http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1415
I realize they still have a lot of analyzing to do of these early results, but I am pumped. I think these findings are stunning.
Early Kepler results: Up to 140 Earth like Planets!
- Thread starter PurpleBuddha
- Start date
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1415
I realize they still have a lot of analyzing to do of these early results, but I am pumped. I think these findings are stunning.
Kepler mission likely to confirm new real estate markets.
or
Just found that via another message board, on which I would be a Vice Admiral by now. Kirk would be jealous.
Anyway, if they ever confirm, visually, that habitable planets are out there, then there should be quite a boom in space travel research and technology developments and more money for whatever space agency we'll have then.
or
Just found that via another message board, on which I would be a Vice Admiral by now. Kirk would be jealous.
Anyway, if they ever confirm, visually, that habitable planets are out there, then there should be quite a boom in space travel research and technology developments and more money for whatever space agency we'll have then.
J
Jetfire
Guest
Re: Kepler mission likely to confirm new real estate markets.
Planets for everyone!
Planets for everyone!
Wow! Exciting stuff!
ZZZZZzzzzzZZZZZZzzzzzzz...
Oh I'm sorry I'm falling asleep at the stupity of the science here. Life can take any form, it doesn't need a planet like Earth in order to do that. Plus there will never be proof that these planets have life, they are too far away, we should be spending more money on life in our solar system, that we could actually prove.
Oh I'm sorry I'm falling asleep at the stupity of the science here. Life can take any form, it doesn't need a planet like Earth in order to do that. Plus there will never be proof that these planets have life, they are too far away, we should be spending more money on life in our solar system, that we could actually prove.
A
Amaris
Guest
It is, isn't it? I can't wait to see what it discovers next!
Re: Kepler mission likely to confirm new real estate markets.
PurpleBuddha was one minute faster with a thread about the same bloody issue.
This one can be closed or appended then.
Early Kepler results: Up to 140 Earth like Planets!
So it doesn't seem like planets for everyone. Or we share them.
PurpleBuddha was one minute faster with a thread about the same bloody issue.
This one can be closed or appended then.
Early Kepler results: Up to 140 Earth like Planets!
So it doesn't seem like planets for everyone. Or we share them.
1) How do you know life can take any form? Were not living on the set of Star Trek here, it's not self evident that energy beings and rock monsters will exist. It could be the case that it requires a narrow band of certain specific conditions to form.
2) Actually, I've read that we could make a reasonable guess that an extrasolar planet has life on it by analysing the content of it's atmosphere. For example we could detect an unusual abundance of gases in the planets atmosphere, that on Earth are caused by life. Plus the trouble with finding life in the solar system is that people would inevitably say it was caused by panspermia.
If you read the entire article linked in the first post, it says that the announcement of Earthlike planets is jumping the gun; they're only "candidates," photometric measurements that are consistent with planets between 2-3 Earth radii orbiting the observed stars but that could be explained by something else. As quoted near the bottom of the article, from NASA:
Also, the media's references to these planet candidates having "land and water" is pure hyperbole -- there's absolutely no data to indicate any such thing. All we have are variations in stellar brightness that are consistent with bodies 2-3 times the radius of Earth passing in front of those stars. Some scientist must've suggested that these candidates, if the measurements are borne out, would be the right size of planet that could hypothetically be like Earth with land and water, and the reporters misunderstood or sensationalized as they always do with science news.
Also, the media's references to these planet candidates having "land and water" is pure hyperbole -- there's absolutely no data to indicate any such thing. All we have are variations in stellar brightness that are consistent with bodies 2-3 times the radius of Earth passing in front of those stars. Some scientist must've suggested that these candidates, if the measurements are borne out, would be the right size of planet that could hypothetically be like Earth with land and water, and the reporters misunderstood or sensationalized as they always do with science news.
Re: Kepler mission likely to confirm new real estate markets.
Yes, but this article is more based in fact than the other one. "Earth-sized" is the key term, but the other one says "Earth-like", which has a different connotation to the unwashed masses.
Yes, but this article is more based in fact than the other one. "Earth-sized" is the key term, but the other one says "Earth-like", which has a different connotation to the unwashed masses.
I merged the threads since they are about the same thing and discussion had started in both. 
Okay, how many light years away are the star systems that have these earth-like planets?
We can get there in about one Kessel Run!
J
Jetfire
Guest
I want to be ruler over my own planet dammit! 
Isn't there a possibility of habitable moons around gas giants in the "earth zone" orbiting in various solar systems in our galaxy???
Isn't there a possibility of habitable moons around gas giants in the "earth zone" orbiting in various solar systems in our galaxy???
Sometime I wonder if various life forms could float and/or swim around in the atmosphere of a gas giant. I'm thinking the density could get high enough before reaching an pressure that would force all of the gases condense out. Then there would be a planet wide ocean for life to swim around in.
First off, as I said, we don't actually know for certain yet that they are "Earthlike" planets. All we know at this point is that our measurements of variations in the brightness of a bunch of stars show a dimming that could be caused by planets 2-3 times the size of Earth passing in front of them. But they could be caused by something else. We don't know yet. And even if they are caused by planets of that size, that just means those planets might be Earthlike; there are other things they could be, like big balls of ice. I daresay it's likely that at least some of these 140-ish candidates will be planets similar to Earth, but to astrophysicists "Earthlike" just means made of rock and metal and not big enough to have a giant atmosphere. Venus and Mars are "Earthlike" in that sense.
As for how far away they are, naturally it varies considerably. And in many cases we probably don't know for sure; it will take more precise parallax measurements to improve our estimates. It's hard to gauge the exact distance to something that far away.
As Lindley says, there is a difference between Earth-like and Earth-sized.
Venus is Earth-sized. It's also an acid, high pressure, hell-hole where very few forms of Earlth life could survive (But there are enough bacteria-ish underwater volcano-living species on this planet for it possible)
Venus is Earth-sized. It's also an acid, high pressure, hell-hole where very few forms of Earlth life could survive (But there are enough bacteria-ish underwater volcano-living species on this planet for it possible)
