April 28, 2004

Our own Death Star? Richard Muller's Nemesis Theory hypothesizes that our solar system is a binary one, and that a red dwarf star, likely visible with a small telescope or even binoculars, is the "companion" to the sun.

In theory, the companion sun would wreak havoc on the solar system on its closest approach, as it passes through the Oort Cloud roughly every 26 million years. Needless to say, this theory is a bit controversial.

posted by ambrosia 20 years ago
  • And they call economics the "dismal science!" Has anyone figured out how long we may have till the next approach? That wasn't clear to me from the graphs, and I'd like to know whether to start worrying.
  • you mean I'm going to die? Damn
  • I was just reading about this in the fascinating A Short History of Nearly Everything. He notes that this theory led directly to the discovery of Pulto, since Robert Lowell was utterly sure that Planet X was out there. (I was going to link to the page in the book using Amazon's page search, but: LOG IN REQ! You lose, Bezos!)
  • er, that's PLUTO, so sorry.
  • Yes, Pulto, the planet that Monkeys will colonize next. First Pulto, then the GALEXY!
  • Nemesis is almost certainly imagination. If any of the easily amateur visible stars were orbiting with the sun their close proximity would be visible as a shift in position against the distant star field as the earth orbits Sol. The next question is are extinctions indeed periodic.
  • Pulto. Lives, how you wish it!
  • No! The GALEXY No!
  • Oh, almost forgot... ))) for ambrosia. Nemesis is my favorite almost-crackpot theory.
  • Thanks, Zemat. You know I was searching for an excuse to use the term "Oort Cloud" in a post. I find it very amusing. Oort! Oort! Oort!
  • Pulto also designs houses? Who wouldda thought it?
  • Isn't Pulto Imckey Omuse's pet doggy?
  • A novel somewhat relating to this is Nemesis by Isaac Asimov.
  • that's 'teh GALXEY,' you punks. I mean monks. And stay offa my lawn! *(mrs. mwhybark sneakily offers you all a banana)*
  • Bluto. Balto. Pulque! (esta maguey no es monkey) Persephone.
  • argh. "teh GALEXY". I've warned you, don't drink und spell.
  • teh Galexy complete with mysterious colored ords
  • damn. galxey. heh. it's catching
  • Pulto(ad) -- hmmm, I suspect this may be one of many aliases used by Froggy the Gremlin.
  • a-HA! another scientific post! i shall DEBUNK this "nemesis" theory with my powers of SCIENCE. see, first off, um... what's that? oh... stars and stuff, you say? really? and it like killed dinosaurs? yeah, the K-T extinction? really. and the cambrian as well? you don't say. um. oops. sorry, no help here from me. i know basically jack about astrophysics, astronomy, etc. - forget i was here. carry on, folks.
  • Science again! I said science again!
  • You guys must be the most easily amused Monkeys in all teh galexy galxey Uinverse