"Michael Davis" <mdavis19@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message

news:3bf3d76936e7041e1e47b4e649c5bd03@news.meganetnews.com...

"What's more, the new planet has a circular orbit like Jupiter,
sits a Jupiter-like distance from its star, HD70642, and has no
bigger planets between it and the star, just like Jupiter.
[...]

Ok, that makes one. Like I said before. Our sort of solar system
seems to be unusual. And the orbital mechanics of having a Jupiter
size planet at a Mars-like distance are dodgy. There may be no
stable orbits in that star's life zone. So try not to get too excited.

One in only ten years of looking, and with the very first (most primitive)
device meant to look for it. It's also our neighbor, two systems with the
very thing you tried to make seem so important to the debate until shown it
had already been found. All of a sudden it's not such a big deal anymore,
huh? And two of them in such a small area of space... I'd think anyone with
an honest, unbiased interest in the subject would take that as the first
real evidence that systems similar too ours may be somewhat common, rather
than using negative adjetives like "dodgy" and worry about other people's
level of "excitement". I am still trying to figure out what "the orbital
mechanics of having a Jupiter size planet at a Mars-like distance" has to do
with this system, which is at a Jupiter-like distance, other than trying to
include enough techno-babble to confuse most people into thinking that you
must have said something relevant that they just aren't getting (which you
didn't). But this certainly isn't unusual, some people seem to have a need
to cling to any scrap of information that might result in supporting an ETH.
That phenomenon almost had to be the motivating factor behind many debunkers
refusing too admit that there were probably planets outside this solar
system until one was actually found. A completely unreasonable and
irrational postion, it was only their extreme bias toward any evidence that
even might support an ETH that allowed them to support such a silly notion
as it being entirely possible that the 9 planets in this solar system were
the only ones in the entire universe.

As you get more and more of exactly what you ask for... try not too become
too frightened:-) Just keep moving the bar, it's worked well so far. First
there were no other planets. Then there were none with that all-important
"Jupiter-like graviity well" in just the right place... Hear's an idea for
you guys... Instead of just inching back to the very next thing you can
think of this time, why don't you give up a little ground but pick one that
our technology is still at least a few decades away from discovering (since
these things always seem to go our way in the end). That way, you can get a
lot more play out of it and not keep losing these things at such an alarming
rate as the pace of technological advance accelerates. The old way of giving
up as little ground as possible every time we learn more is making you look
bad in the 21st century:-)



---
"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice." -- Neil Peart