Template talk:Orbitbox planet hypothetical

Use of tildes

The use of a tilde implies variation of at least an order of magnitude in the stated value. This is incorrect in the large majority of cases where this template is used. It should be removed but User:NuclearVacuum is apparently very insistent on its use. It would be better to indicate a planet whose status is uncertain in some other way, perhaps by including the phrase "(uncertain)" in the planet's name box. 131.111.8.98 (talk) 16:17, 11 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This is used for hypothetical planets (no matter the use). Look at any exoplanet article and you will see. This symbol is used to say that the calculations are part of a hypothetical planet/object, that does not have an agreement on numbers and such. — Nuclear Vacuum 16:19, 11 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It's not so much a disagreement over the numbers that is the cause of uncertainty in most cases, it is the origin of the signal (or whether there is even a signal there). Putting the tilde means for example that we don't have an estimate of the period to within a factor of ten. This was not the case for, e.g. Gliese 436 c, where the period of the apparent signal was fairly well constrained, it just turned out the signal itself was spurious. Use of the tilde is incorrect. 131.111.8.98 (talk) 16:26, 11 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]