Re: Nutrino traps

[Dinogeorge@aol.com]

In a message dated 96-01-25 00:16:52 EST, tuckr@digital.net writes:

>  Neutron stars, alternatively known as "pulsars," are highly condensed 
>bodies. They are the theoretical endpoints of stellar collapses with more
>mass 
>than, say, the Sun, but less than bodies capable of producing so-called
>"black 
>holes." Despite their name, neutron stars do not eject neutrons.
>    The passage of such an object through (or near) our solar system *might*

>affect planetary orbits, but there is little (read: no) evidence of such an
>event 
>during the past 4.5 billion years.

Surely, if a typical neutron star (mass approx. 1 solar) passed through our
solar system, it would _gravely_ disrupt planetary orbits, the amount of
disruption of course depending on the relative speed of passage, angle of
trajectory to the plane of the ecliptic, how close it passed by any
particular planet, etc.

The present near-circularity of planetary orbits indicates that nothing like
this has happened since the solar system's formation.