Beery1 wrote:NASA chips in with a binary with multiple planets. So... yeah.
.....
Coming less than a year after the announcement of the first circumbinary planet, Kepler-16b, this discovery proves that more than one planet can form and persist in the stressful realm of a binary star. The discovery demonstrates the diversity of planetary systems in our galaxy."
But I'm assured that's impossible. Maybe someone should shoot an email off to NASA.
Based on the fact that we know now that MANY star systems are multi-star systems, and all the exoplanets we keep finding, this is hardly surprising. Until recently it was very tough to find anything but gas giants though, so it's NOT surprising it took a long time to find such an example.
It just kills me how people will state things are "impossible" even when the evidence for them is clear. When I was a kid, I was regularly told by adults that it was IMPOSSIBLE for a bumblebee to fly. (Which I always found peculiar, when I'd watch one fly by or hover at a flower.)
When I tried to point out (in SCIENCE class) that we must not UNDERSTAND something about the bumblebee and how it flies (i.e. rejecting a "miracle, and proof of God" argument) I was sent to the principal's office. Then I got yelled at as the principal refused to believe WHY I was sent to the office.
Even at age 10, I then more fully realized (in a moment of terrifying clarity) just how irrational adults were -- even those in power.
Humans are indeed interesting creatures.