Message-Id: <333CB33D.4436@justin-siena.napanet.net>
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 1997 22:14:21 -0800
From: drgay <dgray@justin-siena.napanet.net>
To: pinhole@exploratorium.edu
Subject: Re: origin of comets
Thanks for the comet info, Ron!
You said that the existance of the Oort cloud is more or less taken for
granted now. Why is that? I know the comets' small size and remote
location (not too mention lack of luminosity) makes them impossible to
see, but have we been able to measure they're gravitational pull
perhaps? I think if recent astronomy has taught us anything it's taught
us to not take for granted that which we haven't seen. Remember when
the Hubble telescope went looking for the large numbers of red dwarfs
that we took for granted only to find they just weren't there? There
may be some good indirect evidence to support the Oort cloud, black
holes, planets around other stars and even life on Mars, but it's
probably a little premature at this point to take they're existance for
granted.
I do have another question about comets:
Why are they primarily ice?
How do water molecules even manage to get together out there?
Dan Gray
dgray@justin-siena.napanet.net