Habitable Planet and Search For Alien Life Thread
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Planet GJ 1214b - CNN
-- Astronomers announced this week they found a water-rich and relatively nearby planet that's similar in size to Earth.
While the planet probably has too thick of an atmosphere and is too hot to support life similar to that found on Earth, the discovery is being heralded as a major breakthrough in humanity's search for life on other planets.
"The big excitement is that we have found a watery world orbiting a very nearby and very small star," said David Charbonneau, a Harvard professor of astronomy and lead author of an article on the discovery, which appeared this week in the journal Nature.
The planet, named GJ 1214b, is 2.7 times as large as Earth and orbits a star much smaller and less luminous than our sun. That's significant, Charbonneau said, because for many years, astronomers assumed that planets only would be found orbiting stars that are similar in size to the sun.
Because of that assumption, researchers didn't spend much time looking for planets circling small stars, he said. The discovery of this "watery world" helps debunk the notion that Earth-like planets could form only in conditions similar to those in our solar system.
"Nature is just far more inventive in making planets than we were imagining," he said.
In a way, the newly discovered planet was sitting right in front of astronomers' faces, just waiting for them to look. Instead of using high-powered telescopes attached to satellites, they spotted the planet using an amateur-sized, 16-inch telescope on the ground.
There were no technological reasons the discovery couldn't have happened long ago, Charbonneau said.
The planet is also rather near to our solar system -- only about 40 light-years away.
Planet GJ 1214b is classified as a "super-Earth" because it is between one and 10 times as large as Earth. Scientists have known about the existence of super-Earths for only a couple of years. Most planets discovered by astronomers have been gassy giants that are much more similar to Jupiter than to Earth.
Charbonneau said it's unlikely that any life on the newly discovered planet would be similar to life on Earth, but he didn't discount the idea entirely.
"This planet probably does have liquid water," he said.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/16/super.earth.discovery/index.htm
The water might not be cool enough at its surface to sustain life but what at the lower levels? If the temperature at the lower levels is comparable to life present at around around a mile and half deep in our oceans where the higher temperatures of GJ 1214b would penetrate to then life forms similar to what Earth has at the same level could be present on GJ 1214b.
....only 40 light years away.
l
-- Astronomers announced this week they found a water-rich and relatively nearby planet that's similar in size to Earth.
While the planet probably has too thick of an atmosphere and is too hot to support life similar to that found on Earth, the discovery is being heralded as a major breakthrough in humanity's search for life on other planets.
"The big excitement is that we have found a watery world orbiting a very nearby and very small star," said David Charbonneau, a Harvard professor of astronomy and lead author of an article on the discovery, which appeared this week in the journal Nature.
The planet, named GJ 1214b, is 2.7 times as large as Earth and orbits a star much smaller and less luminous than our sun. That's significant, Charbonneau said, because for many years, astronomers assumed that planets only would be found orbiting stars that are similar in size to the sun.
Because of that assumption, researchers didn't spend much time looking for planets circling small stars, he said. The discovery of this "watery world" helps debunk the notion that Earth-like planets could form only in conditions similar to those in our solar system.
"Nature is just far more inventive in making planets than we were imagining," he said.
In a way, the newly discovered planet was sitting right in front of astronomers' faces, just waiting for them to look. Instead of using high-powered telescopes attached to satellites, they spotted the planet using an amateur-sized, 16-inch telescope on the ground.
There were no technological reasons the discovery couldn't have happened long ago, Charbonneau said.
The planet is also rather near to our solar system -- only about 40 light-years away.
Planet GJ 1214b is classified as a "super-Earth" because it is between one and 10 times as large as Earth. Scientists have known about the existence of super-Earths for only a couple of years. Most planets discovered by astronomers have been gassy giants that are much more similar to Jupiter than to Earth.
Charbonneau said it's unlikely that any life on the newly discovered planet would be similar to life on Earth, but he didn't discount the idea entirely.
"This planet probably does have liquid water," he said.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/16/super.earth.discovery/index.htm
The water might not be cool enough at its surface to sustain life but what at the lower levels? If the temperature at the lower levels is comparable to life present at around around a mile and half deep in our oceans where the higher temperatures of GJ 1214b would penetrate to then life forms similar to what Earth has at the same level could be present on GJ 1214b.
....only 40 light years away.
l
Ok, Vulcan... This time it's definitely Vulcan! XD
Being only 40 light years from Earth GJ 1214b and having liquid water on it the planet could be the home base or at least a resource planet for aliens that visit Earth but are said to not exist.
Even at the speed of light or near the speed of light the journey would only take around 100 years to complete which might be well within the life expectancy of a non-Earth humanoid species.
Even at the speed of light or near the speed of light the journey would only take around 100 years to complete which might be well within the life expectancy of a non-Earth humanoid species.
So, we've gone from "probably [but not "definitely"] has water" to a technically advanced—humanoid—extraterrestrial species that has visited Earth regularly and uses GJ 1214b as a resupply base, and who statistically have a life expectancy over a century.
Where did you get all this information? Perhaps you know of the Martian canals built by an older and wiser race, or the dinosaur infested tropical jungles of Venus?
Where did you get all this information? Perhaps you know of the Martian canals built by an older and wiser race, or the dinosaur infested tropical jungles of Venus?
But, scientists say that two of the alleged Gliese planets did not actually exist; they were simply misinterpretations of the stars' radiation. So, sometimes we can be mistaken about exoplanets, until we actually arrive there.
I read one scifi book in which the colonists hoped they would be able to grow food-plants on that world, but they wouldn't know for sure until they had examined its soil. So, there's no real substitute for going there.
I read one scifi book in which the colonists hoped they would be able to grow food-plants on that world, but they wouldn't know for sure until they had examined its soil. So, there's no real substitute for going there.
GJ 1214b is a so called super earth roughly half the size of Neptune. This large a planet will have much more gravity and most likely have tremendous atmospheric pressures on the surface, live Venus. To have life as we know it, or rather a planet we can live on, you have to have atmospheric pressures and global temperatures that allow water to exist in all three of it's phases, liquid, gas and solid, which is the case with Earth.
It is this combination of atmospheric pressure and temperature range which is well understood that we have to look for. While they have found evidence of cloud formation on GJ 1214b that is not an indication that liquid water can exist. Even Jupiter has water vapor in it's clouds.
It is this combination of atmospheric pressure and temperature range which is well understood that we have to look for. While they have found evidence of cloud formation on GJ 1214b that is not an indication that liquid water can exist. Even Jupiter has water vapor in it's clouds.
What else does a planet have to do but sit around and wait for us to see it?
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Create an Exoplanet LinkedIn profile and tell us all about itself, including a full resume of any life forms, civilizations, etc.
I recommend this site for anyone interested in the subject: http://phl.upr.edu/projects/habitable-exoplanets-catalog
There are so many things that have to happen for a planet to really be Earth like (good for humans) that colonize-able planets are going to be rare. But given the fact that it did happen at least once we know of, certainly means it CAN happen in a universe that obeys the physical laws we do.
My biggest issue with a so called Earth twin is biology. If it has life, it is most certainly different than ours. Are our biologics even compatible or do we have to sterilize the planet and rebuild it's ecosphere? And what does that say about us if we do?
My biggest issue with a so called Earth twin is biology. If it has life, it is most certainly different than ours. Are our biologics even compatible or do we have to sterilize the planet and rebuild it's ecosphere? And what does that say about us if we do?
This might in fact be true about planet GJ 1214b which would make it very difficult for life, as we know it to exist in the forms that we have discovered so far. Life on Earth has evolved to survive in many environments that life should not really exist in.
Take for example the life that is able to survive in sulfuric-acid : Whatever process created Carlsbad and Lechuguilla is largely dormant now. So the team visits a more active and dangerous cavern: Cueva de Villa Luz in Mexico, which emits the toxic, rotten-egg smell of hydrogen sulfide from its entrance. Inside, explorers must wear respirators and carry poison-gas monitors to protect themselves from the hydrogen sulfide that reacts with water in the cave to form caustic sulfuric acid. Deep within, they discover "snottites," mucous-like stalactites of sulfur-eating bacteria that also drip sulfuric acid. Oddly enough, the noxious environment teems with microbes, spiders, insects, crabs, and fish—all thriving in complete darkness.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/caves/about.html
If life is able to evolve, adapt and survive in the harsh environment talked about in the article then life should be able to evolve, adapt and survive in the harsh environment of GJ 1214b.
^ I have no doubt the universe is teeming with life, a small portion of it probably had time to evolve into intelligence. I think there is microbiotic life to be discovered in our own solar system.
It's just finding a duplicate Earth that's difficult. And even if we find one, it still doesn't mean we can live on it.
It's just finding a duplicate Earth that's difficult. And even if we find one, it still doesn't mean we can live on it.
The impossibility of the distances involved aside, if an Earth-like planet were found the chances of there not being any life on it would be narrow. This throws up a whole raft of ethical problems for would-be explorers. They would probably call it some kind of Directive or something.
Joking aside, the purpose of searching for exoplanets is not to travel there but to know where to point future generations of telescopes.
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