2007 Merchandise & Miscellaneous News Archives

Earth/Krypton

April 26, 2007: Scientists Discover Planet Orbiting Red Sun

On the back of Tuesday's news report regarding geologists finding a mineral in Serbia which shares virtually the same chemical composition as the fictional kryptonite from "Superman Returns", today we have a report about a Krypton-like planet being found in space...

    European astronomers have spotted what they say is the most Earth-like planet yet outside our solar system, with balmy temperatures that could support water and, potentially, life. They have not directly seen the planet, which orbits a red sun called Gliese 581, but measurements of the star suggest that a planet not much larger than the Earth is pulling on it, the researchers say in a letter to the editor of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

    "We have estimated that the mean temperature of this super-Earth lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius (32 to 104 degrees F), and water would thus be liquid," said Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland, who led the study.

    "Its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth's radius, and models predict that the planet should be either rocky, like our Earth, or covered with oceans," Udry said in a telephone interview.

    It appears to have a mass five times that of Earth's.

Sounds a lot like Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's 1939 depiction of Krypton, along with the fact that it orbits a red sun.

For those curious about the components which made up Kryptonite shown in "Superman Returns", and how they compare to the story reported on two days ago, as well as how it compares to the Kryptonite formula shown in "Superman III", here are a couple of stills from those movies:

Kryptonite from Superman Returns Kryptonite from Superman III

Thanks to Barry Freiman for the movie stills.



2007 Merchandise & Miscellaneous News

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