Brilliant! Tenth planet turns out to be a shiner

"Timo Nieminen" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 15 Apr 2006, T Wake wrote:

In LIa0g.897423$x96.618399@attbi_s72, sent to sci.physics on Saturday
15
April 2006 19:12, Sam Wormley ) had a brainstorm and
wrote:
Coppy Littlehouse wrote:
Sam Wormley wrote:

Want to take a guess at the first-most-shiny object in the SOLAR
system?

Enceladus

Nope, guess again.

Let's define "shiny" as reflective.

I am intrigued now. By the capitalisation in Coppy Littlehouse's post I
suspect the "*Correct*" answer is supposed to be the sun, yet I must
admit
I would have gone with Enceladus. It is reflective.

Does the sun count as "shiny?"

Not at all; it's not that far from being a blackbody. "Bright" yes,
"shiny" no.

That was my interpretation of it, which is why I am interested to see the
outcome of this :-) I hadn't included the sun as an option and I am
intrigued to see which planet is the most reflective. :-)

Coppy Littlehouse wrote:
Sam Wormley wrote:

Xena, unofficially called the 10th planet, is the
second-most-shiny known object in the solar system.

Want to take a guess at the first-most-shiny object in the SOLAR system?

Luna?

[Lest ye be confused by "which of Earth's moons?]

"Coppy Littlehouse" wrote in message
ups.com...

Sam Wormley wrote:

Want to take a guess at the first-most-shiny object in the SOLAR
system?

Enceladus

Nope, guess again.

I'd vote for Earth. No other solar planet has so much water on its surface
and water is highly reflective.
--
Ioannis

Ioannis wrote:
I'd vote for Earth. No other solar planet has so much water on its surface
and water is highly reflective.

If it's albedo he's asking about, Venus has the Earth beat hands down.
The Earth has an albedo of something like 37 percent in the visible
range. Venus is more like 65 percent. It's pretty darned reflective,
but nowhere near 90 percent.

--
Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
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I (Brian Tung) wrote:
If it's albedo he's asking about, Venus has the Earth beat hands down.
The Earth has an albedo of something like 37 percent in the visible
range. Venus is more like 65 percent. It's pretty darned reflective,
but nowhere near 90 percent.

I forgot to add, though, that if Enceladus isn't the answer, the
criterion isn't albedo. Enceladus has the highest reflectivity of any
substantial body in the solar system, and its geometric albedo is well
in excess of unity (due to its intense back-scattering).

--
Brian Tung
The Astronomy Corner at http://astro.isi.edu/
Unofficial C5+ Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/c5plus/
The PleiadAtlas Home Page at http://astro.isi.edu/pleiadatlas/
My Own Personal FAQ (SAA) at http://astro.isi.edu/reference/faq.html

I think the shiniest object within the solar system is probably some
super conducting mirror in some (earth bound) research lab somewhere.

Fredrik Bulow wrote:
I think the shiniest object within the solar system is probably some
super conducting mirror in some (earth bound) research lab somewhere.


It's pretty hard to beat diagonals with dielectric coating.

Sam Wormley writes:

Fredrik Bulow wrote:
I think the shiniest object within the solar system is probably some
super conducting mirror in some (earth bound) research lab somewhere.


It's pretty hard to beat diagonals with dielectric coating.

Perhaps, but super conducting materials reflect *ALL* incoming light
(as long as light frequency and intensity are low enough so that the
super conducting properties are not destroyed).

Timo Nieminen wrote:
Does the sun count as "shiny?"

Not at all; it's not that far from being a blackbody. "Bright" yes,
"shiny" no.

Then explain sunshine...

Anyways, yes I was thinking of the sun which certainly shines.

"Coppy Littlehouse" wrote in message
ups.com...
Timo Nieminen wrote:
Does the sun count as "shiny?"

Not at all; it's not that far from being a blackbody. "Bright" yes,
"shiny" no.

Then explain sunshine...

Anyways, yes I was thinking of the sun which certainly shines.


Personally, I much prefer moonshine...

--
Jan Owen

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