32 new exoplanets discovered

[Jerry_111]

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091019-32-new-planets-found.html

^ hopefully the title of thread will become un-pc one day.

 

[15357]

Cool. Too bad we won't reach them soon enough.

 

[Shamrock]

The day we actually make it to those other planets is the day we all our LONG ****ING GONE.

 

[MJ12]

I read "plants", and I was like "WE FOUND PLANTS IN SPACE?!"

 

[Ravioli]

I like how the swedish newspaper Aftonbladet wrote (translation):

"NEW PLANETS FOUND CIRCULATING OTHER STARS"

WOW REALLY?? I THOUGHT PLANETS JUST FLOATED AROUND SPACE RANDOMLY

 

[kupocake]

Extra-solar Astronomy seems to be finding more and more 'stuff' out there, and the field has really been booming in the last decade or so. It's strange though, how the sheer volume of objects being found or inferred just kind of pales into insignificance, no more important than the objects of the Asteroid Belt really.

Oh, I'm going to be lame and quote Charlie Brooker as well, apparently:

Contemplating the scale of the universe makes a mockery of household chores

Perhaps astrophysics stories should come with a little warning. Just as graphically violent news reports tend to be preceded by a quick disclaimer advising squeamish viewers that the following footage contains shots of protesters hurling their own severed kneecaps at riot police – or whatever – maybe brain-mangling science reports likely to leave you nursing an unpleasant existential bruise for several hours should be flagged as equally hazardous. How can I flip channels and enjoy Midsomer Murders once I've been reminded of the crushing futility of everything? I can't even get worked up about the murders in that kind of mood. Yeah, kill him. And her. And them. Sod it. It's all just atoms in an unfathomable vortex.