back to article Hunt is on for Jupiter-sized HIDDEN planets stuffed between star's belts

Astrophysicists have clapped their eyes on what seems to be a massive inner and outer asteroid belt hugging the Vega star. The finding suggests that a gap spotted between the warm and cool belts of the star could mean that multiple unseen planets may orbit it, according to astronomers who used data from NASA's Spitzer Space …

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  1. mIRCat
    Go

    "The stargazers said if planets do indeed orbit Vega then they won't remain hidden for long. "

    Ollie ollie oxen free?

  2. Robert Helpmann??
    Childcatcher

    How to fund exploration of same?

    Astronomers could imply that the inner planets are composed of diamonds (done that, but not enough), gold and other precious metals, and that the cold asteroids are all frozen alcohol with some miscellaneous flavorings thrown in. Can't think what might work for the inner ring of asteroids, but someone will surely come up with an irresistible draw... Pure refined rare earths? Some group will go out and get the stuff, only to come back to find that all the tech needed to do the project had been patented while they were away, so maybe not after all.

  3. WalterAlter
    Pirate

    Flawed Cosmology

    Any RIGOROUS examination of planetary formation in light of the many fatal flaws discovered, yet unreported, in the disk accretion theory will quickly recognize the near impossibility of finding other planets with life on them. Furthermore, "Black Hole, Big Bang and Dark Matter" are chimeral artifacts of a mathematics that cannot tell the difference between mass and matter, derives key operations from an impossible "point particle", has no concept of what gravity IS. "Life on other planets" is a meme that will die harder than phlebotomies and humors. Mathematics has usurped and made decadent the application of scientific method to observational physics. Dissenting scientists are not crackpots. The public is fed the illusion that there is no dissent in science, while the real crackpots at the head of university departments use seductive headlines to guarantee funding and salaries chasing down "discoveries" that will never be made or that will require a massive suspension of disbelief by the observer. Google "Halton Arp" and read his books.

    1. Neil Barnes Silver badge
      WTF?

      Re: Flawed Cosmology

      Er, and your point is?

      1. WalterAlter
        Pirate

        Re: Flawed Cosmology

        No point whatsoever, son; like chasing after the Big Dark Black Whatever; wasting your time and taxpayer money with headline grabbing paroxysms of gratuitous, culturally inspired stupidity.

        1. Graham Marsden
          Boffin

          Re: Flawed Cosmology

          "like chasing after the Big Dark Black Whatever"

          Hmm...

          "And some said that even the trees had been a bad move, and that no one should ever have left the oceans. "

          - The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

    2. Grave

      Re: Flawed Cosmology

      riiiight, lets keep wasting billions on various religious nonsense like it has been done for thousands of years.

      after all it delivers its spoiled fruits consistently, being it misery, hatred, bigotry, genocide and other inhuman atrocities. and without fail fulfills every overlords wet dream in decreased cognitive and objective reasoning abilities.

    3. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      FAIL

      Re: Flawed Cosmology

      You seem to have a lot of answers.

      Unfortunately they come with a massive fruit loop.

    4. teebie

      Re: Flawed Cosmology

      "Dissenting scientists are not crackpots"

      Some of them are.

      No doubt some of our understanding of cosmology needs refinement, and it may well be that there are parts of the science that are outright wrong, and a scientist worthy of the name will admit this when evaluating evidence and idea. That doesn't stop crackpots being crackpots.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    My wager...

    .. it will be one proto-rogue planet very near the outer belt which has been gradually spiraling away from it's host star over millions of years.

  5. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Paris Hilton

    The War on Terror connects cultures!

    Fomalhaut?

    This being arabic, I would think it should be correctly written as "fom al-haut" (which means what?)

    1. James O'Shea

      Re: The War on Terror connects cultures!

      Errm... Vega is also Arabic, as are the names of a lot of other stars, given that they were named by, well, Arabs and were brought to the attention of Europeans by one Alfanso X of Castile. (Other prominent stars with Arabic names include Rigel and Betelgeuse; Arabic and Ancient Greek are the sources for the names of a _lot_ of stars.)

  6. RAMChYLD
    Pint

    So...

    If what happens in Vega stays in Vega, does this means Vega never visits the loo?

    Beer, because it's Friday, I feel silly, and just cracked a lame Street Fighter joke.

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