Retrograde Planet
Imaginary planet.
Almost every one of the more than 300 planets so far discovered orbits its star in the direction the star rotates. This has to do with the way planets form. According to the British Wide Area Search for Planets, working in collaboration the the Geneva observatory, they have discovered the first planet to orbit in a retrograde manner—opposite of its star’s rotation.
The star and its planet are about 1,000 light years from earth. The team who discovered the planet theorize that its unusual motion is owing to a near-collision with some large body. The planet is also bloated, probably because of an eccentric orbit that brings it quite close to its star at times.
The point of this is that every new discovery shows just how unlikely the stable orbit and just-right conditions of our own earth are, suggesting the hand of a designer in its preparation and maintenance for the support of human life.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, August 16th, 2009 at 6:12 pm and is filed under Astronomy.
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