'Two suns' spotted in China defy explanation

[ithelp]

It seems thousands of people in china , Russia ,etc are claiming to see 2 suns in sky , what do you guys think about this event ?

Source : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41927089/ns/technology_and_science-space/

[AndreRet]

I know for one, that too much vodka or Jiu (chinese wine), causes double vision. I think they need to down a bit on their alcohol intake.;)

[JamieLynnSEO]

hahahaha. Touche' AndreRet!

[Momerath]

I love that headline, since they explain it in the 2nd paragraph. Defy explanation indeed.

[bumsfeld]

You mean there is only one sun?

[Zeref]

LawL, i guess the reporters only focused on the last part of this quote

"The double sun image is an effect of optical refraction, Kaler said, but it's a "pretty darn rare" one, and one not fully explained by science".

[ddanbe]

If I fotograph the sun, the picture is overexposed. Did they use some sort of refraction filter?

[royng]

Does anyone really believed that people could actually see 2 suns anywhere in the world

[jwenting]

Does anyone really believed that people could actually see 2 suns anywhere in the world

sure. There's idiots ready to believe anything, especially if it's voiced as some "spiritual experience" or the result of a "conspiracy".

[Ancient Dragon]

The photo is a fake. Anyone with half a brain can use photoshop to do that.

[AndreRet]

Not even photoshop, some clever photography can do the trick. I'll stick to my initial uptake, they had too much booze, creating double vision.;)

[royng]

I agreed with ancient dragon. With the current technology you can used any software to edit the picture. But what i meant is that is it really possible to have two suns to coexist at one time, Won't the solar system feel hotter

[Ancient Dragon]

I doubt two suns would be possible anywhere in the known universe (except in Star Trek). If there were two suns, which one of them would the planet revolve around?

[debasisdas]

No wonder why all these never happens in countries ,where technology is not that developed.

[AndreRet]

Very true. Imagine Earth revolving in a figure eight!

[royng]

Maybe the sun will collide with each others and cause a supernova explosion

[jwenting]

Not even photoshop, some clever photography can do the trick. I'll stick to my initial uptake, they had too much booze, creating double vision.;)

They got the camera drunk? ;):P

[jwenting]

I doubt two suns would be possible anywhere in the known universe (except in Star Trek). If there were two suns, which one of them would the planet revolve around?

Actually, binary systems outnumber unary systems by a very wide margin :)
Planets can rotate either one, both (there are possible orbits, think a figure-8 for example) or neither (you could have a planet sit in the center of gravity of the rotating binary, effectively having both stars rotate it if you see it from the planet).

Whether such planets are stable (tidal effects might rip them apart), let alone whether they can sustain life are questions not yet answered.

[royng]

Actually, binary systems outnumber unary systems by a very wide margin
Planets can rotate either one, both (there are possible orbits, think a figure-8 for example) or neither (you could have a planet sit in the center of gravity of the rotating binary, effectively having both stars rotate it if you see it from the planet).

Whether such planets are stable (tidal effects might rip them apart), let alone whether they can sustain life are questions not yet answered.

So are you saying that no life would exist if there are two suns on earth but what about other planets

[royng]

How do you quote someone and at the top that says quote originally posted by ancient dragon for example

[Ancient Dragon]

Hit the Post Reply button, then delete the number that follows the person's name inside the quote tags.

[royng]

Hit the Post Reply button, then delete the number that follows the person's name inside the quote tags.

Thanks

[333Geek]

do you think the end of the world is coming soon? (joking)

[royng]

Maybe. The world will end in 2012, there is what the mayans predicted.

[jwenting]

So are you saying that no life would exist if there are two suns on earth but what about other planets

No, I'm saying that the existence of a binary system doesn't exclude the possibility of planets forming.
I'm not making any claims about whether such planets could support life or not :)

I have my ideas about that, but no verifiable data to back them up (in fact noone can have such data, as it's rather hard to experiment with it).

[jwenting]

do you think the end of the world is coming soon? (joking)

Define "soon". For some value of "soon" it will come soon. For other values, it won't.
I'd expect the earth, barring some unforeseen catastrophe, to last for another several billion years.

[Agilemind]

I doubt two suns would be possible anywhere in the known universe (except in Star Trek). If there were two suns, which one of them would the planet revolve around?

Actually two suns is very very common in the universe, it's called a "binary system" two stars orbit around their center of gravity. However, this causes very weird orbits for any planets in the system so it is generally accepted that the systems are probably life-less. I think some planets have been found orbiting binary systems but none in the "Goldilocks zone" .

But binary systems allow the mass of different stars to be calculated which is useful in astronomy.

[Agilemind]

Define "soon". For some value of "soon" it will come soon. For other values, it won't.
I'd expect the earth, barring some unforeseen catastrophe, to last for another several billion years.

It also depends on what you mean as "the world". Earth will likely continue to exist until the sun becomes a red giant (several billion years), but life or humanity could end a lot sooner.

[happygeek]

I swear I thought the thread title was 'Two nuns spotted in China defy explanation' but then I've never been able to explain nuns...

[jingda]

I swear this thread was more than 3 months old. Now we have to continue the discussion again. But will we live that long, i still believe the world will end in 2012, so i am enjoying myself now. Just joking