The headline writer screwed up. This doesn't mean they're close to the size of Earth - in fact, they're closest to the size of Uranus and Neptune, shown here at the same scale as Earth:
Posted on 08/31/2004 8:42:10 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
Three planets have been discovered in other solar systems and are the closest ever found to Earth in size, marking an important step in the search for planets that could support life elsewhere in the universe, scientists have announced.
The planets are significantly smaller than the many dozens found so far and might even be rocky, an essential platform for life to evolve. The scientists who discovered the three planets said they were probably too hot to support life themselves, although one has a lukewarm zone that could conceivably support biological organisms.
While the existence of habitable planets elsewhere in the universe has long been hypothesized, the discoveries bring scientists much closer to finding another planet like Earth in another solar system. Given the number of stars in the universe, such planets might well be plentiful.
Many conditions would need to be met for any other planets to support life. Candidates need to be at an optimal distance from a star, and neither too hot nor too cold. They would probably need liquid water and would not trap harmful radiation, as Venus does. Once such a planet has been found, scientists could answer the final question: Was life on Earth a miraculous quirk or the inevitable result of physics, chemistry and celestial geography?
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Luke warm in astronomical and geophysical terms probably means scalding...
BTTT
The headline writer screwed up. This doesn't mean they're close to the size of Earth - in fact, they're closest to the size of Uranus and Neptune, shown here at the same scale as Earth:
one's kerry's home...
one's estrich's home...
and in 2008 hillary will be looking for one
Doogle
Chances are that there are many billions of planets with intelligent life in our universe. Chances are that we will never discover each other because of the vast distances between us and the fact that the light barrier will probably never be broken, making any interstellar expeditions very difficult.
But what do I know? A hundred years ago, nobody could conceive the kind of high-tech world we live in today.
That's what I heard too, but this is the best article I've seen. From what I've read, the planets are over 3 times the size of earth.
Now the Democrats will be getting absentee votes from these three! --------------------------------
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Instead of fencing off California (as some suggest) and making it the lib haven, let's ship the libs to their own planet.
Well that is "close".(think in terms of nukes not horse shoes)
ping.
I suppose talking light years you can give or take a double or triple error ... :)
Yeah, brain surgery with a chain saw level.
Oh please, puh-leeze, let there be life on them. It's sooo important. Sooo necessary!
It's all relative...... Einstein...
And, it would be sooooo cool... Star Trek isn't so far fetched anymore.
I now have my tinfoil hat on.
I predict that tax freedom day will be on December 31st. Seriously, the discovery of quantum mechanics was the biggest influence over the last 100. But I think today we have better visiblity into the future. Even so, I hope there will be more surprises and breakthroughs that will shape the next 100 years. And then there will be evil people who try to use it to their advantage, and somebody will have to do the dirty work of defeating them as we are doing today.
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