Science

steve2470

(37,457 posts) Thu Jul 23, 2015, 03:05 PM Jul 2015

NASA: 'We've found ANOTHER EARTH'

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/07/23/kepler_telescope_spots_earth_20/

(yes original article headline)

NASA boffins peering through the Kepler space telescope have spotted a huge Earth-like planet that could be home to alien life.

"This is the closest thing we've yet found to another Earth," said Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA's Ames Research Center.

At a press conference on Thursday, NASA unveiled Kepler 452b, an alien world orbiting a star very similar to our Sun in the constellation Cygnus. The planet is said to be perfectly placed in its solar system to be habitable.

Specifically, 452b lies in what's called the Goldilocks Zone, which is the distance a planet needs to be from its star for liquid water to exist on its surface. Water is, of course, an essential building block of life as we know it.

more at link

14 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

NASA: 'We've found ANOTHER EARTH' (Original Post) steve2470 Jul 2015 OP

I'll bet it makes our planet look like shit too.... sharp_stick Jul 2015 #1

Hahaha! geardaddy Jul 2015 #8

I had forgotten about this article. Thanks! gvstn Jul 2015 #14

And true to our methods, it will be habitable by the human species as soon as Baitball Blogger Jul 2015 #2

With any luck- ruffburr Jul 2015 #3

this kind of comments qazplm Jul 2015 #13

It's 1400 light years away. Warren DeMontague Jul 2015 #6

Scotty... CubicleGuy Jul 2015 #10

Those would be some really strong aliens Flying Squirrel Jul 2015 #4

At 1400 LY, only information we'll be getting from there will be from very good telescopes Warren DeMontague Jul 2015 #7

1400 light years away... CubicleGuy Jul 2015 #11

Exactly. And if they're looking at us, they're watching Islam just start to spread across Arabia, or Warren DeMontague Jul 2015 #12

LET'S GO!!!!!!!!! MADem Jul 2015 #5

I learned a new word today: "boffins" BlueEye Jul 2015 #9

sharp_stick

(14,400 posts)

1. I'll bet it makes our planet look like shit too....

Reply to steve2470 (Original post)

Thu Jul 23, 2015, 03:15 PM

Jul 2015

http://www.theonion.com/article/astronomers-discover-new-planet-that-really-makes--37986

geardaddy

(24,931 posts)

8. Hahaha!

Reply to sharp_stick (Reply #1)

Thu Jul 23, 2015, 05:46 PM

Jul 2015

gvstn

(2,805 posts)

14. I had forgotten about this article. Thanks!

Reply to sharp_stick (Reply #1)

Sat Jul 25, 2015, 04:25 PM

Jul 2015

Baitball Blogger

(46,757 posts)

2. And true to our methods, it will be habitable by the human species as soon as

Reply to steve2470 (Original post)

Thu Jul 23, 2015, 03:25 PM

Jul 2015

we extinguish all "alien" life forms.

ruffburr

(1,190 posts)

3. With any luck-

Reply to Baitball Blogger (Reply #2)

Thu Jul 23, 2015, 04:08 PM

Jul 2015

This time the shoe will be on the aliens side and we'll be "Extinguished" first

qazplm

(3,626 posts)

13. this kind of comments

Reply to ruffburr (Reply #3)

Thu Jul 23, 2015, 09:03 PM

Jul 2015

get repeated and they look ridiculous every single time.

Warren DeMontague

(80,708 posts)

6. It's 1400 light years away.

Reply to Baitball Blogger (Reply #2)

Thu Jul 23, 2015, 04:59 PM

Jul 2015

No one is going to put up any strip malls there any time soon.

CubicleGuy

(323 posts)

10. Scotty...

Reply to Warren DeMontague (Reply #6)

Thu Jul 23, 2015, 06:06 PM

Jul 2015

... if you don't give me warp drive in 50 years, we're all dead.

Flying Squirrel

(3,041 posts)

4. Those would be some really strong aliens

Reply to steve2470 (Original post)

Thu Jul 23, 2015, 04:20 PM

Jul 2015

With gravity twice ours. I think I'd avoid the place (but a probe mission would be fun anyway)

Warren DeMontague

(80,708 posts)

7. At 1400 LY, only information we'll be getting from there will be from very good telescopes

Reply to Flying Squirrel (Reply #4)

Thu Jul 23, 2015, 05:01 PM

Jul 2015

barring some breakthrough on the order of Mr. Alcubierre's extremely hypothetical and speculative warp drive, we can look but not touch.

CubicleGuy

(323 posts)

11. 1400 light years away...

Reply to Warren DeMontague (Reply #7)

Thu Jul 23, 2015, 06:07 PM

Jul 2015

... means we're looking at what they were like (assuming there's any "they" there), 1400 years ago.

I wonder what they're like NOW.

Warren DeMontague

(80,708 posts)

12. Exactly. And if they're looking at us, they're watching Islam just start to spread across Arabia, or

Reply to CubicleGuy (Reply #11)

Thu Jul 23, 2015, 06:12 PM

Jul 2015

whatever else was happening on Earth circa 615 or so.

MADem

(135,425 posts)

5. LET'S GO!!!!!!!!!

Reply to steve2470 (Original post)

Thu Jul 23, 2015, 04:22 PM

Jul 2015

BlueEye

(449 posts)

9. I learned a new word today: "boffins"

Reply to steve2470 (Original post)

Thu Jul 23, 2015, 05:51 PM

Jul 2015

When I first read it, I thought it was "buffoons". Poor NASA buffoons!

Seriously though, this is phenomenal. It's a shame the place is several light-years away.

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