Earth-Like Planet May Exist

[marmar]

via truthdig:



Earth-Like Planet May Exist
Posted on Sep 13, 2011


European astronomers said Monday that they may have found a celestial body with the right characteristics to host life: a “Goldilocks” planet circling a star at a distance that is not too hot, not too cold, but just right for liquid water to exist.

The planet, which scientists call HD 85512b, is 3.6 times as massive as Earth and is located about 36 light-years away in the constellation Vela. It orbits its star—an orange body about two-thirds as massive as the sun and only one-eighth as luminous—at a quarter the distance Earth circles the sun.

Astronomers could not yet determine details about the composition of the planet nor about its atmosphere, if it has one at all. And they aren’t likely to discover those details anytime soon. The planet is located in a portion of the sky that doesn’t yet have the appropriate telescopes to search for signs of life, and it would take years once they are built (if they are built) to make accurate observations. —BF

The New York Times:

A study led by Dr. Kaltenegger, Dr. Pepe and Dr. Udry concluded that HD 85512b was potentially habitable if it had more than a 50 percent cloud cover.

Dimitar Sasselov of the Center for Astrophysics, who has followed this work but is not part of the team, said that Dr. Kaltenegger and her colleagues made reasonable assumptions. He called the result “very solid” and “a major step in the right direction.”

Others were less impressed by the case for habitability. Sara Seager of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology noted that Dr. Kaltenegger’s model atmospheres were limited to water, carbon dioxide and nitrogen, like the Earth.

“A very terracentric view,” she said in an e-mail.

Read more

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/earth-like_planet_may_exist_20110913/?ln

[MadHound]

1. Just one?

I'm sure that there are millions of such places.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. It's been ten years

The last two days the database got over 80 new planets.

We will find many of them as sensors get better.

[boston bean]

2. make the telescope and let's have a looksie!

[notadmblnd]

3. Can we send the republicans there?

They can create the world they've always wanted.

[Rageneau]

11. I think Romney already has dibs on this one.

[lindysalsagal]

4. For their sake, I hope it's not too much like ours.

Lets hope they know better than to live in a constant state of war over limited resources.

[Mimosa]

6. LOL!

I thought the same thing, Lindy. :7

[DaveJ]

7. Who cares, until we can go there...

Some think warp travel might in reality be possible, in which case there may be hope for the human race after all. I'm really hoping that something big happens in 2012, some life altering paradigm shift because I'm really getting tired of the way things are going here.

[marmar]

8. I think that planet will be better off without our species.

nt

[DaveJ]

9. I don't think we should all suffer because of the Repukes

I'm ready to leave this planet to the Repukes so they can suffocate themselves in war, pollution, greed, torture, and all the other hell on earth things they revere.

It's time for us to split into separate species.

[saras]

10. I'm not convinced that even ONE earthlike planet exists. This place is too hellish.