So, this 'Minshara' guy invented the Planetary Classification System and very humbly called inhabitable worlds 'M', after his own name? The cheeky bastard
posted
No, it's by the alpahbet. A-K would be light to extreme cold and Q-Z would be light to extreme heat, at least in temperence. Or the other way around, I can't think but M is around the middle grounds, which is most hospitable for us.
[ September 30, 2001: Message edited by: TLE ]
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posted
M for Middle might be a coincidence of cosmic scale, if you pardon the pun. Perhaps the first planet with "class M" qualities to be encountered by Earth explorers was named Minshara, and the scale was formulated using the coincidence as a semi-joke. Scientists are like that...
One then wonders when Minshara was explored by Earthlings. If it was after the Vulcan encounter, perhaps we have to assume that Vulcan is not class M. If it was before, it's news to us - we have seen interstellar sublight vessels before, but whether humans apart from Khan actually used them has not been clarified.
In any case, I doubt the planetary type scale is anything so simplistic as temperature alone, or humidity, or gravity, or magnetic field strength. It must be a complex index calculated from a multitude of factors. Or then a guesstimate performed by a licensed evaluator.
quote:Originally posted by TLE: No, it's by the alpahbet. A-K would be light to extreme cold and Q-Z would be light to extreme heat, at least in temperence. Or the other way around, I can't think but M is around the middle grounds, which is most hospitable for us.
Nothing gets respect like randomly inventing information and passing it off as fact.
posted
"Regula is a class 'D.' It consists of various unremarkable ores. Essentially, a great rock in space"
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posted
It was on that one Voyager ep with the Demon Planet.
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