Quote:
Originally Posted by PraedSt
You're not wrong George.
I am a little perplexed though. Is there a reason why everyone is more excited about Fomalhaut b than the three planets around HR8799? Because I thought those images were fantastic. Is it the infrared/visible divide? Becuase that seems like wavelength elitism to me.  |
My guess is partly due to the fame of the star in question and partly because of the distance. Fomalhaut is
much better known, and it has a proper name and not a bunch of letters and numbers. I imagine a lot of people hadn't even
heard of HR 8799 before this news broke and it has a designation virtually identical to a lot of other stars out there. Fomalhaut is also much closer, being only 25 light years away, as opposed to Hr 8799's 129 light years.
It's sort of like suddenly finding out something cool about two people, one an acquaintance, someone you've been sort of aware of for some time, who has a unique name, and who lives close by, and one a virtual stranger who lives a fair distance away and who's name is Bob Jones. It's just easier to be interested in the acquaintance.