Earth Like planet found

[numbuh82]

A planet thats meant to be really like Earth has been found,It's in the area they call the Goldie locks zone,where it's temp range is just perfect for liquids like water.

It's 20.4 light years,a few trillion miles away.

[thesuki]

Uh huh. You know that lightyears means it takes light a year to travel that far, right?

That means 299,792,458 miles per second.

Meaning that planet would be 302,950,591,669,555,200 miles away.

Meaning if you were traveling at the speed of sound (340.29 m/s), which is the closest humans have gotten, you'd be talking about a 17 million year trip.

Frankly, I think we should be more worried about exploring our own planet. Deep sea diving, anyone?

Unless it's a meteor or something heading towards Earth, I really don't see how it effects us at all.

[Numbuh 0xFF]

Practical value ("getting there") low. Scientific value ("learning supercool important stuff") on the other hand is immense. There could be life there. Do you know how earth-shaking such knowledge would be?

I'm drooling in anticipation.

As for speed, well, actually we can go MUCH faster than the paltry speed of sound. 11 km/s, for instance, which is the speed all probes/ships that head for other celestial bodies must attain to break free of Earth's gravity. And that's just with primitive chem thrusters. In a hundred year's time...well there's no telling what we can accomplish. Even if Einstein remains paramount there are still ways. For instance, if you had a ship that accelerated at 1g constantly you would scoot across the Milky Way in 10 years local time. Amazing stuff. Of course it'd still take a bloody long while for the folks back home...

[thesuki]

Eh, I'd rather learn super-cool stuff about this planet. Space never interested me once we got passed supernovas that would eventually be seen by the naked eye on Earth.

[numbuh82]

thesuki said:

Uh huh. You know that lightyears means it takes light a year to travel that far, right

Yes I do actually,Would you like an award?


And I did no back round research,I heard it on Sky news this morning and they said so many trillion miles away

And Yeah,I'm the same Numbuh 0xFF.

One thing that has been stuck in my head though,Imagine we did have a telescope which would see there planet at a reasonable distance and we did find intelligent life on it,Now imagine we sent a probe off to it even though it would take a long time to get there.So the probe is sent off((Even if it got there we would have the technology to get there in a heart beat before it reaches it any way))

But any way we send it off,Then a person working on the telescope notices something after the probe is sent off,a large asteroid has just hi the planet and all life is gone,Wouldn't that be Ironic,We'd probaly try radio contact first though.On sky news they said that if they did pick up our radio frequencies ((if there was intelligent life)) that they would be getting broadcasts from the early 80's.

And yeah,The way we are going we should be able to go there in over a hundred years or so,It depresses me that I wont be there to see it.

[hoagiegal1970]

It would have been neat to actually go to the planet and see if it was habitable. But since that's not a possibility, it will be interesting to see if there is life--even the remote possibility of intelligent life--on another planet.

[Numbuh 0xFF]

thesuki said:

Eh, I'd rather learn super-cool stuff about this planet. Space never interested me once we got passed supernovas that would eventually be seen by the naked eye on Earth.

I don't know. I'm a general science junkie but nothing hits me on such a deep, visceral level as space science. There's something heart-achingly beautiful about us humans -- creatures that nature saw fit to equip with horizons stretching no more than a couple of hundred miles in space and a generation in time -- reaching out so far past our cradle to probe wonders of distant suns and strange, new worlds. That you can, if only you look, find out exactly how the Sun's cold logic unfolds beneath its burning fury, the power of a star circumscribed with a latticework of cunning equations which, though no more than markings on paper, hold a key to its power -- that's powerful stuff.

In space everything is vaster -- a million stars for every grain of sand on every beach on planet Earth. Think about it. Is it not magnificent?

And, if my inferior poetic sense doesn't convince you, think about this: Earth science is limited by not being able to run proper experiments. If all we know about is Earth all we can do to figure out how things might be is to speculate. Fun as that may be it makes for poor science. Then we turn our eyes heavenward and see marvelous experiments nature so thoughtfully provided. Take global warming: we know all the more about it because we can see what it did to Venus. And, by the by, it ain't pretty.

[numbuh82]

The two things which I am interested in the most are Astronomy and so on and Religion.

Why?Well because we know so little about the both.

Our most precious art works looks like mud to what you can see in the universe,Notably pictures from Hubble.

veljko said:

[ Earth science is limited by not being able to run proper experiments. If all we know about is Earth all we can do to figure out how things might be is to speculate. Fun as that may be it makes for poor science.

Thus leading to the idea of a Universe full of unlimited ideas((Obviously to some level of course)),Yet when I said this did you not but scowl at me.


But true as you have said above,If it is a perfectly clear night and the stars are shinning in their Thousands(+) you get a feeling of aw.

[numbuheightbitstar]

veljko said:

There could be life there. Do you know how earth-shaking such knowledge would be?

Ummm yeah.

"Oh my God!" says the President, the cabinet, and most of the masses, "Now we need to build spaceships so we can go to their planet and nuke them before they have the chance to find and nuke us!"

"By the Federation!" cries the geeks, "Now we need to build spaceships and go there to see if they're anywhere near as cool as the aliens in Star Trek/Star Wars/Babylon 5/whatever! And maybe search for strange monoliths or two!"

I'm with Sooks on this one. Life in outer space is only interesting if we have some way of contacting it. And more than likely it would turn out to not be the least bit humanlike, which means even the geeks would be repelled and decide "Those aliens are monsters!" the minute they lay eyes on them.

[numbuh82]

So in turn we use radio to contact if they have the same technology.

The language and the way they communicate or sound will probably be different but it's the best shot we can take.

[numberunknown]

numbuh82 said:

So in turn we use radio to contact if they have the same technology.

The language and the way they communicate or sound will probably be different but it's the best shot we can take.

I highly doubt that the life on that planet will be as advanced as we are. It is so near impossible that I can hardly explain. Them being able to communicate like us is very, very, VERY unlikely, but them being as advanced as us... no, I don't think that it is going to happen.

If they had our tehnology, they'd be looking for us too, and if they were looking for us too, we'd have found them.

It is even questionable whether their is life AT ALL there.

They won't be at Earth's status.

Although I find this topic interesting, I am not shaking with joy at the thought of finding a new planet. I mean, it's interesting and everything, but it has nothing to do with us. And if we can use it at all, even for great things like a cure for cancer, I still believe... it's so hard to put into words.

I guess that I am inbetween excitment and disagreement

[Numbuh 0xFF]

@james

Who are you and what have you done with James?

Seriously, though, do you even read what you type? Did you think, perhaps, that there are people with sensibilities that extend past daily politics and light entertainment?

First of all finding life anywhere that's not Earth would be a major scientific discovery. Remember: for all the speculation all life in the universe that we know of is right here. It could be as common as much or unique to right here. We don't know. Knowing would be very cool.

Second, having found another verified example of life in the universe we could use the two datapoints (there and Earth) to extrapolate some more effective criteria about good candidates for, say, SETI. Also useful if we ever want to launch any interstellar probes. And we will. Eventually it will happen.

Third, WE ARE TALKING ABOUT ACTUAL ALIEN LIFE. How can you not find that cool is quite beyond me. It's like you lack any scientific curiosity...where's your spirit of exploration? Frankly, even if there weren't benefits from space exploration (and there are) it's still be a worthwhile a thousand times over: it's a glorious adventure testing the limits of humanity to their utmost. It's an opportunity to grow.

Now as for your arguments...piffle. You know damn well that 20ly is well out of range of any military action. Further, you'd probably need a week just to explain the concept of a 'extrasolar planet' to GWB. And, most importantly, it is dead obvious that any such alien life cannot represent a credible threat. Either it can't get here and is harmless or it CAN get here and wields such power that it probably wouldn't even notice being nuked.

As for geeks, well allow me to present you with three points for your consideration:

1) There are people, geeky as they might be, who are trained scientists and really clever to boot who would evaluate the possibility of alien contact clearly and, amazing stuff here, not guided by science-fiction but, instead, science-science. They would not be looking for Babylon 5 aliens because they know full-well that those were ACTORS wearing MASKS.

2) If you were only slightly more conversant in the field of science-fiction, especially the bit commonly know as 'good science fiction' (you know? the stuff that wins things like the Hugo or Nebula prizes?) you'd note that there were some decidedly inhuman aliens. For your consideration: "Solaris" -- a book about an intelligent ocean covering an entire planet and whose central theme is humanity's inability to communicate with so alien a mind; "Planet" -- a similar entity in in Sid Meyer's Alpha Centauri (see! I even found a video game with a decidedly alien alien); Traeki -- (from the "Uplift" universe created by Dr. David Brin) these are a truly fascinating riff on the 'group mind' theme; Ark Megaforms -- (from the "Noon Universe" created by the Strugatsky brothers);

I could go on, of course. As you can see, plenty of truly bizarre aliens have been explored in fiction. And reality might be all the more strange. Which is one of the things that makes it so cool.

3) Why do you assume that faced with a truly alien intelligence -- one that we cannot comprehend -- our first impulse would be to destroy? Or that we'd go to interstellar war over the fact that the aliens might look ugly (in fact thinking that we'll find them ugly is unforgivable anthropomorphizing -- their shape and disposition are likely to be so alien that we won't find them ugly or pretty or anything really)?

Numbuh 5™.And.Nigel.Forever

As it happens I think that a tide-locked high-G world is a poor choice for a place to look for advanced (or any) life. However I am extremely puzzled as to why you think they should be less advanced than us? If they exist at all, that is. They could be much more advanced and simply not care -- perhaps people like James are predominant on their world. Or they existed, got advanced tech and nuked themselves into pieces. Or...well you get the picture.

[Cap'n Veg]

Well, humans tend to be inclined to think that we're the best thing since sliced bread. So if there was other intelligent life on another planet, it wouldn't surprise me if we started going all Spinach Inquisistion on them. (Apologies if that didn't make much sense, I'm tired)

[numberunknown]

vegetarianjcer said:

Well, humans tend to be inclined to think that we're the best thing since sliced bread. So if there was other intelligent life on another planet, it wouldn't surprise me if we started going all Spinach Inquisistion on them. (Apologies if that didn't make much sense, I'm tired)

For some reason, this made me think of them coming and taking over us... and us being in their rule. Maybe an intergalactical war... wow, now I'm getting way to out there... ;D

[numbuheightbitstar]

veljko said:

@james

Who are you and what have you done with James?

What the heck was THAT about?

Seriously, though, do you even read what you type? Did you think, perhaps, that there are people with sensibilities that extend past daily politics and light entertainment?

If there are, they're in an extreme minority.

Now as for your arguments...piffle. You know damn well that 20ly is well out of range of any military action. Further, you'd probably need a week just to explain the concept of a 'extrasolar planet' to GWB. And, most importantly, it is dead obvious that any such alien life cannot represent a credible threat. Either it can't get here and is harmless or it CAN get here and wields such power that it probably wouldn't even notice being nuked.

1. Sarge would say "Well invent something that can cover that distance, four-eyes!"

2. GWB isn't going to be the president forever.

3. The Mayans didn't present a credible threat either, that didn't stop our ancestors from slaughtering them.

As for geeks, well allow me to present you with three points for your consideration:

1) There are people, geeky as they might be, who are trained scientists and really clever to boot who would evaluate the possibility of alien contact clearly and, amazing stuff here, not guided by science-fiction but, instead, science-science. They would not be looking for Babylon 5 aliens because they know full-well that those were ACTORS wearing MASKS.

Science itself may be infallible, but scienTISTS sure aren't. They're every bit as much prone to media imaginings and close-mindedness as any other human being.

Even if you scoff at that page I just linked to, at least consider this: Why is discovering another EARTHLIKE planet so great, if scienTISTS are open to possibility? Wouldn't that include the possibility that a non-humanlike race could inhabit a non-Earthlike planet? There you go. They don't even consider that possibility.

2) If you were only slightly more conversant in the field of science-fiction, especially the bit commonly know as 'good science fiction' (you know? the stuff that wins things like the Hugo or Nebula prizes?) you'd note that there were some decidedly inhuman aliens. For your consideration: "Solaris" -- a book about an intelligent ocean covering an entire planet and whose central theme is humanity's inability to communicate with so alien a mind; "Planet" -- a similar entity in in Sid Meyer's Alpha Centauri (see! I even found a video game with a decidedly alien alien); Traeki -- (from the "Uplift" universe created by Dr. David Brin) these are a truly fascinating riff on the 'group mind' theme; Ark Megaforms -- (from the "Noon Universe" created by the Strugatsky brothers);

I'll have to check out those books and that game.

3) Why do you assume that faced with a truly alien intelligence -- one that we cannot comprehend -- our first impulse would be to destroy? Or that we'd go to interstellar war over the fact that the aliens might look ugly (in fact thinking that we'll find them ugly is unforgivable anthropomorphizing -- their shape and disposition are likely to be so alien that we won't find them ugly or pretty or anything really)?

Dude, I'm surprised you even have to ask. You speak as if every person on Earth is a peace-loving scientist whose only goal is to expand human knowledge and make the universe a better place.

Sadly, such people are in a minority.

The fact is:
1) People will hate anyone or anything for any reason, no matter how stupid or petty. People fight about everything from political ideology to sexual orientation to what they think the best episode of Spongebob Squarepants is.

2) Despite what you seem to think, people DO judge things by their looks. This is just a fact of human nature and I don't see how you can have met very many people and NOT realized this. Oh sure, you meet a lot of people who say they don't... but in my experience with such people, they say that only because they don't want everyone to think they're shallow.

3) Dude, if the alien really is THAT alien looking, the majority of people won't stand back and try to reason with it... they'll want to kill it as quick as possible.

Now, to be honest, reports and statistics usually indicate that crime rates are lowering and that a lot of these problems are clearing up. So maybe in about two-hundred years, mankind will have evolved into the knowledge-seeking pacifists you seem to think they all are. Right now though, they're a decided minority. If an alien landed right now, we'd have the real-life version of The Day the Earth Stood Still.