Hi again, Tom;
Well, as an amateur astronomer, I have a better-than-your-average-joe grasp of the enormous distances involved here.
For example, even between the earth and the moon, people who aren't familiar with the real distances tend to drastically underestimate the distance. Imagine a 1-inch ball (2.54 cm). Let's build a model with that being the earth. The moon is roughly 1/4 the size of the earth, so a scale-sized moon is 1/4 inch (a bit over 6mm).
Ask yourself this: At that scale, how far away from the earth should the moon be?
The real number is about 30 inches (76.2 cm). At 60 miles per hour it would take 5 1/2 months to get from the earth to the moon, and 176 years to get to the sun. My long-winded point is that stuff in the solar system is spread out… much more so than people think. Stuff outside the solar system is even more spread out.
As far as a new 'super earth' discovered 40 light years away, it has zero implications for us in the conceivable future (except as a target for study) and certainly none in 2012.
By the way; I have just such a model. I made it myself, and you can see a picture of it on my personal blog. I use it in classrooms by picking a few students to try to guess how far apart the earth and moon should be.
Tom (guest) 18 Dec 2009 10:44
