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hoshi
Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 564
Location: At the best place of your dreams :D Loveland
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 Posted: Fri Apr 27, 2007 2:07 pm Post subject: New earth planet discovered! |
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| bbc news wrote: |
New 'super-Earth' found in space
The new planet is not much bigger than the Earth
Enlarge Image
Astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date, a world which could have water running on its surface.
The planet orbits the faint star Gliese 581, which is 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.
Scientists made the discovery using the Eso 3.6m Telescope in Chile.
They say the benign temperatures on the planet mean any water there could exist in liquid form, and this raises the chances it could also harbour life.
"We have estimated that the mean temperature of this 'super-Earth' lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be liquid," explained Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory, lead author of the scientific paper reporting the result.
'Is there life anywhere else?' is a fundamental question we all ask
Alison Boyle
London Science Museum
"Moreover, its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth's radius, and models predict that the planet should be either rocky - like our Earth - or covered with oceans."
Xavier Delfosse, a member of the team from Grenoble University, added: "Liquid water is critical to life as we know it."
He believes the planet may now become a very important target for future space missions dedicated to the search for extra-terrestrial life.
These missions will put telescopes in space that can discern the tell-tale light "signatures" that might be associated with biological processes.
The observatories would seek to identify trace atmospheric gases such as methane, and even markers for chlorophyll, the pigment in Earth plants that plays a critical role in photosynthesis.
'Indirect' detection
The exoplanet - as astronomers call planets around a star other than the Sun - is the smallest yet found, and completes a full orbit of its parent star in just 13 days.
EXOPLANET GLIESE 581 C
Mass: Five times Earth's mass
Orbit: 13 days
Temperature: 0C - 40C
Distance: 20.5 light years
Constellation: Libra
Indeed, it is 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is to our Sun.
However, given that the host star is smaller and colder than the Sun - and thus less luminous - the planet nevertheless lies in the "habitable zone", the region around a star where water could be liquid.
Gliese 581 C was identified at the European Southern Observatory (Eso) facility at La Silla in the Atacama Desert.
To make their discovery, researchers used a very sensitive instrument that can measure tiny changes in the velocity of a star as it experiences the gravitational tug of a nearby planet.
Astronomers are stuck with such indirect methods of detection because current telescope technology struggles to image very distant and faint objects - especially when they orbit close to the glare of a star.
The Gliese 581 system has now yielded three planets: the new super-Earth, a 15 Earth-mass planet orbiting even closer to the parent star, and an eight Earth-mass planet that lies further out.
Gliese 581 is much cooler and dimmer than our own Sun
The latest discovery has created tremendous excitement among scientists.
Of the more than 200 exoplanets so far discovered, a great many are Jupiter-like gas giants that experience blazing temperatures because they orbit close to hot stars.
The Gliese 581 super-Earth is in what scientists call the "Goldilocks Zone" where temperatures "are just right" for life to have a chance to exist.
Commenting on the discovery, Alison Boyle, the curator of astronomy at London's Science Museum, said: "Of all the planets we've found around other stars, this is the one that looks as though it might have the right ingredients for life.
"It's 20 light-years away and so we won't be going there anytime soon, but with new kinds of propulsion technology that could change in the future. And obviously we'll be training some powerful telescopes on it to see what we can see," she told BBC News.
"'Is there life anywhere else?' is a fundamental question we all ask."
Professor Glenn White at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is helping to develop the European Space Agency's Darwin mission, which will scan the nearby Universe, looking for signs of life on Earth-like planets. He said: "This is an important step in the search for true Earth-like exoplanets.
"As the methods become more and more refined, astronomers are narrowing in on the ultimate goal - the detection of a true Earth-like planet elsewhere.
"Obviously this newly discovered planet and its companions in the Gliese 581 system will become prominent targets for missions like Esa's Darwin and Nasa's Terrestrial planet Finder when they fly in about a decade."
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So if we destroy the earth we can go to another planet and pollute it 
I think the new is nice but it can be hard to go there
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God gave us two ears to hear, two eyes to see and two hands to hold. But why did God gave us only one heart? Because He wants us to find the other one! |
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asterix
Joined: 26 Jan 2003
Posts: 1654
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| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 8:04 am Post subject: |
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| Except that it's going to take us 20 years, travelling at the speed of light, to get there, so don't hold your breath. |
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BourneNOIR
Joined: 12 Apr 2006
Posts: 113
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| Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 2:58 pm Post subject: Re: New earth planet discovered! |
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| hoshi wrote: |
| So if we destroy the earth we can go to another planet and pollute it |
Kind of reminds me of the quote about humans as viruses to the planet...
| asterix wrote: |
| Except that it's going to take us 20 years, travelling at the speed of light, to get there, so don't hold your breath. |
Not if you know tesseract... |
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hoshi
Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 564
Location: At the best place of your dreams :D Loveland
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| Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 2:30 pm Post subject: Re: New earth planet discovered! |
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| BourneNOIR wrote: |
Kind of reminds me of the quote about humans as viruses to the planet...
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hahaha 
_________________
God gave us two ears to hear, two eyes to see and two hands to hold. But why did God gave us only one heart? Because He wants us to find the other one! |
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Bob S.
Joined: 29 Apr 2004
Posts: 1767
Location: So. Cal
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 1:01 pm Post subject: |
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| hoshi wrote: |
So if we destroy the earth we can go to another planet and pollute it
I think the new is nice but it can be hard to go there |
What's interesting is not that it exists (it was kind of a given that there must be rocky planets out there somewhere), but that astronomers could detect it.
But "Earth-like" is very vague. In astronomical terms, Mars and Venus are both Earth-like, i.e. rocky instead of Jupiter gassy, but they are not exactly habitable.
The newly discovered planet would have a number of problems they don't mention in the news release. Among them:
1. Because of its closeness to its parent star, it must be tidal locked, that is, one side always faces the sun just like one side of our moon always faces the Earth.
2. Because it is tidal locked, it spins only once every 13 days (its period of rotation about its sun). Because of that slow spin, it probably doesn't have much of a magnetic field.
3. Without a protective magnetic field, the solar winds would have blown away most of the atmosphere (like Mars) unless the atmosphere is composed of heavy toxic gases (like Venus).
4. With little or no atmosphere, the temperatures would be extreme. The side always facing the sun would be broiling while the side away from the sun would be in perpetual deep freeze. The comfortable range would be a ring around the planet where the sun was low in the sky. With heavy toxic gases, every point would be a runaway greenhouse inferno like Venus.
5. In either case, there would be little to no liquid water on the surface. It would boil away in either the near-vacuum of a Mars-like atmosphere or the inferno of a Venus-like atmosphere.
6. Lots of water is critical to our geology. It lubricates the tectonic plate motion that releases excess internal heat. If the planet has no oceans at subduction zones, it could overheat resulting in cataclysmic resurfacing and remelting like Venus has appeared to have done. Remember that life existed on this planet as mere single celled organisms for 2 billion years before it started to evolve into multi-cellular lifeforms. How could life grow and develop if the whole planet re-melts every 500 million years?
7. Whatever the condition of the planet, even if it is a wet paradise, there is a problem with the star. Of the 6 red dwarf stars closest to Earth, all 6 are flare stars. Every so often, they burp up huge prominences of plasma. There's a good bet that this planet's sun is also a flare star. Given how close it is to its sun, the planet probably gets a big hot plasma bath every so often. Not good for anything trying to live and grow in its oceans (if it has any).
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper |
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hoshi
Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 564
Location: At the best place of your dreams :D Loveland
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| Posted: Tue May 15, 2007 1:36 pm Post subject: |
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So the "polluting virus" (human beings) could never go there and pollute it. We failled in our mission.... but we can send some nuclear bombs and destroy that planet I'm joking...
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God gave us two ears to hear, two eyes to see and two hands to hold. But why did God gave us only one heart? Because He wants us to find the other one! |
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ad-miral
Joined: 01 Sep 2006
Posts: 1488
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| Posted: Fri May 25, 2007 11:26 am Post subject: |
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Scientists would be very happy if they can find one planet which is similar to the earth- Because it's also very hard to find one.
It's not possible to find them by telescopes so scientists have to look at the rhythmic displacement of the star related to the earth. (I think if the star moves away from us then we will have blueshift because the lightwave will be longer. If the star moves towards us we will have redshift beacause the light moves towards us. (time-dilatation))
So scientists would be happy if they discover a star. Whether they have water etc will be the second option.
I think nothing is impossible Because the universe is growing day by day and everyday there will be new stars arising. We only need faster and faster spaceshuttles.
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If I say "I love you" to someone, then I also have to say "I also love everyone else inside you, I love the whole world because of you, I also love myself inside you." -- Erich Fromm, the Art of Love |
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Wandelr�schen
Joined: 29 May 2007
Posts: 12
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 9:30 am Post subject: NEW EARTH - GREAT |
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Hi,
I read an article about the discovery the new earth.
She is compared to the earth in what we live.
It is so exciting to discuss about this topic.
I hope the scientist will find out more about this planet.
They can send a sonde to this planet and the sonde can
check many different things. |
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ad-miral
Joined: 01 Sep 2006
Posts: 1488
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 11:17 am Post subject: |
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Maybe the sonde will have to travel many centuries before reaching the planet.
Maybe the signal the sond sents to the earth will have to travel another many centuries.
_________________
If I say "I love you" to someone, then I also have to say "I also love everyone else inside you, I love the whole world because of you, I also love myself inside you." -- Erich Fromm, the Art of Love |
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hoshi
Joined: 01 Feb 2007
Posts: 564
Location: At the best place of your dreams :D Loveland
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| Posted: Wed May 30, 2007 12:03 pm Post subject: |
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And we will not be here at that time
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God gave us two ears to hear, two eyes to see and two hands to hold. But why did God gave us only one heart? Because He wants us to find the other one! |
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