "Hey, Baby, you remind me of this little planet I know."

She (supposed to respond with, "Oh, you mean of course Venus the goddess of beauty".. but responding instead with, "That's strange, you bring Pluto to my mind."

He, modestly .. "I suppose that's because I'm just so far out, eh Baby?"

She . "I was thinking more of the cartoon character .. you know, Mickey Mouse's dog."

He .. slinking off with tail between his legs, muttering, "Curse you, Dr. Skeptic!"

[neufer]

<<HD 80606 is a yellow dwarf star approximately 200 light-years away in the constellation of Ursa Major. The star is part of a binary star system with HD 80607 (the Struve 1341 system), which are both separated at an average distance of 1,200 astronomical units. An extrasolar planet has been confirmed to orbit the star at 0.468 AU.>>

[Frenchy]

Thanks Bystander for including the link to the video!!

I think it does a nice job of showing how atmospheric differentiation begins.