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agentX
Joined: 12 Oct 2007
Location: Jeolla province
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 Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 6:30 am Post subject: New planet found- Earth sized, but a little too warm... |
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090421/ap_on_sc/eu_britain_new_planet
We seem to be getting closer to finding an "Earth 2". Or at least a Trigun-style desert world of doom...
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Scientists discover an Earth-sized planet
By JENNIFER QUINN, Associated Press Writer Jennifer Quinn, Associated Press Writer � 55 mins ago
HATFIELD, England � Scientists have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is close to Earth in size � far different from the behemoths previously detected, researchers said Tuesday.
Scientists attending a conference in England said that the planet was less than twice the size of Earth. Nearly 350 so-called exoplanets have been found outside our solar system but so far nearly every one has been too close or too far from its sun, making all too hot or too cold to support life.
Massive planets are more likely to be uninhabitable gas giants like Jupiter. Planets much smaller than earth are very difficult to detect.
The new planet is the smallest exoplanet yet discovered but it is probably too hot for human life because it sits very close to the sun-like star it orbits, researcher Michel Mayor said.
Mayor made the announcement at a press conference during the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science. |
Just in time for the new Star Trek movie... |
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Robot_Teacher
Joined: 18 Feb 2009
Location: Robotting Around the World
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| Posted: Tue Apr 21, 2009 6:56 am Post subject: |
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Cool. They can only see other planets by the shadows they make on their stars; not the actual planet itself so it's all intellectual speculation.
I'm ready for some good science fiction. Since everything else is so far from us and it takes many years for an image to arrive in our telescopes, we can only speculate with science fiction. Unfortunately we can't zoom in on planets as the light from stars cancel out dimmer objects only reflecting light. What we see today in our Hubble is very old news as it takes a long time for that image to travel to us as we are one very very, and I mean isolated, isolated civilization. The Earth is so special, but as far away from everything else as can be. It's quite a pearl. I often imagined what it would be like to be in the central hub of the galaxy where many solar systems are in closer proximity. I often wondered if many many worlds with life and even advanced civilizations exist in the worlds at the center of the galaxy that are in connection with each other. A galactic community resembling our international community of over 100 countries on Earth. I figure if Earth is possible, many more Earths and possibly awesomely spectacular pink/purple sky worlds are in the center where there's more action going on.
We'll never get to know as the distances are too great to other solar systems, but we know our blue planet is magnificent and so very special. |
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