Aliens... | Vital Football

Aliens...

We watched the newer version of The Thing last night. I hope none of those aliens out there are like that...
 
I watched the 80s version last year, I think, by John Carpenter. For some reason, I'd never seen it,.

A truly bleak film but a Sci-Fi classic. I'd recommend giving it a watch as well.
Yep, the original is good too. This newer one is apparently a prequel, though the plot is very similar, perhaps inevitably.
 

I don't mind displaying the depth of my ignorance but it defies logical explanation for me. How can tiny planetlets be seen but not some supposed large planet holding them in their peculiar orbit. Wasn't Pluto discovered by checking for objects that moved, how come then we need to wait for a new telescope (or whatever) to do exactly the same thing.
 
I don't mind displaying the depth of my ignorance but it defies logical explanation for me. How can tiny planetlets be seen but not some supposed large planet holding them in their peculiar orbit. Wasn't Pluto discovered by checking for objects that moved, how come then we need to wait for a new telescope (or whatever) to do exactly the same thing.

I think it's because the "shepherding" planet is thought to be *way* further out than the dwarf planet objects it is influencing, and therefore much harder to spot than them.

Essentially, the hypothesis is underpinned by a lot of complex orbital maths and probably some form of statistical analysis as well. Beyond my ken, as well!

Whatever happens, the new telescope described in the article will find a lot of interesting things out there, I suspect.