2007-04-16 02:36:10 · 9 answers · asked by Cindy 3 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
I don't know, but that star has a disk of gas and dust.This was initially thought to be a protoplanetary disk, but is now considered a "debris disk" due to the star's relatively young age of between 200 and 500 million years. In 1998 teams at the Joint Astronomy Centre and UCLA detected irregularities in it that suggest the presence of a planet. A 2003 paper hypothesizes these lumps could be caused by a Neptune-sized planet having migrated from 40 to 65 AU over 56 million years, an orbit large enough to allow the formation of smaller rocky planets closer to Vega. These findings have yet to be fully confirmed, but since Vega is much more powerful than our Sun, scientists believe there is no life possible on any such suggested planets.
2007-04-16 05:48:03 · answer #1 · answered by neutron 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it could be to do with the timescales of the message from Vega.
Vega is about 25 light years away, which means they received the signal from the broadcast of the 1936 Berlin Olympics in 1961. In Contact, the Vegans send the broadcast back so 25 years later earth received the message-in 1986. This is around the time the book was written.
2007-04-16 03:55:59 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Because of its distance, 26 light years away. Maybe Sagan had been as entranced as I was by reading Arthur C. Clarke's poetic turn of phrase in his 1960 book "Profiles of the Future":
. . the brightest star of our Northern skies, Vega of the Lyre, almost 26 years away at the speed of light, near enough the point of no return for us short-lived creatures . . .
2007-04-16 05:31:59 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Vega was one of the first stars to be shown to have a planet orbiting it. Actually, it's a gas giant, even larger than Jupiter, so not at all likely to support life. Still, that's why they call it fiction.
2007-04-16 03:16:05 · answer #4 · answered by Ian I 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1) Vega is a fairly close star-the travel times of radio waves are short enough to make the story work
2) It is bright in our sky- it is one of the brightest in the sky
3) It is intrinsically bright-so a star that would be a good one for a civilization to set a base at to gain attention
2007-04-16 05:09:07 · answer #5 · answered by mathematician 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I love the movie Contact!!! One of the few I can watch over and over!
2007-04-16 03:42:56 · answer #6 · answered by SoulRebel79 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It's one of the brightest stars in the sky, it's not about to blow up, lots of people recognize it, and it's not far away from us, so it worked for the story.
2007-04-16 03:15:45 · answer #7 · answered by eri 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Because he loved it with all his heart. It's the kind of love that can only form between a man and a star. Why won't they let those two marry in America?
2007-04-16 02:39:36 · answer #8 · answered by - Tudor Gothic Serpent - 6 · 1⤊ 3⤋
He probably just threw a dart at the nearest starchart ☺
Doug
2007-04-16 02:58:34 · answer #9 · answered by doug_donaghue 7 · 0⤊ 3⤋