Everything that is theorized about our early solar system is no more than an educated guess. Yes they are based on what is observed today out in the galaxy and some pieces of evidence found here and there, but no proof of most of what is speculated has been found. And a lot of what is currently being guessed is based on earlier guesses.

---

Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

Yes. And Theories come and go:)
From Wikipedia.

The current standard theory for Solar System formation, the nebular hypothesis, has fallen into and out of favour since its formulation by Emanuel Swedenborg, Immanuel Kant, and Pierre-Simon Laplace in the 18th century. The most significant criticism of the hypothesis was its apparent inability to explain the Sun's relative lack of angular momentum when compared to the planets.[5] However, since the early 1980s studies of young stars have shown them to be surrounded by cool discs of dust and gas, exactly as the nebular hypothesis predicts, which has led to its re-acceptance.[6]

Then the theories about our solar system doesn't seem to match other solar systems.
Well, our knowledge about other solar systems is only about 30 years.

2018 VG18, Farout, Planet 9 ?

For the first time, an object in our solar system has been found more than 100 times farther than Earth is from the sun.
The International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center announced the discovery Monday, calling the object 2018 VG18. But the researchers who found it are calling it "Farout."
They believe the spherical object is a dwarf planet more than 310 miles in diameter, with a pinkish hue. That color has been associated with objects that are rich in ice, and given its distance from the sun, that isn't hard to believe. Its slow orbit probably takes more than 1,000 years to make one trip around the sun, the researchers said.


'Farout,' the most-distant solar system object discovered

---

Found Super Earth K2-288Bb. No way to get there!
NASA interns and amateur astronomers find a 'super Earth' 226 light years away


Using data from NASA's Kepler space telescope, two NASA interns and a team of amateur astronomers have found a new 'super Earth'.

Roughly twice the size of Earth, and known as K2-288Bb, the new world is located within its star's habitable zone, raising hopes it could contain life.

It is 226 light-years away in the constellation Taurus, and could be rocky or could be a gas-rich planet similar to Neptune, NASA says.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6569979/NASA-interns-super-Earth-226-light-years-away.html

---

Do you all think that we will ever find a truly Earth-like planet that could possibly support intelligent life such as ours here on Earth. If so when and how?

The TESS spacecraft has found three more exoplanets in the first three months of operation. But it has found also supernovae in other galaxies.

---

Do you all think that we will ever find a truly Earth-like planet that could possibly support intelligent life such as ours here on Earth. If so when and how?

It seems like our technology keeps increasing and if that's the case, then I think a bulls eye detection will happen eventually, or maybe we'll discover wormholes really exist and how to navigate and survive one, or maybe the speed of light isn't the travel limit.

All in all, I just can't imagine that earth is the only place in the whole universe where there is life of some sort.

---

The mind is a weird and mysterious place

All in all, I just can't imagine that earth is the only place in the whole universe where there is life of some sort.

I think the same way--now how far away do you think that they might be from Earth given what we have found so far--we will get better at detection.

Yeah, the Chinese just landed on the far side of the moon and we shut down NASA.

---

Some bad news...
Young Planets Orbiting Red Dwarfs May Lack Ingredients for Life
http://hubblesite.org/news_release/news/2019-02

Giant Blobs of Material Are Clearing Out Star's Disk
Our Sun is not one of the most abundant types of star in our Milky Way galaxy. That award goes to red dwarfs, stars that are smaller and cooler than our Sun. In fact, red dwarfs presumably contain the bulk of our galaxy's planet population, which could number tens of billions of worlds. Surveys by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope and other observatories have shown that rocky planets are common around these diminutive stars. Some of these rocky worlds are orbiting within the habitable zones of several nearby red dwarfs. The temperate climates on such worlds could allow for oceans to exist on their surface, possibly nurturing life.
That's the good news. The bad news is that many of these rocky planets may not harbor water and organic material, the necessary ingredients for life as we know it. Earth, which formed as a "dry" planet, was seeded over hundreds of millions of years with icy material from comets and asteroids arriving from the outer solar system.

I'm not in favor of the wall, but fyi it is being built between Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California and Mexico. All in north america. And I think somebody is reading more into the situation than exists. I see no indication that NASA is being permanently shut down.

---

Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

Well well well. I am sure that all of the fat government salaries that are lavished on most of the higher ups (GS-13 up to the PL ers) would allow these individuals to survive a period without the monthly pay check since they know it will be coming after the silliness is over. The lower level govt workers may well have some stress if that is the only source of family income. Hopefully they will be able to borrow funds to tide them over. I would think that they have a credit union at Nasa and that it would be willing to loan at a modest rate for a few more weeks. Those who are furloughed should take the opportunity to spend more time with the family in leisure pursuits and (paid) vacations.

Since this is not the politics thread I will not opine or give facts on the situation at our southern Border except to pun that the lousy 5.7 billion for the wall is probably less than a shrimp bowl at the inaugural balls. (ha).

I am disappointed that recent presidents have not invested in a more forward thinking space program. We are spending big bucks to do repeats with marginal scientific progress or knowledge--all to the tired bolide of "it will help us understand the origin of our solar system/galaxy". You would think that they would take a cue from John F Kennedy--a bold initiative that drives technology and Mankind's sense of wonderment and exploration forward.

A beautiful rotating space station and a moon base and small colony would be worthwhile and do-able projects in my uninformed opinion.

Why are some people so obsessed with "understanding the origin of our solar system/galaxy"?

Many good things have come from basic research and more will follow.

---

Why are some people so obsessed with "understanding the origin of our solar system/galaxy"?

Many good things have come from basic research and more will follow.

And without people like Isaac Newton, Galileo Galilei and Albert Einstein there wouldn't probably be any SETI@Home at all.

On the JPL site there is an article about a new exoplanet found by professional astronomers with the help of a citizen science group called Explanet Explorers.
Tullio

---

In searching for other habitable planets, they found..

The case of the over-tilting exoplanets

For almost a decade, astronomers have tried to explain why so many pairs of planets outside our solar system have an odd configuration—their orbits seem to have been pushed apart by a powerful unknown mechanism. Yale researchers say they've found a possible answer, and it implies that the planets' poles are majorly tilted.

---

Update:

The huge haul is a sign of the explosion of findings from searches with telescopes on the ground and in space over the last 25 years.

It's also an indication of just how common planets are - with most stars in the Milky Way hosting at least one world in orbit around them.

That's something astronomers couldn't be certain of just 30 years ago.


Exoplanet tally set to pass 4,000 mark

---

(CNN)NASA's planet-hunting TESS mission has only been surveying the sky since July, but it's already making incredible discoveries.
In January, three exoplanet discoveries were connected to the initial observations from TESS. Now, data collected by TESS has determined a new Saturn-size planet.
TOI (TESS Object of Interest) 197.01 is considered to be a "hot Saturn." It's similar in size to that planet and orbits its host star at a close distance, circling it every 14 days, which creates a high surface temperature on the planet. The planet is described in a paper that will be published in The Astronomical Journal.

NASA mission finds new planet, most promising stars to support life
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/28/world/nasa-tess-exoplanet-stars-habitable-scn/index.html

Did you know: The primary mission objective for TESS is to survey the brightest stars near the Earth for transiting exoplanets over a two-year period.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transiting_Exoplanet_Survey_Satellite

---

Just ignore all these silly tabloid headlines of "record breaking discoveries", and don't be taken in by them.

Some people like to read about them. Hope to some who think we might make it. :-)

---

ESA will launch an exoplanet hunting satellite next October-November. It will be aboard a Russian Soyuz vector as a second payload launched from the Kourou base. Its name will be Cheops.
Tullio

---