Starship Asterisk*

"The Long Mars", Stephen Baxter and the author of the "Discworld" novels, Terry Pratchett. Part of the "Long Earth" series.

I was about to compose a rebuttal, but then you wrote this: Why? Because that makes me happy. Sorry, science doesn't operate that way. I know. I used to do Science. But defining a planet isn't Science, it's politics. The current "official" IAU definition was dreamed up and voted on by a h...

Most astronomers would disagree, given that the barycenter of the Earth-Moon system lies inside the Earth, making the Moon reasonably described as a satellite of the Earth, regardless of their solar orbits. So, if the Earth were slimmer and denser, so that the barycentre was outside the planet it w...

A Five Planet Dawn Seven. Unless the IAU has changed its tiny mind again and eliminated the Earth. Five planets, six if you include Earth. There's no reasonable way to say seven unless you are going back to the ancient tradition of including the Moon (which the APOD editors were not). Of course, yo...

APOD Robot wrote: A Five Planet Dawn

Seven.

Unless the IAU has changed its tiny mind again and eliminated the Earth.


Not that I believe in Mercury. I've never seen her in real life, only images. Like M31, I suspect she's a figment of the telescope.

Will humans ever be able to terraform proto solar systems? $10 on "no". I think Lexxy baby would cover that bet. He's always looking for new Real Estate. And this time the big blue bully legally wouldn't be able to interfere. Lex would *win* . As an idea for a new movie it's better than m...

Boomer12k wrote:...maybe it had the hiccups???

:---[===] *

Do felines even get hiccoughs?

Very beautiful. And I love the dead cat being swung by the upper arm. Highly symbolic.

Startreader wrote: I say "man" not to be sexist but because most crane drives are male and "man" would include aliens. Hey, I have no problem with your assumption that a crane driver would usually be a man, but... aren't there female aliens? As Mr Spock once said, It is a well-k...

Current origin speculative explanations include bubbling foam and floating solids , but no one is sure. Future observations may either resolve the enigma or open up more speculation. The explanation is obvious: this is an image of a man driving a construction crane with his wiry little doggie in th...

Heh, the two lights and hunched over photographer and tripod on the left I mistook for an animal with glowing eyes. It *IS* an animal with two eyes. It's a species called "Fiancée". They tend to be wonderful, beautiful and even better after they metamorphose. This is a truly gorgeous imag...