New Earth may have been found

[Cthogua]

"The Earth-like planet that could be covered in oceans and may support life is 20.5 light years away, and has the right temperature to allow liquid water on its surface."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1965

Seriously cool stuff, I love to be living in the time when we're first finding these things. I remember being taught in jr. high science that our solar system was probably unique, or atleast extremely rare....then they figure out how to detect planets orbiting around stars and are like "Oh...it looks like most stars have planets. Then they were like, "Well all the planets we're seeing are giants and not hospitable for life...Then they get telescopes powerful enough to see smaller planets, and it seems one of the first places we look we find a world very similar to our own. Its never seemed more reasonable that there could be billions of planets supporting life out there. If even half a percent of the stars in our galaxy alone harbor earth- like worlds that's still a billion life supporting worlds. Something about that thought is enormously comforting.

[Costau D]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately (too much science chanel). It would be great, to be able to see intelligent life like that of star trek or star wars. Then i heard someone say something that no one has really mentioned. WE are the aliens. We may be the first species to ever start space travel... It had/has to start somewhere. Maybe we will be the ones who are intelligent species YEARS from now.

[DeadlyFreeze]

Defiantly would be interesting if it turns out to be true. Most importantly it would actually give a real legitimate reason to have a space program.

[Chariot]

Pretty sweet, gives NASA something to shoot for for the next 100 years lol.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6589157.stm

[CaptainInsano]

If even half a percent of the stars in our galaxy alone harbor earth- like worlds that's still a billion life supporting worlds. Something about that thought is enormously comforting.

well said

[m@.]

this is just so inspiring!

[CaptainInsano]

check dis' out!



The new planet is 5 times the mass of earth!!! It has a diameter of 12,000 miles (earth has 8,000).

It's sun is 10 times closer to the planet... that means it appears 10 times larger in the sky. Coincedently, it's 10 times cooler than our sun, making average temperatures there 0- 40 celcius (or 32-102 fareinheight for us Americans). I guess it doesn't snow there? meh!

Also, check dis out. It oribits it's sun in 8 days! That's fuckin awesome! 2 days of spring, 2 days of summer, 2 days of fall, 2 days of winter? Not only that, it's nearest planet appears in the sky even during the day time. How freaky that? Look how friggin big that other planet is!

Dude, I'm on the FIRST colonization ship! I call dibs. Right here you saw me do it first.

Am I the only one going ape shit here?

[Brendan N]

Man this is so cool, awesome find!
I'm psyched!

[tensai]

i'm packing my stuff, bringing some tea and maybe a camera.

[HunterKiller_]

While the chance for a new Earth-like planet is exciting, I remain strongly skeptical.

The Earth is at an exact distance to the Sun to allow life as we know it to exist. If it were closer or further by the slightly amount (in astronomical terms, of course) there would be catastrophic changes to the atmosphere.

[Mr Man]

Well I dont think well be traveling there soon

[Summer Pudding]

An M class planet so near? Engage!

[AdamDillabo]

if humans had a ship that could travel at light speed, i would be on it today.

[Dile_]

120.000.000.000.000 miles wich is about 193000000000000 km
To the moon its like 385000 km ... It takes two days to go with a normal space shuttle for 400000 km ... It would take 965000000 days to go to this planet. Sucks, doesn't it ? ( the average human live for 25000 to 32000 days... UGH )

[Carnifex]

someone invent cryotubes!
really cool.

[Cthogua]

While the chance for a new Earth-like planet is exciting, I remain strongly skeptical.

The Earth is at an exact distance to the Sun to allow life as we know it to exist. If it were closer or further by the slightly amount (in astronomical terms, of course) there would be catastrophic changes to the atmosphere.

Totally true, however its the "as we know it" part that allows for the possibility. Life "as we know it" is that way because of the environment of earth. Everything that has evolved here has evolved to fit niches in the ecology specifically related to the environment around it. Theres no reason to think that given generally similar conditions other life wouldn't arise to fit roles suited for whatever kind of atmosphere, and terrain found on this new planet. They even suggest that it may be covered with oceans, which I would argue are an even more fertile ground for the development of life than land.

I had a thought the other day while watching "Planet Earth." That life is just like the other systems of the earth, weather, geology, ect...Its an enourmously complex system developed, possibily over billions of years, but given reasonably supportive conditions it almost seems like it HAS to develop. The way that a specific creature is shaped by its environment, so to I think on a grander scale, life itself is shaped by the favorable conditions on a planet. Given a certain set of conditions, what we call life forms. It doesn't have to be miraculous, infact the desire for it to be clouds our vision of the true nature of it. I'm not saying that life isn't miraculous, I think it is, but in the same way everything about our planet is. WE are part of that everything, and as such, we as sentient life forms represent nature becoming aware of itself. That is enormously comforting to me because it means we are connected to and are part of everything around us. That thought tends to make my day to day problems seem pretty insignificant.

I have a book called "The Self Made Tapestry" thats about pattern formation in nature, and in the beginning the author talks about these shapes appearing not by some fluke chance, or by some creators hand, but simply because it is the way things develop due to their chemistry and molecular geometry. Much the way a lightning bolt is the way it is because that was the path it HAD to find...there are no lightning bolts that took the hardest route...indeed lightning forms as an expression of the meeting of a charge, with a path to ground. Life takes the forms it needs to take inorder to exist in its environs. Granted there are plenty of situations that make any sort of life, probably, untenable, the vacuum of space, worlds drenched in sulfuric acid with average temperatures of 800 degrees, etc...But I'll bet there is a set of conditions that if met = life, because life is simply just the next level of complexity to develop out of chemical, physical, and geological systems of a planet.

[light]

check dis' out!



The new planet is 5 times the mass of earth!!! It has a diameter of 12,000 miles (earth has 8,000).

It's sun is 10 times closer to the planet... that means it appears 10 times larger in the sky. Coincedently, it's 10 times cooler than our sun, making average temperatures there 0- 40 celcius (or 32-102 fareinheight for us Americans). I guess it doesn't snow there? meh!

Also, check dis out. It oribits it's sun in 8 days! That's fuckin awesome! 2 days of spring, 2 days of summer, 2 days of fall, 2 days of winter? Not only that, it's nearest planet appears in the sky even during the day time. How freaky that? Look how friggin big that other planet is!

Dude, I'm on the FIRST colonization ship! I call dibs. Right here you saw me do it first.

Am I the only one going ape shit here?

I think there's a couple cults that already called dibs.

[Wasker]

I hope there's aliens over there, especially hot ones like that borg woman from star trek voyager, yummy!

[JAG.]

dude.. im there. imagine being the first person to set foot on that planet.

i skimmed thru the posts, may have missed this but.. cryo-tubes are very possible.. we have the technology already.

the problem is getting there. you'd need a LOT of fuel to go over there, and its almost certain it'd be a one way trip. so you'd have to take whatever equipment and survival gear youd need till you could get fairly established and wait for the back-up to arrive.

thats where it gets tricky.. besides theres no CA on that plant - JAG

[JAG.]

heh id be happy with them shooting for not messing up anymore - JAG

[Costau D]

Oh come on now. Don't put too much pressure on them, they are really trying...

[Costau D]

I want to be the first human to take it over. In the far far future the rich are going to soon be buying their own planets to live on.

And, we don't need to depend on a ship going really fast, just build a ship that has its own eco system and a small colony of people and voila, a civilizaiton will make it there in no time....

[sciboy]

Sorry guys but i merged the two threads, one on the same topic is plenty.

[Blue]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately (too much science chanel). It would be great, to be able to see intelligent life like that of star trek or star wars. Then i heard someone say something that no one has really mentioned. WE are the aliens. We may be the first species to ever start space travel... It had/has to start somewhere. Maybe we will be the ones who are intelligent species YEARS from now.

cross your fingers that we don't blow ourselves up by then.

[Moai]

Well I dont think well be traveling there soon

120.000.000.000.000 miles wich is about 193000000000000 km
To the moon its like 385000 km ... It takes two days to go with a normal space shuttle for 400000 km ... It would take 965000000 days to go to this planet. Sucks, doesn't it ? ( the average human live for 25000 to 32000 days... UGH )

Pessimist me, that's just what I was thinking too. It doesn't seem very likely that any of us will know for sure if this planet harbors life, let alone what it looks like, in our lifetimes. According to Wikipedia, even getting to the nearest Star, Proxima Centauri, at the fastest speed theoretically possible with modern technology, would take at least 100 years. So, if we start tomorrow, we should be able to get a probe to this planet in about 400 years.
Somebody better invent something pretty quick, that's all I'm sayin'.
Interesting links: Proxima Centauri, Project Longshot, Interstellar Travel

[jfwalls]

As cool as it is, you have to remember one of the big factors that are now being credited to the explosion of life on earth, the moon. Without it our climate and weather would be extremely harsh. Also, when we first glimpsed mars humans thought there were canals and rivers, and made up all kinds of hypothesis as to what could evolve there.

While I doubt there would be highly advanced organisms, I would be just as happy to hear there were slime molds and fungus.

[Dile_]

365 x 2500000 = 90000000000 ( approximately ) days.. so 400 years, no way 2500000 years, yes! So if we send a way a fleet now, they will reach the place in 75000 generations The modern technology also want us to fill the space ship with fuel from time to time , wich would create some small problems

Or am I being 100% off now ?

[jadefoodog]

what would the effect of 2x gravity be on your lungs and heart even if they invent cryo and light speed travel you would have 20 years of muscular atrophy . he only logical suggestion i heard would have been the biotope space vessel only if they invented artificial gravity that they could increase gradually to 2.5x gravity over the travel period. even then your kids wouldn't be see the arrival to the planet in their lifetime.

[Costau D]

Pessimist me, that's just what I was thinking too. It doesn't seem very likely that any of us will know for sure if this planet harbors life, let alone what it looks like, in our lifetimes. According to Wikipedia, even getting to the nearest Star, Proxima Centauri, at the fastest speed theoretically possible with modern technology, would take at least 100 years. So, if we start tomorrow, we should be able to get a probe to this planet in about 400 years.
Somebody better invent something pretty quick, that's all I'm sayin'.
Interesting links: Proxima Centauri, Project Longshot, Interstellar Travel

Pessimist or not. Just dont say it is impossible. Don't forget about the theory of using wormholes... The goal is not to travel fast, it is to cut a hole in space so you dont have to actually "move" from one place to another.

Everyone knows that whole explanation with the peice of paper and poking holes on each end and folding it so they meet.

[Moai]

365 x 2500000 = 90000000000 ( approximately ) days.. so 400 years, no way 2500000 years, yes! So if we send a way a fleet now, they will reach the place in 75000 generations The modern technology also want us to fill the space ship with fuel from time to time , wich would create some small problems

Or am I being 100% off now ?

My estimation of about 400 years came from the Project Longshot link that I posted. Project Longshot is a spacecraft powered by some pulse fusion/fission thing that is theoretically possible with modern technology. It is estimated that this craft would take about 100 years to reach Proxima Centauri, which is 4.22 light years away. This new planet is 20 light years away, so it'd actually take about 500 years to reach using this system. Don't know what I was thinking by saying 400 years. I need to study my multiplication tables, I guess.
As for the refueling, the Wikipedia article said something about a long-lived nuclear reactor. I don't pretend to know much about any of this, though.
So, I guess I'm saying that I didn't just pull those things I said out of my ass. I pulled them out of Wikipedia's ass.

Pessimist or not. Just dont say it is impossible. Don't forget about the theory of using wormholes... The goal is not to travel fast, it is to cut a hole in space so you dont have to actually "move" from one place to another.

Everyone knows that whole explanation with the peice of paper and poking holes on each end and folding it so they meet.

Never said it wasn't possible. Just unlikely to happen in our lifetimes. But maybe.