Quote:
Originally Posted by slang
And I tell people that, when the subject of the Fomalhaut discovery comes up, and they just glaze over. The number of people that are actually fascinated by these discoveries seems to be somewhat low.. or interested, even.
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This seems to be the case. I believe there is much more opportunity here to make this a big story, but it's not happening. Perhaps this is another frog in the pot analogy. Over the last decade there have been over 300 discoveries of exoplanets. Fomalhaut b is not the first to be imaged, either, and when it was announced, along came the announcment of three planets imaged, as we know. All of these points has kept the frog leaping up and getting everyone's attention.
I suspect something extra has to get the frog out of the pot. In my amateur opinion, I believe Fomalhaut b should be lifted to the proverbial pedestal since it is the first visible exoplanet imaged. This distinction isn't to minimalize the great efforts by others in imaging and infering the others, but I think Fomalhaut b should be given exceptional recognition for the good it should do for astronomy as a whole.
However, it wouldn't shock me if I am missing some points here. Y'all's views are important. I would like to be a part of something special in recognizing this discovery, even if it's just sending flowers or gift certificates to the Fb team.
If this idea has merit in your opinion, we might want to do a thread on what we as supporters can do to help in recognizing such an event.