It seems to be agreed among deniers, that there is a warming happening on other planets in the solar system. And not just one or two planets.
It is considered climate denier gospel that all the other planets are warming, and that this is proof that some kind of solar activity is warming the whole system.
This notion has given rise to a standing joke among climate deniers. A little bit of subtle and clever climate denial humor.
--beavis and butthead laugh---
Now, we've covered the solar issue in another video. One thing we can be quite certain of is that the sun is not warming, we have the technology to measure it.
But the myth of warming amongst the planets persists, and the most popular example that deniers give is mars.
Isn't it interesting that deniers will swear up and down that climate science is too undeveloped and puny to prove a warming on this planet, but they maintain a mystical,
metaphysical certainty, that all the other far off planets, where we've never even sent a space probe, much less a thermometer, are warming.
Again, let's look at this example from comments on my videos.
The writer seems to think he has proof of warming on mars, and he's provided a link.
So let's go there and take a look at what he's found.
So, we see a news article, with a headline, "Climate Change hits mars".
Fair enough. For this denier, that's enough to constitute proof.
Now, I'm going to do something many deniers will say is radical and unfair. They may want
to close there eyes - because I'm going read the article.
It's interesting that two paragraphs down, the article states that the mechanism at work on mars appears, however, to be different from that on Earth, and it actually quotes one of the scientists who did the study.
It turns out that this study examined photos of mars surface from the 1970s, and the 1990s. The pictures showed some differences in the light and dark areas of the planet, which may have been caused by planet wide dust storms which occur on mars.
Changing light and dark areas changes the amount of heat that the planet absorbs, and may have affected temperature.
But most mars observers will tell you that there is an awful lot we need to know about Mars before we
declare that it actually is warming there, much less what the cause might be.
But for this climate denier, the headline is enough, proof positive, that Mars is warming, the sun is doing it, and it's exactly the same as what is happening on earth, case closed.
And, for a poster in the comment section here, the facts of the article are no barrier to yet a little more rib tickling fun.
Now you may think this is an unusual and unfair example. That not all climate deniers simply read a headline and declare that the science is in on extraterrestrial warming.
But I see this all the time.
Take a look at a post on this climate blog. Here, a denialist insists on another favorite hobby horse, warming on Pluto.
And, he gives us his proof in yet another link.
Because we always give the other side a hearing, we'll follow this link as well.
This take us to an article on a credible site, space.com, entitled, "Global Warming on Pluto Puzzles Scientists".
Once again, I'm going to apply a radical analytical technique, and read the article.
and once again, a paragraph or two down, we read,
"The Change is likely a seasonal event, much as the seasons on the Earth change as the hemispheres alter their inclination to the Sun during the planet's annual orbit"
It turns out that Pluto takes 248 earth years to get around the sun, and we've only been observing it since 1930, not even half a Plutonion year.
What we do know, is that Pluto was in its closest approach to the sun, Plutonion "summer", from 1979
to 1999. During that period, Pluto was no longer the outermost planet, as it was actually closer to the sun than Neptune.
According to the article:
Though Pluto was closest to the Sun in 1989, a warming trend 13 years later does not surprise David Tholen, a University of Hawaii astronomer involved in the discovery.
"It takes time for materials to warm up and cool off, which is why the hottest part of the day on Earth is usually around 2 or 3 pm, rather than local noon, -- This warming trend on Pluto could easily last for another 13 years.
that is, until about 2015.
We've only just scratched the surface in learning about the dynamics of other planets.
At least on mars, we've had orbiters and landers now for 30 years.
Other planets like pluto remain largely a mystery to even our most powerful telescopes.
Every other planet has its own climate system and its own mysteries we'll be unraveling for
centuries. Data about temperature on other planets can only be teased indirectly from
extremely sparse and often contradictory data.
One very preliminary study, for instance, shows that Uranus, another mysterious and far off world, is cooling.
Our planetary experts at NASA, the people who know the most about the solar system, are not concerned about warming trends on other planets. The warming they have been warning us about for more than two decades is right here on earth. Maybe its time we listened to them.
I want to thank all of you who are spreading these climate videos on your blogs, facebooks, and personal networks.
With your help, we're making climate denier heads explode all over the planet.
Keep letting people know, and I'll keep serving up the fresh crocks right here.
See you next week.