OT: Here's a happy thought...

[AgentZero]

Atrocities said:
Ya that was on FOX news yesterday too. Oh well, looks like the universe is out to get us.

This cheers me up considerably. If Fox News is telling me to worry about something, odds are it's something I don't need to worry about.

And it's not like I'll ever know if I was wrong.

[Randallw]

I read a short story once where mankind was conquering the galaxy so an alien race captured one of our ships to find where Earth was and sent a ship back through time with orders to destroy Earth. However instead of targetting the 3rd planet from the sun they targeted the 6th planet in. Which is why we have the asteroid belt.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

No point in worrying about things I can't change.

[Randallw]

As the philosopher, who was a Cynic, a Stoic and a Epicurean, said

"You can't trust a person as far as you can throw them, but what can you do about it?. Nothing, so why worry. You're buying?, mines a pint. Thanks"

[dmm]

Randallw said:
I read a short story once where mankind was conquering the galaxy so an alien race captured one of our ships to find where Earth was and sent a ship back through time with orders to destroy Earth. However instead of targetting the 3rd planet from the sun they targeted the 6th planet in. Which is why we have the asteroid belt.

You mean the 5th planet. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, asteroids, Jupiter, ....
But anyway, are you telling us that "Star Trek: First Contact" stole its plot from a short story? I am shocked --shocked!

[Suicide Junkie]

6th inwards: Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Planet-Ex.

Counting planets is tricky business. Best to specify the target as the one with the most ugly monkeys on it.

[Fyron]

Counting the belt, the 6th planet inwards is Mars. Pluto isn't a planet.

Of course, doesn't the asteroid belt have something like 5% the mass of Earth's moon? Not a very likely remnant of a destroyed planet if you ask me.

[se5a]

if you destroyed a planet... how much of it would end up staying it that orbit?

[Fyron]

se5a said:
if you destroyed a planet... how much of it would end up staying it that orbit?

I'd wager most of it would stay in the same general orbital region. Some pieces would fly out orthogonally and enter highly elliptical orbits, but I'd wager that most of the pieces would not be given divergent enough velocities to do much other than increase or decrease the orbital distance by a small margin.

[Suicide Junkie]

Fyron said:
Counting the belt, the 6th planet inwards is Mars. Pluto isn't a planet.

Ah, but it was.

And that just emphasizes my point .