The Great Planet Debate conference, August 2008 - Washington DC |
The Great Planet Debate conference, August 2008 - Washington DC |
Oct 8 2007, 05:22 AM
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#1
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2530 Joined: 20-April 05 Member No.: 321 |
Probably some perfect "grand tour" type alignment, where each spacecraft-planet encounter is as close-in to the planet as possible for a departure trajectory that's approximately tangent to the planet's orbit or as close to tangent as possible. Eris is also well off of the ecliptic at present (and for a long time coming). I doubt that keeping things in the ecliptic for three flybys then counting on Neptune to provide all of the work to acquire a high inclination is feasible. Maybe a Jupiter-Saturn combo could do it, assuming the rings weren't a problem. That would actually be a scenario that would unfold fairly often. Uranus is actually in a pretty good position right now for an assist to Eris, but it'll soon move out of that good position and not come back for 8 decades. Neptune, however, is moving into position, but again, Neptune can't bend the path down in very good proportion to Jupiter's bending it out. In only 230 years or so, Eris will come within 40 AU of the Sun. Let's plan on an Eris Orbiter/Lander then. Start the buzz now. |
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Aug 10 2008, 03:17 PM
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#2
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Member Group: Members Posts: 529 Joined: 19-February 05 Member No.: 173 |
You probably already know about The Great Planet Debate meeting coming this week near DC, if not, see: gpd.jhuapl.edu. To register for Great Planet Debate conference web participation, click: http://tinyurl.com/6xcqec Watch the talks and debate on line! -Alan |
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Aug 12 2008, 01:19 AM
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#3
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8783 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Totally agree, Mike; said it before & I'll say it again, natural things exist along a continuum.
(I call this the "Platypus Argument"). -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Aug 12 2008, 01:54 AM
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#4
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1018 Joined: 29-November 05 From: Seattle, WA, USA Member No.: 590 |
Totally agree, Mike; said it before & I'll say it again, natural things exist along a continuum. (I call this the "Platypus Argument"). But the logical conclusion of this argument is that there's no such thing as science; everything is unique, and studying patterns is wrong. You SURE you want to ride this train? :-) --Greg |
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Aug 12 2008, 01:57 AM
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#5
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Member Group: Members Posts: 529 Joined: 19-February 05 Member No.: 173 |
But the logical conclusion of this argument is that there's no such thing as science; everything is unique, and studying patterns is wrong. You SURE you want to ride this train? :-) --Greg No, everything is unified. Planets are a class of bodies bigger than boulders and rubble piles but smaller than stars. ...Unless I miss your point, this is unifying, and a fine train to ride. |
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Aug 12 2008, 03:44 AM
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#6
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1018 Joined: 29-November 05 From: Seattle, WA, USA Member No.: 590 |
No, everything is unified. Planets are a class of bodies bigger than boulders and rubble piles but smaller than stars. ...Unless I miss your point, this is unifying, and a fine train to ride. Yeah, you miss my point. ;-) I'm okay with the "Planetary Science" train. I'm not okay with the "Ignorance Eternal" train. The former is the one that says "planets are what planetary science studies . . ." and all that follows from that. The latter is the one that says "everything is a continuum; all entities are unique; we cannot ever know more or say more about anything." Did you see the "platypus" reference? This is the logic that argues "the term planet is meaningless -- and even the term MAMMAL is meaningless." --Greg |
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