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Planet Found in Nearest Star System to Earth
European Southern Observatory ^ | 10/17/2012 | ESO

Posted on 10/17/2012 4:46:35 PM PDT by VanShuyten

European astronomers have discovered a planet with about the mass of the Earth orbiting a star in the Alpha Centauri system — the nearest to Earth. It is also the lightest exoplanet ever discovered around a star like the Sun. The planet was detected using the HARPS instrument on the 3.6-metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory in Chile. The results will appear online in the journal Nature on 17 October 2012.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: alphacentauri; alphacentauria; alphacentaurib; astronomy; earthlikeplanets; goldilocks; goldilocksplanet; goldilockszone; xplanets
It's the right size, but too close to the star. They hope to find more planets there, maybe some in the "Goldilocks zone".
1 posted on 10/17/2012 4:46:37 PM PDT by VanShuyten
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To: VanShuyten

Dibs on beachfront property.


2 posted on 10/17/2012 4:48:17 PM PDT by Larry Lucido (Romney/Ryan 2012)
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To: VanShuyten

Been there... (well, almost)

3 posted on 10/17/2012 4:51:40 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (We canÂ’t just leave it (food choice) up to the parents. -- moochele obozo 2/12/2012 (cnsnews))
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To: VanShuyten
Hell, we cannot even get to our space station

Like buying an island and selling your boat. "maybe the guy down the beach will give me a ride"

4 posted on 10/17/2012 4:57:11 PM PDT by hadaclueonce (you are paying 12% more for fuel because of Ethanol. Smile big Corn Lobby,)
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To: hadaclueonce

Yes, we are that stupid.


5 posted on 10/17/2012 4:58:07 PM PDT by hadaclueonce (you are paying 12% more for fuel because of Ethanol. Smile big Corn Lobby,)
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To: freedumb2003

Wonder if their space craft could have even been plausible ?


6 posted on 10/17/2012 5:02:45 PM PDT by American Constitutionalist
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To: American Constitutionalist

>>Wonder if their space craft could have even been plausible ?<<

Not with Dr. Smith on board!


7 posted on 10/17/2012 5:04:09 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (We canÂ’t just leave it (food choice) up to the parents. -- moochele obozo 2/12/2012 (cnsnews))
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To: VanShuyten
Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket
8 posted on 10/17/2012 5:05:56 PM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: VanShuyten

I’ll keep this Earth. Do write back occasionally about the weather...


9 posted on 10/17/2012 5:16:02 PM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion (Sorry, gone rogue, gone Galt, gone international. Gone.)
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To: freedumb2003
>>Wonder if their space craft could have even been plausible ?<< "Not with Dr. Smith on board!" ABSOLUTELY!!! God, I hate that guy! Photobucket
10 posted on 10/17/2012 5:18:52 PM PDT by NCDave (AKA, "That idiot over there")
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To: VanShuyten

If there is one it seems likely that there will be more. I would imagine the goldilocks zone is a bit further out than ours since the A star is hotter.

With the B star swinging around like that, I suspect there wouldn’t be a lot of debris like our kuiper belt.

This is actually some of the biggest science news we’ve seen for quite a while.


11 posted on 10/17/2012 5:23:58 PM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: cripplecreek
With the B star swinging around like that, I suspect there wouldn’t be a lot of debris like our kuiper belt.

Interesting "seasons" if there is one in the GLZ.

12 posted on 10/17/2012 5:31:28 PM PDT by Sirius Lee (Tequila can hurt but it wasn't designed to kill you. Taqiyya is.)
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To: hadaclueonce

Reminds me of the comedian...I can’t remember his name...saying he didn’t think it was smart to beam ‘Hello’ messages into space because what if we get a response that’s like “Hey! How ya doing? Come on up!”

And we’d have to be like....”Um...can you meet us at the moon? We know we can get three guys there. But one of them has to stay in the car.”


13 posted on 10/17/2012 5:32:46 PM PDT by Psycho_Bunny (Thought Puzzle: Describe Islam without using the phrase "mental disorder" more than four times.)
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To: hadaclueonce

WE aren’t, our “betters” are.


14 posted on 10/17/2012 5:34:19 PM PDT by null and void (Day 1366 of our ObamaVacation from reality - Obama, a queer and present danger)
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To: Sirius Lee

The day night cycle would be interesting over the years. Some months there would be no midnight sun and for half the year there would be. Meanwhile the second sun would be getting closer.


15 posted on 10/17/2012 5:38:12 PM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: VanShuyten

Isn’t that where they filmed “Lost in Space”? Is our flag still there?


16 posted on 10/17/2012 5:58:55 PM PDT by Defiant (If there are infinite parallel universes, why Lord, am I living in the one with Obama as President?)
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To: VanShuyten; SunkenCiv

FYI ............................................................ FRegards


17 posted on 10/17/2012 5:59:22 PM PDT by gonzo ( Buy more ammo, dammit! You should already have the firearms ... FRegards)
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To: cripplecreek

Wouldn’t a binary system limit where planets could form? A planet as far out as Jupiter would be affected by both suns almost equally, so what would happen to all of our gas giants? I would think that only relatively small planets fairly close to each star would survive. Would 1 AU be close enough to be able to ignore the gravity of the other star?


18 posted on 10/17/2012 5:59:54 PM PDT by VanShuyten ("a shadow...draped nobly in the folds of a gorgeous eloquence.")
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To: VanShuyten

Yeah would think that planets would need to be relatively close to the parent star. The B star is cooler than our sun so you could get a tighter habitable zone despite the wide orbit.


19 posted on 10/17/2012 6:04:51 PM PDT by cripplecreek (What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?)
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To: gonzo
Thanks gonzo.
 
X-Planets
· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe ·
Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar ·

20 posted on 10/18/2012 6:22:25 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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