Posted on 01/07/2020 10:58:25 PM PST by SunkenCiv
[R]esearchers using NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) and the Spitzer Space Telescope have confirmed the presence of a nearby planet called TOI 700 d. The world sits comfortably in the habitable zone of its host star, and from what astronomers can tell, it appears to be a lot like Earth. The best part? It's relatively close.
Okay, so as we've all come to learn, "close" is a relative term when we're talking about objects in space. In the case of TOI 700 d, "close" means that the planet is hanging out at a distance of around 100 light-years. That's still an incredible distance that we have absolutely no way of traversing at the moment, but it's far closer than many other newly-discovered exoplanets...
The star that the Earth-alike is orbiting is quite a bit different from our own. It's much smaller and cooler, with only about 40% of the mass of our own Sun and surface temperatures of about half.
Exactly what the planet's surface looks like is still a mystery. Astronomers believe that the planet is tidally locked with it star, meaning that it's always showing its star the same "face," with one side of the planet always covered in light and the other in darkness.
It's an incredibly interesting discovery, but we'll have to wait for technology to catch up before we can say whether such a world would be worth visiting if that ever even becomes an option.
(Excerpt) Read more at bgr.com ...
TESS Mission's First Earth-size World in Star's Habitable-zone | NASA Goddard | Published on January 6, 2020
In before the usual trolls with their lack of interest in astronomy, and their regurgitation of the "we can never go there, whine whine whine, so no one should have any interest in this article, or this discovery, or in this topic."
..."close" is a relative term when we're talking about objects in space. In the case of TOI 700 d, "close" means that the planet is hanging out at a distance of around 100 light-years. That's still an incredible distance that we have absolutely no way of traversing at the moment, but it's far closer than many other newly-discovered exoplanets.
· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe · | ||
Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar · | ||
I’d think the Good Lord would not have put all these stars and planets in the universe if He didn’t intend us to go out there someday. Just my opinion.
"To consider the Earth as the only populated world in infinite space is as absurd as to assert that in an entire field of millet, only one grain will grow." -- Metrodorus, 4th c BC Greek philosopher
"Heaven and earth are large, yet in the whole of space they are but as a small grain of rice. How unreasonable it would be to suppose that, besides the heaven and earth which we can see, there are no other heavens and no other earths." -- Teng Mu, 13th c AD Chinese philosopher
Too far away in terms of a human lifetime at current technology but perhaps not when thinking in geologic time. Assuming our star system travels at approximately 514,000 miles per hour around the galaxy, 100 light years is about 1,303 years away.
Probably the only reason ETs haven't gotten rid of us when they visit is, we taste bad. :^)
No spin, other than once per year, also means no magnetic field to protect its atmosphere. It’s probably more like Mars than Earth; a near-vacuum desert planet.
The ETs prefer star chicken and we taste like sweet pork, oh well.
Maybe no spin, but I doubt that a magnetic field has much to do with whether there's any atmosphere, either there, or on Mars, or Earth for that matter.
Venus is known not to have a magnetic field. The reason for its absence is not at all clear, but it may be related to a reduced intensity of convection in the Venusian mantle. Venus only has an induced magnetosphere formed by the Sun's magnetic field carried by the solar wind.
Venus has the most massive atmosphere of the terrestrial planets, which include Mercury, Earth, and Mars.
Dey some smart folk.
Dang, I was looking forward that trip. ;^) Sometimes I wonder if decimals have a point. /rimshot
Genesis — Counting Out Time (catchy, but about unprotected teen sex)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXUmKw4pFdc
But virtually everything in the galaxy is orbiting in the same fashion. The relative distance to this "second earth" won't change significantly as we orbit the galactic center.
A light year is not time. It is distance. Specifically, it’s the distance light travels in one year at 186,000 miles per second. Multiply the number of seconds in a year by that number and then by 100 and you will have the distance from earth to this other planet in miles. I know. The number is truly astronomical.
Possibly, but not in our current situation, ie when the universe is still in its fallen, damaged state.
We will get there the same way He is able to. Well the believers will, anyways.
There is a difficult-to-kill wish that Mars was once "Earthlike", but it's apparent that it has never had much atmosphere. Venus must get hit very hard by the solar wind -- the atmosphere must have been even more massive than it is now, unless of course Venus migrated into its current orbit, which isn't terribly unlikely, given its lack of tidal lock with the Sun (Venus has a slow retrograde axial rotation).
“The Solar Wind, came blowin’ in, from across the Sun...”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.