Re: planets

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/
>