Sep 18 2008 The First Glimpse Of An Actual Alien Planet
That's right folks, this is not the light at the end of the tunnel, it's a star and orbiting planet some 500 light years away.
While scientists have found numerous planets by detecting gravitational "wobble" in stars, "this is the first time we have directly seen a planetary mass object in a likely orbit around a star like our Sun," said the lead author of a paper about the discovery, David Lafrenière.
The planet is 3,106 trillion miles away and approximately 8x the size of Jupiter, but 11x further from its sun than Neptune is from ours. Interesting, very interesting. Being a town-renowned astronomer myself, I'll go ahead and spit some info about the planet that those pseudo-scientists that made the discovery failed to mention. Let's see here....round, yellowish-orange, significantly smaller than 1".
BAM! You just got Saganed!
Historic first look at an alien world, 3106 trillion miles away [dvice]
Feb 21 2008 Canadian Sells Governance Of M-81 Galaxy
Some Canadian on eBay is selling the rights to become "the rightful governor and overlord of Galaxy M81". Key features of the galaxy include an 11.6 million light-year distance from earth, a whole freaking shit-ton of stars, and a sweet black hole of 70 million solar masses in the center. While I'm all about ruling galaxies, I find the eBay auction a little questionable. For starters the person has 0 feedback, and secondly they mistakenly call Ursa Major (the Great Bear) the Big Dipper. While the Dipper is included in the Bear, it's not the location of the galaxy. Now I'm not saying that I'm not going to buy it, I just want to make sure I get my galaxy's worth before dropping the $1 opening bid and $14 shipping. Oh dang there's a notice.
Notice:* the (possible) inhabitants of galaxy M81 have not consented to being sold or governed. This would make you a certified galactic dictator!
* Seller offers no guarantees that the name you choose will be recognized by the scientific community.
* Photo is 12 million years outdated due to speed of light limitations.
* the total value of this sale is in the framed certificate.
Damnit, so much for the Geekologie Galaxy.
UPDATE: I can't believe you people are actually bidding on this thing. That said, I just made my $1 million bid. Suckers!
eBay Auction
Thanks to Tyson, who already has his hands full ruling this galaxy, for the tip
