Potentially habitable planet found

Source: Associated Press

Potentially habitable planet found
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer 1 minute ago

WASHINGTON - For the first time astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for "life in the universe."

The planet is just the right size, might have water in liquid form, and in galactic terms is relatively nearby at 120 trillion miles away. But the star it closely orbits, known as a "red dwarf," is much smaller, dimmer and cooler than our sun.

There's still a lot that is unknown about the new planet, which could be deemed inhospitable to life once more is known about it. And it's worth noting that scientists' requirements for habitability count Mars in that category: a size relatively similar to Earth's with temperatures that would permit liquid water. However, this is the first outside our solar system that meets those standards.

"It's a significant step on the way to finding possible life in the universe," said University of Geneva astronomer Michel Mayor, one of 11 European scientists on the team that found the planet. "It's a nice discovery. We still have a lot of questions."

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070425/ap_on_sc/habitable_planet

Our current method of finding planets is:
A planet BIG enoght orbitting around its sun will make its sun wobble.

With this method we only find BIG planets.
Or in this case, a small planet which circles its sun extremely fast in close orbit.
Only because it's a low temerature red dwarf the planet could be habitable at this close distance to its sun.

BUT:
With this method we will NEVER find real earth sized planets in earthlike orbits, because it doesn't make the sun wobble measurably.

We need better methods to "see" planets of distant suns.

Ours, and this one.

Therefore, there are billions. And billions. And uncountable billions.

Just the fact that we've found this after such a short time of being able to look, and found it from our own planet, means earthlike planets are likely not so special- relatively speaking- if this is true.

This is a pretty exciting announcement, for all that the planet is 120 trillion miles away. It's encouraging. If we survive this era, we may yet spread out from this little blue ball.

I'd like that.

One nice planet every 20 light years... scattered over billions of cubic light years
Do the math yourself...

Personally I don't understand people believing we could be "the ones" or "the chosen" in such a big universe.
That would be hell of a waste of space!

:rofl:

Gotta love those nerd jokes. :)

"The universe is very gassy"

Spock vs Q

:)

In it, he quotes from many sources, from ancient Grecian writings to biblical text to famous quotes.

They're individual sound files. One of them has him quoting "I am the Lord thy God..."

I want that as my PC's startup sound, but I haven't isolated it among the files yet: Nimoy saying, "I am the Lord thy God..."

:silly:

I'm not a Trekkie... I just think he has a very distinctive voice. He makes a great reader, as when he did (I think it was) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in a reader's theater format on- what was it- the Sci-Fi channel, a few years back? It's too bad he's as old as he is; I'd like to listen to books on CD read by him while I'm at work...

That should be nominated to DU's Hall of Fame for one liners.

:rofl:

(Mandatory BBC Red Dwarf reference.)

:rofl:

Hekate

He'd fuck it up in record time.

That way, I'll be safe from fascist laws...at least until they start "taming" the new wild west.

Sending them all on Mars would be cheaper (and faster)!

With all the money they stole, they'd find nowhere to spend it there...

:woohoo:

n/t

Shouldn't we go there instead of sending the bushies since they're well on their way to screwing up the planet we've got now? Leave the bushies here. I'll take the new less screwed up planet please.

and send them on their way.

After fair and due process, of course.

And pack it full of hairdressers, middle managers.... and Republicans.

They can be the new vanguard of the human race!

But then we'll all ironically die of a plague contracted from an unsanitary telephone.

Life... it's all so depressing.

:)

Or better yet:



Good times, good times.

I mean odds were there had to be SOME

so we cannot tell what its precise atmospheric composition is. It is quite possibly class M, but may be class K, L or N.

We need to adjust those sliders. Now.

/Galactic Civilizations 2 (PC game)

Spectral Class: M2V

"ready phasers..."

Is this new world called planet Smeg?

N = N* fp ne fl fi fc fL

N* is about 100 billion (just in the Milky Way)

fp is looking to be much larger than original estimates (seems like a lot of stars have planets).

now ne is looking to be significant.

I would be very surprised if N is less than 100,000.

I totally get it.

Drake equation...

here is the complete description of the variables. Plus you can google it for more complete explanations.

Description

The Drake Equation was developed by Frank Drake in 1961 as a way to focus on the factors which determine how many intelligent, communicating civilizations there are in our galaxy. The Drake Equation is:
N = N* fp ne fl fi fc fL

The equation can really be looked at as a number of questions:

N* represents the number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy

Question: How many stars are in the Milky Way Galaxy?
Answer: Current estimates are 100 billion.

fp is the fraction of stars that have planets around them

Question: What percentage of stars have planetary systems?
Answer: Current estimates range from 20% to 50%.

ne is the number of planets per star that are capable of sustaining life

Question: For each star that does have a planetary system, how many planets are capable of sustaining life?
Answer: Current estimates range from 1 to 5.

fl is the fraction of planets in ne where life evolves

Question: On what percentage of the planets that are capable of sustaining life does life actually evolve?
Answer: Current estimates range from 100% (where life can evolve it will) down to close to 0%.

fi is the fraction of fl where intelligent life evolves

Question: On the planets where life does evolve, what percentage evolves intelligent life?
Answer: Estimates range from 100% (intelligence is such a survival advantage that it will certainly evolve) down to near 0%.

fc is the fraction of fi that communicate

Question: What percentage of intelligent races have the means and the desire to communicate?
Answer: 10% to 20%

fL is fraction of the planet's life during which the communicating civilizations live

Question: For each civilization that does communicate, for what fraction of the planet's life does the civilization survive?
Answer: This is the toughest of the questions. If we take Earth as an example, the expected lifetime of our Sun and the Earth is roughly 10 billion years. So far we've been communicating with radio waves for less than 100 years. How long will our civilization survive? Will we destroy ourselves in a few years like some predict or will we overcome our problems and survive for millennia? If we were destroyed tomorrow the answer to this question would be 1/100,000,000th. If we survive for 10,000 years the answer will be 1/1,000,000th.

When all of these variables are multiplied together when come up with:

N, the number of communicating civilizations in the galaxy.

I used to read everything I could get my hands on that had anything to do with him. The Drake equation influenced many of Carl's theories. (which I doubt will ever be disproved).
I mourned his death - he died too young, and he still had so much to contribute to science.

I don't think "most" people are aware of the 'Drake Equation'.

... far outnumbering G class stars like the Sun. If there truly is a life bearing planet there, it probably means that life, at least simple life (like jellyfish or Bush's brain) is very common throughout the Universe. Intelligent life, though, may be far rarer for many reasons. I think there's a book on that subject called "Rare Earth".

edited for spelling

that it would arise from planets orbiting Red Dwarf stars. One of the reasons for this is that Red Dwarfs last so damned long, trillions of years is possible for the main sequence lifetime of a Red Dwarf. A Yellow Dwarf, like our Sun, leaves the main sequence after about 10 billion years or so, its about halfway through the main sequence already.

By the way, some pertinent facts are missing in the article, there is another planet orbiting Gliese 581, called b. Its a Venusian type of planet, in a near circular orbit, and would be much closer to the star than c is. Gliese 581 is about one quarter the size of our sun, and only about one fiftieth as luminous.

haha

Earth-like Planet Discovered in Libra
by Nell Boyce

Morning Edition, April 25, 2007 · Scientists have discovered a new planet in the constellation Libra. The small, rocky planet is special because it appears to have mild temperatures, like Earth. Researchers believe it looks like the first planet outside of our solar system that could be home to liquid water, and maybe even life.

Our solar system has only eight planets — nine if you count Pluto. But outside of our solar system, around other stars, scientists have found dozens and dozens of planets.

"We have discovered more than 100 planets, here in Geneva," says Michel Mayor, a planet hunter at the University of Geneva.

Almost all of these known "extrasolar" planets are giant balls of gas, much like Jupiter or Saturn. Such massive planets are relatively easy to find. They have a gravitational pull that makes their stars wobble, and when scientists see that wobble, they know there is a planet. Small, rocky planets cause less of a wobble, making them harder to find.

More:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9796321&ft=1&f=1001

This is very encouraging. Now watch Halliburton try to strip-mine it of all its resources, though.

Halliburton...In...SPAAAAACE!!!

There are plenty of uninhabitable planets that can be mined. Theoretically anyway.

Should high speed space travel ever be invented, I would hope that mining and other destructive forms of resource extraction are banned on all habitable planets...including Earth.

If this planet is habitable, it may ALREADY have habitants (in some form).

With any luck, there will already be inhabitants that can be forced into servitude.

it'll be like 1492 all over again! YAY discovery!

Adios, motherfuckers.

We have been monitoring your planet for millenniums. And now we can tap into your wireless networks to
read and communitcate . There is one easy way for you to reach us, but luckily you cut the funding
for the arts and an art class was canceled. You were two art classes away from a
huge discovery. The girl that would have made Leonardo look like a cave painter,
is now waiting tables and doing drugs to numb her self.

We think about .93% have no appreciation for fine things, so we prefer you stay away.
We value our animals, land and resources. We take care of one another.

We do like some of your music. Some things are universal.

As much as we would like to help, we are not permited to
interfere.

You all will be alright, it's just going to get ugly for
a while.

I hope that my writing makes sense...this translator is
not tuned properly.

With current technology, it would only take a couple hundred thousand years to get there. :-)

human into a sardine can and ship it over there in 20 light years, then put the stuff in the can back to a human form again.

I bet that this date is near!

LOL

i didn't think so

Given the state Earth will probably be in by the time we get the necessary tech to launch a colony mission, I might just be willing to take my chances with an alien environment.

Now we don't have to do a thing to stop messing our own nest - we can go foul another one. Yippee! :sarcasm:

So the fundies won't want to go, and it can become a liberal haven.

Monty Python - The Galaxy Song

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at nine hundred miles an hour,
That's orbiting at nineteen miles a second, so it's reckoned,
A sun that is the source of all our power.
The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at forty thousand miles an hour,
Of the galaxy we call the 'Milky Way'.
Our galaxy itself contains a hundred billion stars.
It's a hundred thousand light years side to side.
It bulges in the middle, sixteen thousand light years thick,
But out by us, it's just three thousand light years wide.
We're thirty thousand light years from galactic central point.
We go 'round every two hundred million years,
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe.

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whizz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light, you know,
Twelve million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth.

http://www.lyricsdepot.com/monty-python/galaxy-song.html

than human beings can go to that one and fuck it up just like they have done to the Earth. x(

It'd have to be much closer to its star than Earth is to the Sun, because the star is so much dimmer.

I thought that planets close to their suns experienced tidal lock, i.e. one side is always day and the other, always night?

Might be a slight problem with the "mild" temperatures...one side would probably be scalding hot and the other, freezing cold.

But then again, I'm not an astronomer :)

The planet's higher gravity would of allowed it to have hold on to more volatile compounds like water and various atmospheric gases in the early days when it was being pelted with planetoids, it probably has deeper oceans (deep enough to cover all except the highest mountains) and a thicker atmosphere then the earth (the thick atmosphere could also prevent habitability problems resulting from tidal lock).