Very old planet discovered

[DPDarkPrimus]

Heh.

[Traceroute]

Actually, now that I think about it, I'll be pretty suprised if there aren't at least a few.

Only if a civilization can be created in a nearly pure hydrogen environment, if not life at all.

I think he means that if the solar system its in is that old, then there could be equally old earth like planets.

But that's not possible since the system lacks the necessary heavier elements. Our solar system is a 2nd or 3rd generation system, so we have enough heavy elements like C, N, O, Fe, etc, to form rocky planets. This ancient gas giant is part of a system that is almost certainly 1st generation - as the article states, pretty much only H & He.

Elements heavier than H & He are almost exclusively created in stellar cores, so you have to have at least one supernova before those elements are available. (White dwarfs don't spread the love much.)

[fgalkin]

Z'Ha'Dum.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[Companion Cube]

Certainly makes you wonder if there are "first ones" civilizations out there that have existed for Billions of years.

its my personal hope that we are the first ones, so we need to spread out into space as quickly as possible.

dont want the newbies taking over the messageboard

After all those SF series depicting humanity as a 'young' species, it would be interesting if we are the oldest sentient species in the universe...

[DPDarkPrimus]

After all those SF series depicting humanity as a 'young' species, it would be interesting if we are the oldest sentient species in the universe...

And, at the same time, oh so sad...