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Thread: Retrograde planet

  1. #1
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    Post Retrograde planet

    A planet that orbits backwards?

    I needed someplace populated almost entirely by nerds to find somone who would appreciate this...
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    Professional Artist Facebook Connected Coyotemax's Avatar
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    Busted!
    *puts up his hand*
    My name is Max, and i am a geek.

    It's interesting, they mention examples like Triton, where they figure it orbits in reverse because it was captured while moving that direction relative to the planet. But no one thought to speculate that WASP 17 might have been captured, instead of formed?

    I think that is cool, but one of the other comments got me wondering too..
    "WASP-17 is the 17th extrasolar planet found by the WASP project, which monitors hundreds of thousands of stars, watching for small dips in their light when a planet transits in front of them."

    So how many planets are we missing because we're not viewing all the systems on the plane of their ecliptic?

    *ponders*

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    Community Leader Facebook Connected Steel General's Avatar
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    "WASP-17" - Where WASP stands for What A Strange Place
    My Finished Maps | My Challenge Maps | Still poking around occasionally...

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    Professional Artist Facebook Connected Coyotemax's Avatar
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    Hahahaha
    That's great, glad I thought of it

    My finished maps
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  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Coyotemax View Post
    So how many planets are we missing because we're not viewing all the systems on the plane of their ecliptic?

    *ponders*
    Hmm. Interesting question. I knew that's how they looked for planets, but I never considered the thought of what if we weren't looking at the ecliptic.
    I think, therefore I am a nerd.
    Cogito, ergo sum nerdem.

    Check out my blog: "The Undiscovered Author"
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  6. #6
    Professional Artist Facebook Connected Coyotemax's Avatar
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    I'm sure someone in the program has thought of it (and if not, shame on them, lol). I imagine it's a matter of waiting until we get sufficiently capable equipment that can detect such things at such a distance.

    But if you think about it, we've found 17 with this method alone.. there's got to be dozens more for each one we do find. Woot!

    My finished maps
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    Administrator waldronate's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Karro
    I think, therefore I am a nerd.
    Cogito, ergo sum nerdem.
    Nerd is neuter? It explains so much. Of course, my Latin was never that good to begin with and has grown decrepit with time so I may have mistranslated it.

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    Administrator waldronate's Avatar
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    The likelihood of spotting a transiting planet is a function of the orbital radius and planetary radius, if I recall. If it's big and close, it's more likely that you'll see it if for no other reason that it will modulate the light of the primary frequently. Farther out means a much bigger volume of space that can miss the planet. As it turns out,
    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...&aq=f&oq=&aqi=
    has a lot to say on the subject.

  9. #9
    Professional Artist Facebook Connected Coyotemax's Avatar
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    Woot for wikipedia!
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methods...asolar_planets
    Lots of references on this one, whcih is nice.

    My finished maps
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    Quote Originally Posted by waldronate View Post
    Nerd is neuter? It explains so much. Of course, my Latin was never that good to begin with and has grown decrepit with time so I may have mistranslated it.
    It's the third declension accusative, and actually in this case I believe this is masculine, although in retrospect, a neuter would've been more appropriate (nerds can be both male and female, after all). However, since I'm talking about myself, I'm roughly satisfied with how I've translated it.
    I think, therefore I am a nerd.
    Cogito, ergo sum nerdem.

    Check out my blog: "The Undiscovered Author"
    It's the story of a writer... follow me in my simple quest to get published, and share your own writing stories, adventures and writerly tips.

    Pimping my worldmap here. Still WIP... long way to go, but I'm pretty proud of what I've done so far...

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