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Apparently we have found a planet suitable for life!
Is it a hoax? Or is it just pure awesome?
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein, Ap Science Writer – 1 hr 44 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Astronomers say they have for the first time spotted a planet beyond our own in what is sometimes called the Goldilocks zone for life: Not too hot, not too cold. Juuuust right.
Not too far from its star, not too close. So it could contain liquid water. The planet itself is neither too big nor too small for the proper surface, gravity and atmosphere.
It's just right. Just like Earth.
"This really is the first Goldilocks planet," said co-discoverer R. Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
The new planet sits smack in the middle of what astronomers refer to as the habitable zone, unlike any of the nearly 500 other planets astronomers have found outside our solar system. And it is in our galactic neighborhood, suggesting that plenty of Earth-like planets circle other stars.
Finding a planet that could potentially support life is a major step toward answering the timeless question: Are we alone?
Scientists have jumped the gun before on proclaiming that planets outside our solar system were habitable only to have them turn out to be not quite so conducive to life. But this one is so clearly in the right zone that five outside astronomers told The Associated Press it seems to be the real thing.
"This is the first one I'm truly excited about," said Penn State University's Jim Kasting. He said this planet is a "pretty prime candidate" for harboring life.
Life on other planets doesn't mean E.T. Even a simple single-cell bacteria or the equivalent of shower mold would shake perceptions about the uniqueness of life on Earth.
But there are still many unanswered questions about this strange planet. It is about three times the mass of Earth, slightly larger in width and much closer to its star — 14 million miles away versus 93 million. It's so close to its version of the sun that it orbits every 37 days. And it doesn't rotate much, so one side is almost always bright, the other dark.
Temperatures can be as hot as 160 degrees or as frigid as 25 degrees below zero, but in between — in the land of constant sunrise — it would be "shirt-sleeve weather," said co-discoverer Steven Vogt of the University of California at Santa Cruz.
It's unknown whether water actually exists on the planet, and what kind of atmosphere it has. But because conditions are ideal for liquid water, and because there always seems to be life on Earth where there is water, Vogt believes "that chances for life on this planet are 100 percent."
The astronomers' findings are being published in Astrophysical Journal and were announced by the National Science Foundation on Wednesday.
The planet circles a star called Gliese 581. It's about 120 trillion miles away, so it would take several generations for a spaceship to get there. It may seem like a long distance, but in the scheme of the vast universe, this planet is "like right in our face, right next door to us," Vogt said in an interview.
That close proximity and the way it was found so early in astronomers' search for habitable planets hints to scientists that planets like Earth are probably not that rare.
Vogt and Butler ran some calculations, with giant fudge factors built in, and figured that as much as one out of five to 10 stars in the universe have planets that are Earth-sized and in the habitable zone.
With an estimated 200 billion stars in the universe, that means maybe 40 billion planets that have the potential for life, Vogt said. However, Ohio State University's Scott Gaudi cautioned that is too speculative about how common these planets are.
Vogt and Butler used ground-based telescopes to track the star's precise movements over 11 years and watch for wobbles that indicate planets are circling it. The newly discovered planet is actually the sixth found circling Gliese 581. Two looked promising for habitability for a while, another turned out to be too hot and the fifth is likely too cold. This sixth one bracketed right in the sweet spot in between, Vogt said.
With the star designated "a," its sixth planet is called Gliese 581g.
"It's not a very interesting name and it's a beautiful planet," Vogt said. Unofficially, he's named it after his wife: "I call it Zarmina's World."
The star Gliese 581 is a dwarf, about one-third the strength of our sun. Because of that, it can't be seen without a telescope from Earth, although it is in the Libra constellation, Vogt said.
But if you were standing on this new planet, you could easily see our sun, Butler said.
The low-energy dwarf star will live on for billions of years, much longer than our sun, he said. And that just increases the likelihood of life developing on the planet, the discoverers said.
"It's pretty hard to stop life once you give it the right conditions," Vogt said.
Doubt if they would make this up Ash, but whether or not it may have the right conditions for life is an open question.
It's possible and is of course in the awesome category.
If I had a brain I would love to be an astronomer.
The universe is just mind bogglingly amazing!
Shadowbrand wrote:Well I believe. It we know there are BILLONS of worlds out there.
It's perfectly plausible for a few to have life on them.
Exactly, the Galaxy is far too big for us to be the only inhabitants. However, people have said that planets may have life on them before, and nothing was there.
I've never feared Death or Dying. I've only feared never Trying.
Yeah, and remember when Butter was better for you than Margerine.... No wait, Marg is better than Butter, No wait, Butter is better than Mar- Is better than Butter.
I've never feared Death or Dying. I've only feared never Trying.
Intresting, not all that worried if their turns out to be life on it. The chances of either them or us developeing the tech to reach each other is slim.
It saddens me somewhat that I will not likely live to see Man enter the stars in earnest, unless we make some huge technological leaps in the next couple of decades
Surprisingly, i believe it will become a Columbus thing all over again. Either that or Cortes As history is known to repeat itself. As we as humans sometimes never learn to stop touching the oven because its hot. Or when we are told "don't press that button!" The tempation is so high its like saying to a five year old in perfect reach of a cookie, "NO COOKIES FOR YOU!"
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2010/09/30 03:20:01
From whom are unforgiven we bring the mercy of war.
I consider myself an adventurous person and if the planet is habitable there will eventually be a colonisation expidition sent to it but the chances of that happening in my life time (so I can be apart of it) are slim to none which sucks.
For some reason though this strangly reminds me of Pandorum when he's a little kid and they anounce that there is life on Tarnus and later on when he's older he ends up going there in the expedition that is sent. Of course we all know that went FUBAR.
Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:They never said there is life on planet X
They look to see if there is the possibility that the planet has conditions for supporting life.
It's unknown whether water actually exists on the planet, and what kind of atmosphere it has. But because conditions are ideal for liquid water, and because there always seems to be life on Earth where there is water, Vogt believes "that chances for life on this planet are 100 percent."
In terms of this specific researcher the suggestion is pretty clear. 100% chance for life equals life. Perhaps the intention was to convey an opinion that if life does not exist now it will in the future or has in the past. Any of these claims is very dubious.
I personally believe it is literally beyond possibility for life to exist on only one planet in the entire universe at any given time. That opinion does not conclude that life doesn't exist on completely different sides of the universe. A distance so vast that contact between lifeforms is pretty much impossible. It is still there, but there is no reason we will ever be aware of it.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2010/09/30 07:20:37
Slarg232 wrote:However, people have said that planets may have life on them before, and nothing was there.
Umm, what? We've been to planets inside this solar system, and nowhere else.
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Wrexasaur wrote:I personally believe it is literally beyond possibility for life to exist on only one planet in the entire universe at any given time. That opinion does not conclude that life doesn't exist on completely different sides of the universe. A distance so vast that contact between lifeforms is pretty much impossible. It is still there, but there is no reason we will ever be aware of it.
Well, the planet in question is 20 light years away. At our current technology it'd take us about 400 years to get there, and another 400 hundred to get back. That is, if instead of launching the Sixth Crusade Emperor Frederick II had launched a probe with 21st C technology we would only have to wait another 20 odd years for it to come back.
It's pretty likely that there could be life on that planet and that we will never be aware of it.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2010/09/30 07:35:41
“We may observe that the government in a civilized country is much more expensive than in a barbarous one; and when we say that one government is more expensive than another, it is the same as if we said that that one country is farther advanced in improvement than another. To say that the government is expensive and the people not oppressed is to say that the people are rich.”
Adam Smith, who must have been some kind of leftie or something.
Unless Earth develops ships actually capable of reliable fast space flight, instead of the flying rafts we now possess. Having a fleet of ships scouring the galaxy, and given the sheer enormity of it, i don't see why we could not find at least one habitable planet. I'm not talking about ET or intelligent life, some alien jellyfish would be nice.
However, i don't see that happening very soon
EDIT:
sebster wrote:Umm, what? We've been to planets inside this solar system, and nowhere else.
sebster wrote:It's pretty likely that there could be life on that planet and that we will never be aware of it.
Yes, unfortunately, we suck when it comes to space travel.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2010/09/30 07:50:25
sebster wrote:Well, the planet in question is 20 light years away. At our current technology it'd take us about 400 years to get there, and another 400 hundred to get back. That is, if instead of launching the Sixth Crusade Emperor Frederick II had launched a probe with 21st C technology we would only have to wait another 20 odd years for it to come back.
It's pretty likely that there could be life on that planet and that we will never be aware of it.
It's also likely that we will never understand the full scope of life on this planet. I don't mean to say that I think we haven't discovered the vast majority of life; just that we have a long way to go before we hit a concrete mark of discovery.
It would be interesting to be able to see what the future holds for us in terms of space travel. My guess would be that we either send out colonies that will communicate with us long-distance; or that we will develop some sort of super-self that can be sent out in the form of a robot, also communicating via long distance. The super-self robot probably stands the best chance as it could avoid many of the problems involved with actual human beings; ignoring that a robot would not have the ability to adapt as humans likely would.
Dunno. Wish I had a future telescope.
aka_tizz wrote:Yes, unfortunately, we suck when it comes to space travel.
Relatively speaking we are much better than anything we are aware of when it comes to traveling through vast nothingness.
Yes though, we do pretty much suck at space travel. I'm not particularly bothered, but I would be if I were around a century from now, and we still failed miserably.
Crap, I say. Bollocks and crap.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2010/09/30 07:54:15
Wrexasaur wrote:It's also likely that we will never understand the full scope of life on this planet. I don't mean to say that I think we haven't discovered the vast majority of life; just that we have a long way to go before we hit a concrete mark of discovery.
Ahtman wrote:Soon, we will be the invading aliens!
I'd actually love to be around and see what new ways to F**K it all up we humans would find
Wrexasaur wrote:Dunno. Wish I had a future telescope.
I think you pretty much nailed it over there
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2010/09/30 07:54:34
aka_tizz wrote:Yes, unfortunately, we suck when it comes to space travel.
So do the aliens. Against most movie and sci-fi tropes, we are actually the most technologically advanced race. Soon, we will be the invading aliens!
Wait... Are you comparing us to fictional us?
No, I am saying that most of our stories are about technologically advanced aliens. It is the stories that we tell each other: Independence Day, The Day the Earth Stood Still, ect ect. The reality is that we are the most advanced, technologically speaking, race in the entire universe. Why? I dunno, why not?
Amidst the mists and coldest frosts he thrusts his fists against the posts and still insists he sees the ghosts.
Ahtman wrote:No, I am saying that most of our stories are about technologically advanced aliens. It is the stories that we tell each other: Independence Day, The Day the Earth Stood Still, ect ect. The reality is that we are the most advanced, technologically speaking, race in the entire universe. Why? I dunno, why not?
Although i do not contest what you are saying, there is also the possibility of some other race much more advanced than us (by that i mean space-faring), and they just haven't found us yet
Ahtman wrote:No, I am saying that most of our stories are about technologically advanced aliens. It is the stories that we tell each other: Independence Day, The Day the Earth Stood Still, ect ect. The reality is that we are the most advanced, technologically speaking, race in the entire universe. Why? I dunno, why not?
Well, if we're going to their planet then we're the most advanced. If they're coming here, they are. I guess there's more stories of people coming here because that's more relevant to audiences, and likely a lot cheaper to film.
Thing is, if we could somehow know how many races there are in the galaxy then we'd know the odds of us being the most advanced. If we could say that there's exactly one trillion planets stars, and that 1/1,000 has intelligent life, then we could deduce that there's one billion other civilisations out there. The odds of us being the most advanced would be one in one billion.
“We may observe that the government in a civilized country is much more expensive than in a barbarous one; and when we say that one government is more expensive than another, it is the same as if we said that that one country is farther advanced in improvement than another. To say that the government is expensive and the people not oppressed is to say that the people are rich.”
Adam Smith, who must have been some kind of leftie or something.
Apparently the planet has a Extremely Hot side and a dark side (-Insert Dark Side Joke here-) and so only the strip in the middle is habitable.
Think of it like a halo ring.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2010/09/30 09:27:04
Black Templar - 3400 Pts + The Genesis Crusade +
Space Wolves - 1100 Pts + Bjorn Stormwolf's Great Company +
Death Korps of Krieg - WIP + 162nd Infantry Regiment +
Could you be there
Black Templar - 3400 Pts + The Genesis Crusade +
Space Wolves - 1100 Pts + Bjorn Stormwolf's Great Company +
Death Korps of Krieg - WIP + 162nd Infantry Regiment +
