Promising exoplanet found only 22 light years away

[Brandonv]

Super Earth in habitable zone.

News of planet discoveries are appearing so fast anymore that I feel like I cant keep up. This one really caught my attention though, because it is only 22 light years away - a relatively short distance considering the size of the galaxy.

The article says that the planet is surprising find, because it orbits a metal-poor star. I wonder if this also has any effect on what metals the planets crust is composed of? Would a hypothetical civilization on the planet have trouble developing advanced technology, due to lack of certain rare metals?

 

[JB2005]

I could have sworn this has been known for a while?

 

[RoJoHen]

I could have sworn this has been known for a while?

You can talk about it anyway!

I'm picturing a world full of wood and plastic.

 

[JB2005]

I was just wondering if this was another one!

Would plastic thrive on a world with fewer metals? I'm thinking that might lead to less creatures and so less oil?

 

[RoJoHen]

Would there be fewer creatures...or would there simply be more weird, alien creatures?

 

[JB2005]

I suppose that would depend on what the requirements of that weird alien life is! I think I read somewhere that we've been sending transmissions to this planet...so potentially we could have a First Contact within my lifetime!

 

[Brandonv]

I was thinking about this thread, and remembered something I read a while back: When astronomers refer to metals, they actually mean any element other than hydrogen and helium (did some searching, and it looks like the term is Metallicity). So my thinking in the OP is perhaps incorrect, since anything solid the planet is made of is "metal" in astronomical terms.

I think by "metal poor" they just mean that they didn't expect the star to have any large bodies orbiting it.

 

[ALF]

We have got to get out there and start putting up Amercian Flags.
Gingrich 2012!

 

[JB2005]

"By the end of my second term, we will have a base on Newtopia, and it will be an American Base!"