Metric butt-load of Earth like planets possible

[The Squire of Gothos]

From the Beeb;

Rocky planets, possibly with conditions suitable for life, may be more common than previously thought in our galaxy, a study has found.

New evidence suggests more than half the Sun-like stars in the Milky Way could have similar planetary systems.

Some astronomers believe there may be hundreds of small rocky bodies in the outer edges of our own Solar System, and perhaps even a handful of frozen Earth-sized worlds.

Speaking at the AAAS, Nasa's Alan Stern said he believes we have found only the tip of the iceberg in terms of planets within our own Solar System.

If the warp drive in the other thread in here comes to fruition, it would be interesting to know that our descendants now have a reason to reach for the stars beyond our Solar System.

A long term interest to be sure, perhaps something we can direct efforts in Earth towards when we need a reason to get our worldly problems sorted out.

 

[Deleted 2]

The Squire of Gothos said:
If the warp drive in the other thread in here comes to fruition, it would be interesting to know that our descendants now have a reason to reach for the stars beyond our Solar System.

Why, what's so interesting about rocky worlds?

 

[watermelony2k]

earth is a rocky world. other worlds like that are worth the interest.

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

Zero Hour said:

The Squire of Gothos said:
If the warp drive in the other thread in here comes to fruition, it would be interesting to know that our descendants now have a reason to reach for the stars beyond our Solar System.

Why, what's so interesting about rocky worlds?

I'm not sure, but I'm sitting on one right now

 

[romulus]

That’s cool. More practice (manned/robotic) for when we start doing interstellar missions, if ever.

But anyway, how many of these rocky worlds would have life on it? More importantly, atmosphere we can breathe, possibly oceans, and teaming with life like earth. You know creatures in the sky, land and sea, except alien...

 

[Christopher]

One step at a time. All this finding shows is that rocky worlds may be common, which is pretty much what we expected anyway, but it's nice to have confirmation. And if such worlds are common, that increases the odds that many of them are habitable. But we don't have any data yet on just how many -- except indirectly, in that our estimates of the width of a star's potential habitable zone keep increasing as our theories improve.

 

[Stormrage]

Zero Hour said:

The Squire of Gothos said:
If the warp drive in the other thread in here comes to fruition, it would be interesting to know that our descendants now have a reason to reach for the stars beyond our Solar System.

Why, what's so interesting about rocky worlds?

The only other option are icy planets and gas planets. None of those can support human life or alien lifeforms that are like humans.

 

[GodThingFormerly]

Stormrage said:
The only other option are icy planets and gas planets. None of those can support human life or alien lifeforms that are like humans.

Gas giant planets can be (theoretically) colonized employing cities suspended from hot-hydrogen aerostats. On the other hand, Freeman Dyson proposed a technique of manufacturing space habitats by tethering together cometary nuclei.

TGT

 

[Deleted 2]

romulus said:
More importantly, atmosphere we can breathe, possibly oceans, and teaming with life like earth. You know creatures in the sky, land and sea, except alien...

From Solaris:
We take off into the cosmos, ready for anything: for solitude, for hardship, for exhaustion, death. . . . We don't want to conquer the cosmos, we simply want to extend the boundaries of Earth to the frontiers of the cosmos. . . . We are humanitarian and chivalrous; we don't want to enslave other races, we simply want the bequeath them our values and take over their heritage in exchange. . . . We are only seeking Man. We have no need for other worlds. We need mirrors. . . . We are searching for an ideal image of our own world.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Is anyone else gobsmacked by this? do you know what this means? it means NIBIRU does exist!! Start building those bunkers and stocking up on fuel and food and clothing because when it starts coming near Earth and flinging Asteroids at us we're going to be taking a one way trip back to the stone age!

 

[M'Sharak]

The Squire of Gothos said:
Metric butt-load of Earth like planets possible

I find myself wondering whether "metric butt-load" is a standard measurement recognized under SI (and if not, what is the accepted conversion factor?)

 

[Flavius]

Since we don't know if our math applies or not, this is as good as anything Sagan might have come up with.

 

[Ronald Held]

I just looked at the link, and I only see indirect evidence.

 

[Zachary Smith]

"No one would have believed in the middle of the 20th Century that human affairs were being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than Man's. Yet, across the gulf of space on the planet Mars, intellects vast and cool and unsypathetic regarded our Earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely joined their plans against us.