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Serious question: Is there a difference between a planet and an alien planet, or is it just a bit of flair added to the title?
by nhebb 12y ago
Serious question: Is there a difference between a planet and an alien planet, or is it just a bit of flair added to the title?
- jrajav 12y agoPretty sure it's supposed to mean extrasolar in this context - a planet not in our own solar system.
- nhebb 12y agoIt looks like you're right. After posting my question I clicked through to the GPI site (http://www.planetimager.org http://www.planetimager.org), which says the project is imaging and characterizing exoplanets. And, in case anyone else is curious, an exoplanet is a planet outside our solar system.
- dang 12y agoWe changed the title to say "exoplanet" instead of "alien planet".
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- lutorm 12y agoSince we have pretty awesome pictures of our own planet, it's clearly not meaning any planet. I guess it's true that "alien" could have referred to any other planet than Earth, but that wouldn't really be "planet hunting". But yeah, they should have written "exoplanet".