buylotrogold

  From: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it (James Davis Nicoll)   Date: 11 Jul 91 18:46:45 GMT   Organization: University of Waterloo   Message-ID: < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it   Newsgroups: sci.skeptic,alt.paranormal,talk.religion.newage           I wonder why aliens come from stars that we have names for,   the majority of which are massive stars whose lifespans on the main   sequence will be very brief, rather than dim main sequence stars, like   our own, which have long lifespans? There are also aliens who come   from astrological regions encompassing large sections of the sky   (Our little buddies from the 'Orion System'. Poor Orion, to cover   a fair piece of the sky and have but one life bearing system), but   I don't know of any who claim to come from some star we have no name   for, but which is of the correct sort to *have* life bearing planets.   Maybe it's because someone involved in the reporting of these alleged   visitors doesn't have the minor amount of astronomical knowledge needed   to supply a plausible origin for the ETs (Say, the amount known by any   12 year old SF fan), and therefore has to fall back on 'astronomical'   knowledge gained by reading Ms Dixon and co in the papers. What do   other folks thinks on this? Very good question with an obvious answer.  Your assumption is right on the money, in my opinion.  The problem with this stuff today is that there are too many people who are willing to believe whatever they hear, channeled or otherwise, without so much as a little investigation. Mike

         I wonder why aliens come from stars that we have names for,  the majority of which are massive stars whose lifespans on the main  sequence will be very brief, rather than dim main sequence stars, like  our own, which have long lifespans? There are also aliens who come  from astrological regions encompassing large sections of the sky  (Our little buddies from the 'Orion System'. Poor Orion, to cover  a fair piece of the sky and have but one life bearing system), but  I don't know of any who claim to come from some star we have no name  for, but which is of the correct sort to *have* life bearing planets.  Maybe it's because someone involved in the reporting of these alleged  visitors doesn't have the minor amount of astronomical knowledge needed  to supply a plausible origin for the ETs (Say, the amount known by any  12 year old SF fan), and therefore has to fall back on 'astronomical'  knowledge gained by reading Ms Dixon and co in the papers. What do  other folks thinks on this?         It's one of the great mysteries of life.  Actually it's something that I GROAN about every time I read about it.  In the last 3 days I have read accounts of ETs comgin from Orion (it's like saying I come from altitude=70_feet), Vega [1], the Pleiades [2], Bellatrix [1], Arcturus [3], Barnard's Star [4], Rigel [1,3], Zeta Reticuli [5], etc. Where:         [1] - star is too massive and not last long enbough to harbor evolved life.  And in some cases, it too young and/or short-lived to even get around to forming planets.         [2] - This cluster is only 70 million years old.  No planets yet, even around the lower-mass stars.         [3] - Star is evolved (i.e. post main-sequence).  It will have already caused enough imbalance in its stellar system to render life improbable.  Additionally, most of these stars come from massive progenitors (see point #1).           [4] - Star may not be massive enough to have planets which can sustain life.  Additionally, many low-mass stars are prone to flares at the level of the stars average luminosity.  Judging from the effect of our Sun on the Earth, this fact alone would make this kind of star unlikely.         [5] - Er, um...  actually all things considered, this pair of stars are fairly GOOD candidates...         But I really wish people/ETs would read up on stellar astrophysics before they try to write the Rand Mc Nally atlas for the solar neighborhood. B.D.