From: Joe McGonagle <joe.mcgonagle.nul>
Date: Sun, 8 Aug 2004 22:59:33 +0000
Fwd Date: Mon, 09 Aug 2004 09:16:04 -0400
Subject: Extrasolar Planets


Most of you will be aware that the first detection of a planet
orbiting a sun (star) outside of our own solar system was made
in 1995 by detecting (in simple terms) the apparent "wobble" in
the position of the host sun (star).

What I was unaware of until now is that this method of looking
for extrasolar planets was discussed at a BUFORA event on
27/3/1964. A lecturer called Stephen Smith from a Cambridge (UK)
UFO group suggested the method.

The following is a quote from an article on page 6 of "Saucer
Forum", V3 Issue 2 (April/May/June 1965) written by the editor
at the time (Jimmy Goddard). The lecture by Stephen Smith was
entitled "Life beyond the Earth".

"He then gave several theories as to how the Solar system
started, after which he said that it was possible to note
whether the nearest stars were likely to have planetary systems,
by watching to see if they wobbled during their rotation."

I had no idea that the theoretical method of detection has been
put forward so long before anyone produced results using it.

For more information about extrasolar planets, a good starting
point would be:

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/planets/


Regards,

Joe