Mr. Manly wrote:It doesn't sound plausible to me but my knowledge of comets is lacking.
Well, anti-matter and matter are similar in many ways, and of course different in many ways, but some of the similarities is that if there were a ball of anti-matter, this opposite matter, floating out in space, it would look for all intents and purposes just like regular matter, it would reflect light, it would, if it were hot it would glow, just like regular matter would. And so if this thing were anti-matter we'd know. As a matter of fact, if it were anti-matter plowing through the solar system, as regular matter from the sun--protons, and subatomic particles and things--as they hit this thing, it would give off a tremendous amount of light, x-rays and gamma rays, which would be extremely obvious. So, if this thing were anti-matter, it would be even brighter than anybody would claim that any planet normally would be. There's really no way to hide an object the size of a planet. If it were so close, it would be here in a couple of days. -- Phil Plait
JayUtah wrote:It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality.
Cl1mh4224rd wrote:Storing antimatter would require a fairly strong electromagnetic containment field from what I understand
JayUtah wrote:It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality.
Cl1mh4224rd wrote:Also, the structure would be completely non-intuitive...
PhantomWolf wrote:This would only work with small amounts of antimatter (usully particles but perhaps bigger) that was charaged (ie had more or less Positrons that Negatrons.)
Cl1mh4224rd wrote:PhantomWolf wrote:This would only work with small amounts of antimatter (usully particles but perhaps bigger) that was charaged (ie had more or less Positrons that Negatrons.)
Well, normal matter can be suspended in a magnetic field if it's strong enough (the classic "flying frog" experiment).
JayUtah wrote:It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality.
Mr. Manly wrote:So phantom you're saying "it ain't happening" then.
JayUtah wrote:It must be fun to lead a life completely unburdened by reality.
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