Asri-unix.980
net.space
utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!sri-unix!DIETZ@USC-ECL@Berkeley@CCA-UNIX
Thu Mar 11 13:03:55 1982
Comet Showers
From: Paul Dietz <DIETZ USC-ECL AT>
On the subject of close encounters with nearby stars (not aliens!),
I read that a brush with a star could cause a "comet shower", sending
thousands of comets from the cometary halo into the solar system.
Many would collide with the planets, either immediately or after being
deflected into closed orbits by the gas giants. Perhaps this happened
65 million years ago?
De Sitter space: The argument that the de Sitter space thepry is false
because the space must exist for an infinite period of time in a
metastable state is flawed. For one thing, the space can produce
unlimited numbers of separate universes. For another, how do you
measure time? The best you could say is that there are infinitely
long world lines. Spacetime cannot be said to exist at certain
moments and not at others: the concept of time is meaningless unless
spacetime exists.
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