NASA imagines Earth-like worlds (computer modeling 14 types)

[Snaploud]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20959569/?gt1=10357

NASA is modeling some Earth-like types of worlds that could have developed in various kinds of environments. It should help astronomers locate and identify possible Earth-like planets.

 

[syc]

Re: NASA imagines Earth-like worlds (computer modeling 14 ty

Pretty interesting stuff... except its a double-edge sword. If NASA does narrow their observations for Earth-Like worlds and they DO find one... wouldn't they just kinda piss everyone off?

It would me. We found a world but we cant get there. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss. lol

 

[Zeppster]

Re: NASA imagines Earth-like worlds (computer modeling 14 ty

There's just no way there's not planets with other life like ours. With all the planets out there there's gotta be a good chance life like ours developed. It's not like we are more special than other life.

 

[Brent]

Re: NASA imagines Earth-like worlds (computer modeling 14 ty

I think we need to be open to both possibilities until either one is proven. A.) there is life out there B.) there isn't, in my book both possibilities are on the table until I see something that shows me one of them is true

 

[Zachary Smith]

Re: NASA imagines Earth-like worlds (computer modeling 14 ty

Brent said:
I think we need to be open to both possibilities until either one is proven. A.) there is life out there B.) there isn't, in my book both possibilities are on the table until I see something that shows me one of them is true

You have to admit though that the precedent for life actually existing should lend more rather than less credence to the idea and make more compelling the liklihood of life elsewhere. After all, we ARE here. And that is an important precedent. Unless one can explain WHY we ae here and there would be no life elsewhere, it seems reasonable to assume life elsewhere is an acceptable proposition.

 

[FatherRob]

Re: NASA imagines Earth-like worlds (computer modeling 14 ty

Zeppster said:
There's just no way there's not planets with other life like ours. With all the planets out there there's gotta be a good chance life like ours developed. It's not like we are more special than other life.

While I tend to believe there is other intelligent life out there, I wouldn't claim its a slam-bang certainty.

"Sometimes I think we're alone in the universe, and sometimes I think we're not. In either case the idea is quite staggering."
- Arthur C. Clarke

Rob+

 

[Meredith]

Re: NASA imagines Earth-like worlds (computer modeling 14 ty

What would the Earth look like now if life never arose on our planet?

Would we even have an atmosphere?


Would we be more like venus or mors or something else entirely?

 

[TerriO]

Re: NASA imagines Earth-like worlds (computer modeling 14 ty

I'm not certain how accurate it was, but there was a show on the Science Channel about how the Earth was made. If that's accurate, our oceans would have more iron in them, and the atmosphere would still exist, yes. Whether or not the microscopic creatures who came into existence and (in this particular program) are presented as being responsible for a considerable portion of the oxygen in our atmosphere, that's the big question.

 

[PlixTixiplik]

Re: NASA imagines Earth-like worlds (computer modeling 14 ty

Yes, the oceans would have more iron (and other elements like manganese) because a lot of iron was stripped out between 2.4 and 1.8 billion years ago when the atmosphere and shallow oceans started to become oxygenated. The oxygen was produced by microbes (primarily cyanobacteria) so without them the atmosphere would be composed of things like carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides, and have almost no oxygen (less than 0.001% present levels).

-MEC

 

[K'riq Sa]

Re: NASA imagines Earth-like worlds (computer modeling 14 ty

Paris Hilton = intellegent life?



I think not.









hopefully,

K'riq Sa
Minister of the Church of Gastronomic Repentence

 

[Christopher]

Re: NASA imagines Earth-like worlds (computer modeling 14 ty

syc said:
Pretty interesting stuff... except its a double-edge sword. If NASA does narrow their observations for Earth-Like worlds and they DO find one... wouldn't they just kinda piss everyone off?

Actually that's exactly the opposite of what they're doing. They're widening the search parameters, not narrowing them. Rather than assuming that solid planets would be just like ones in our system, they've modelled every theoretically possible type they could think of, including some really exotic ones.

See, to astronomers, "Earthlike" doesn't mean "someplace humans could live and breathe the air." It means a planet that isn't a gas giant. Every exoplanet detected so far is a giant, but our detection methods are improving to the point that we can expect to begin finding smaller, solid planets any year now. This is really about figuring out what we can expect to see and how we can determine what kind of planets we're looking at based on their size and mass.

And there's no narrowing to look for only solid planets either. They're looking for every exoplanet they can find, of course. This new model is just one additional tool to use in the effort to detect and identify exoplanets of all types. We've gotten pretty good at finding giant planets; now we're trying to get good at finding solid ones too.

More in-depth coverage can be found here:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070924_planet_specs.html
http://space.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn12685&feedId=online-news_rss20

And a draft of the actual research paper (or one on the same subject by the same researchers) can be downloaded here:

http://exoplanet.eu/papers/mrpaper.pdf