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Re: planets

From:Padraic Brown <pbrown@...>
Date:Tuesday, December 21, 1999, 3:21
Before we all get dissapointed over some programs like these, let's
keep a few things in mind.  First there is only one planet with life
of any sort as far as we know.  This particular world _happens_ to
be small and rocky and _happens_ to have a relatively large moon.
This is no reason to assume that life _must_ be on a rocky planet with
a moon.

There is no reason to assume that what this program says happened to
Earth _must_ happen to other similar planets.  Until they can show
that _all_ or _most_ life-bearing planets have moons, they're doing no
more than stabbing at the wind.  It's a neat and curious theory - but
no more than that.

Padraic.

On Mon, 20 Dec 1999, Sylvia Sotomayor wrote:

>I saw that program, too. I was actually very disappointed by it :-), >because the planet the Kelen live on doesn't have a moon. On the >other hand, they are not native to that planet, so I suppose they >just haven't been there long enough for the climate to change >radically. (However long that would be.) > >On Sun, 19 Dec 1999, Barry Garcia wrote: >>tb0pwd1@corn.cso.niu.edu writes: >>>Exactly. It's the same faux pas as making a planet have one climet >>>(pardon the brain fart: I know that's spelled wrong, but can't figure out >>>how to spell it right) -- the snow world of Hoth. Possible, but unlikely, >>>for a life-bearing planet to be so homogeneous. >> >>I always thought that was funny also. All ice planets are usually so cold >>they're un-inhabitable.Even desert planets that are habitable wouldn't be >>very likely (at least those that are nothing but sand and rock). There >>would have to be oases and small seas at least. >> >>Which reminds me, I saw an interesting program on what would have happened >>if we had no moon. Supposedly, Earth Mark 1 (the original planet) was >>mostly water, with small islands dotting the surface.When the planetoid >>that helped to fomr earth struck, a lot of the water on Earth mark 1 was >>blown of into space. The impact also helped to form a reducing atmosphere >>that allowed life as we know it to form. >> >> They said cephalopods may be the sentient life form on a planet like >>earth mark 1. Also, the planet that hit us, hit us just right so that we >>got a moon instead of a set of rings out of the process. >> >>Another thing was, without a moon our planet's axis would move all over >>the place and be very unstable. The moon acts as a kind of stabilizer for >>us. Ultimately, the moon may be responsible for our planet being as >>habitable as it is. >> >>________________________________________________ >> >>The damage is done, and you'll see that you were wrong.... >-- >Sylvia Sotomayor >sylvia1@ix.netcom.com >http://home.netcom.com/~sylvia1/ >