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Skidmore

(37,364 posts)
Tue Nov 6, 2012, 09:00 AM Nov 2012

Perhaps a sign in the sky

What better morning to read news like this.


http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/11/superman-home-planet-krypton-found-in-sky/

Nov 5, 2012 2:13pm
Superman Home: Planet Krypton ‘Found’ in Sky
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A panel from DC Comics, in which astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson helps Superman find Krypton. Image: DC Entertainment.

Look! Up in the sky! It’s — oh, forget it.
Superman is, of course, a fictional character, the stuff of comics and movies. But that didn’t stop DC Comics, which owns the Superman franchise, from enlisting the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson to “find” the location of his lost home planet, Krypton.

It’s in the constellation Corvus the raven, in the southern sky not far from Virgo and Hydra. The planet Krypton — not that it ever existed — would have orbited a red dwarf star called LHS 2520, Tyson concluded. The star is 27.1 light-years from Earth.

You’ll recall that according to the story, the baby Kal-El was sent in a spaceship to Earth by his parents, who knew that Krypton would soon be destroyed. As an adult in the city of Metropolis, he disguises himself as Clark Kent, a reporter fighting a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American way. But he also has feelings. In the newest comic, out this week, Tyson is seen helping the homesick Superman trace his roots....

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