Astronomers baffled by far-out world

Wow! 300 AU. Do they know its composition?

Astronomers baffled? That's what I like to see. Almost as much as boffins being baffled. (Not that I have anything against astronomers, oh dear me no, just that I like to see things being found that we don't know everything about yet, and not only that, but experts admitting that they don't know.)

What did Einstein say? "What is inconceivable is that it is all conceivable"

Astronomers baffled? That's what I like to see. Almost as much as boffins being baffled. (Not that I have anything against astronomers, oh dear me no, just that I like to see things being found that we don't know everything about yet, and not only that, but experts admitting that they don't know.) Which is fine, as far as it goes - but why is it that astronomers are always 'baffled'? I swear, every time some new phenomenon is discovered, or something doesn't quite tally up with existing theory, the news media report that astronomers are 'baffled'. It seems to be one of those stock journalese c... [More]

Which is fine, as far as it goes - but why is it that astronomers are always 'baffled'? I swear, every time some new phenomenon is discovered, or something doesn't quite tally up with existing theory, the news media report that astronomers are 'baffled'. It seems to be one of those stock journalese cliches that hacks just don't want to let go of. Well, they are still discovering mistakes in our existing theories... Proton Smaller Than ThoughtMay Rewrite Laws of Physics (Although I agree, journalists use all sorts of cliches to embellish their stories)

Which is fine, as far as it goes - but why is it that astronomers are always 'baffled'? I swear, every time some new phenomenon is discovered, or something doesn't quite tally up with existing theory, the news media report that astronomers are 'baffled'. It seems to be one of those stock journalese cliches that hacks just don't want to let go of. Well, I did in fact hear this exact quote from Stephen Hawkings: "well, I'm baffled and no mistake, I don't mind telling you". So there we have it.

Perhaps the planet didn't form that far out, and that it was pulled out of it's closer orbit by an close encounter with another star? 300 AU, that's quite a distance. 44,879,361,000km

300 AU (Astronomical Units) is 300x distance of the sun and earth (the average 93 million miles in the imperial units), and when you calcualate the speed of light (186,000 miles per second), imagine how long would it take for a hyper-light-speed spacecraft (if there is one in existence) to reach that planet from Earth. Human astronaut occupants must hibernate throughout most of the journey until they reach the planet and return home to Earth many millennia later, due to traveling the speed of light is much, much, Much and MUCH faster than real time is.

300 AU (Astronomical Units) is 300x distance of the sun and earth (the average 93 million miles in the imperial units), and when you calcualate the speed of light (186,000 miles per second), imagine how long would it take for a hyper-light-speed spacecraft (if there is one in existence) to reach that planet from Earth. Human astronaut occupants must hibernate throughout most of the journey until they reach the planet and return home to Earth many millennia later, due to traveling the speed of light is much, much, Much and MUCH faster than real time is. Then they finally return to earth, just t... [More]

Have you watched "Planet of the Apes"?