Posted on 02/22/2017 11:21:30 AM PST by C19fan
Planet-hunters are always on the lookout for worlds that look like Earthrocky 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 observatoriesincluding 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 Telescoperesearchers 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 ...
I can’t see that. Maybe work is blocking the source site.
Somehow I suspect I owe work a thank you.
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.
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.
318 thousand years see post #15
They can’t ALL be in the ‘Goldilocks Zone’ can they?
If they have water the tides would be interesting.
Our brain-dead liberals may be why Earth is in quarantine ...
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.
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.
I’ll go. Someone else can bring the beer. I’ll bring the pbjs.
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.
I don't think any plant can do that.
Even one made of gold.
Will they have in-flight meals and movies ?
Guess we’ll need more beer, pb&j’s and plenty of crunchy cheetos. Oh, and some wipes for the cheeto stains.
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...
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.
“Can these planets support Democrat-based life forms?”
They’d be better served shipping them to Mercury.
Democrats immediately held a special meeting to find a way to tax the new planets.
Depends if you’re in first class or coach.
It's sad, lonely, and wonderful having no close neighbours.
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!
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