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A whopping seven Earth-size planets were just found orbiting a nearby star
Popular Science ^ | February 22, 2017 | Sarah Fecht

Posted on 02/22/2017 11:21:30 AM PST by C19fan

Planet-hunters are always on the lookout for worlds that look like Earth—rocky planets that are not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to flow on the surface. Now scientists have hit the jackpot, discovering seven Earth-size exoplanets orbiting a single star just 39 light-years away. The star, named TRAPPIST-1, was thought to be home to three exoplanets. But with the help of a variety of observatories—including the Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope (a.k.a. TRAPPIST, the star's namesake), the Very Large Telescope in Chile, and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope—researchers found four more planets in the system. The planets were discovered as they passed in front of the star, blocking some of its light from Earth's point-of-view.

(Excerpt) Read more at popsci.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Science
KEYWORDS: astronomy; kepler; planets; science; trappist; trappist1; xplanets
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To: corkoman

I can’t see that. Maybe work is blocking the source site.

Somehow I suspect I owe work a thank you.


21 posted on 02/22/2017 11:38:35 AM PST by DannyTN
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To: cicero2k

The demotion of humans, as special beings; continues.

...

I disagree. These planets are unlikely to have any life, and much less likely to host evolved technological civilizations.

As the article notes, the planets at the right distances are probably tidally locked with the star.


22 posted on 02/22/2017 11:38:49 AM PST by Moonman62 (Make America Great Again!)
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To: C19fan

It’s a red dwarf so the star constantly flares and changes in intensity, you fry then freeze.

And thanks to the flares, those planets atmospheres will have long since been blasted away.


23 posted on 02/22/2017 11:41:32 AM PST by Snickering Hound
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To: Crucial

318 thousand years see post #15


24 posted on 02/22/2017 11:42:03 AM PST by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy)
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To: C19fan

They can’t ALL be in the ‘Goldilocks Zone’ can they?

If they have water the tides would be interesting.


25 posted on 02/22/2017 11:42:06 AM PST by Mr. K
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To: Java4Jay

Our brain-dead liberals may be why Earth is in quarantine ...


26 posted on 02/22/2017 11:44:49 AM PST by MHGinTN (A dispensational perspective is a powerful tool for discernment)
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To: RedStateRocker

I agree, and I can’t understand how learning MORE about the vastness of Creation diminishes God in the minds of so many. The bigger, more incredible and wondrous the Universe and all that is in it, the greater and more miraculous is it’s Creator! Making ONE race of beings is acceptable for an Almighty Creator, but making billions of beings isn’t? We shouldn’t project our limitations-not to mention narcissistic need to be the center of everything- on God.


27 posted on 02/22/2017 11:45:30 AM PST by ClearBlueSky (ISLAM is the problem. ISLAM is the enemy of civilization.)
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To: C19fan

The article correctly describes them as “Earth-size” and not “Earth-like.”

The most Earth-like planet ever discovered is almost the exact same size and mass as Earth and orbits at relatively close to the same orbit of a star that is identical in every respect to our own. In fact, the star is our own and the planet is called Venus.

I would not want to try and live there.


28 posted on 02/22/2017 11:45:59 AM PST by Bubba_Leroy (The Obamanation has ended!)
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To: rktman

I’ll go. Someone else can bring the beer. I’ll bring the pbjs.


29 posted on 02/22/2017 11:49:32 AM PST by beaversmom
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To: ClearBlueSky

From either a religious or a purely scientific basis, we have no way of knowing yet whether the universe is filled with life or whether Earth has the only life in the entire universe. We won’t know unless and until we actually find life somewhere else. Until then, it is all speculation.


30 posted on 02/22/2017 11:51:02 AM PST by Bubba_Leroy (The Obamanation has ended!)
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To: bobcat62
Can these planets support Democrat-based life forms?

I don't think any plant can do that.

Even one made of gold.

31 posted on 02/22/2017 11:51:27 AM PST by Only1choice____Freedom (If you choose not to deal with reality, reality will deal with you - and not on your terms)
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To: from occupied ga
and you get 318,624 years for a one way trip.

Will they have in-flight meals and movies ?

32 posted on 02/22/2017 11:52:14 AM PST by UCANSEE2 (Lost my tagline on Flight MH370. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
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To: from occupied ga

Guess we’ll need more beer, pb&j’s and plenty of crunchy cheetos. Oh, and some wipes for the cheeto stains.


33 posted on 02/22/2017 11:52:38 AM PST by rktman (Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?!)
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To: Bubba_Leroy
I would not want to try and live there.

Hmm...1300 Fahrenheit and clouds of sulfuric acid. Yeah, that could discourage a feller. On the other hand, I spent a whole summer in LA one time...

34 posted on 02/22/2017 11:53:16 AM PST by Billthedrill
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To: C19fan

TRAPPIST is only 500 million years old, according to another website I was reading this morning. So any life that exists there is probably only single-cell life at this point.


35 posted on 02/22/2017 11:54:08 AM PST by LibWhacker
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To: bobcat62

“Can these planets support Democrat-based life forms?”

They’d be better served shipping them to Mercury.


36 posted on 02/22/2017 11:55:02 AM PST by WKUHilltopper (WKU 2016 Boca Raton Bowl Champions)
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To: C19fan

Democrats immediately held a special meeting to find a way to tax the new planets.


37 posted on 02/22/2017 11:55:59 AM PST by Bullish (May as well just rename Hollywood---> Hypocrite city)
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To: UCANSEE2

Depends if you’re in first class or coach.


38 posted on 02/22/2017 11:56:41 AM PST by ealgeone
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To: from occupied ga
Probably not even in a stasis chamber, right?

It's sad, lonely, and wonderful having no close neighbours.


39 posted on 02/22/2017 11:56:45 AM PST by beaversmom
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To: max americana

you wanna start an inter galactic War!!?? well if someone sent us Libs that we had no idea existed, that would be grounds for War putting us to such a shock!


40 posted on 02/22/2017 11:57:57 AM PST by sit-rep
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