Re: Evidence of Vega planetary system

Erik Max Francis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]: 

> Dan Goodman wrote:
> 
>> "The wide orbit of the Neptune-like planet means  that there is
>> plenty of
>> room inside it for small rocky planets similar to  the Earth - the
>> Holy
>> Grail for astronomers wanting to know whether we are  alone in the
>> Universe."
> 
> I just read that as your standard tag phrase mentioned in practically
> every astronomy news item have appeal to the average, non-technical
> reader :-).

Most of the scientific press releases at EurekAlert
(http://eurekalert.org) are pitched to what is thought to be the
comprehension level of the average journalist. (Usually overestimated, I
suspect.)  So I expect to read news which hasn't yet been "improved" by
a helpful explanation that frogs are reptiles or that kohanim are the
same thing as rabbis.  And which is more accurate than the story the New
York Times had a while back about how New York City's dialect was dying
out. Every linguist they interviewed said quite clearly that it was
_changing_. 
 
> Just keep in mind that even the claimed existence of the Neptune-like
> planet is by inference, not by any direct method of detection.  The
> supposition that a terrestrial planet might be present, at the right
> distance, with the right properties -- let alone having life on it --
> is way beyond supposition.
> 
I'm aware that the Neptune-like planet could go the way of the Martian
Canals, or the numerous wonderful cures which have turned out not to be
useful. 


-- 
Dan Goodman
Journal http://dsgood.blogspot.com or
http://www.livejournal.com/users/dsgood/ Whatever you wish for me, may
you have twice as much.