Posted on 04/20/2020 7:25:20 AM PDT by Tenacious 1
Scientists analyzing data gathered by Kepler, which NASA retired in November 2018, just found a hidden gem: an Earth-size world that may be capable of supporting life as we know it.
The exoplanet, Kepler-1649c, circles a red dwarf star that lies 300 light-years from Earth, a new study reports. Kepler-1649c completes one orbit every 19.5 Earth days, putting the alien planet in its host star's "habitable zone," the just-right range of distances where liquid water could exist on a world's surface. (Because red dwarfs are so dim, their habitable zones lie quite close.)
"This intriguing, distant world gives us even greater hope that a second Earth lies among the stars, waiting to be found," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement....
Both of these campaigns were very successful. Kepler spotted about two-thirds of the 4,100 confirmed exoplanets that astronomers have discovered to date. And the spacecraft's observations suggest that 20-25% of the 200 billion or so stars in the Milky Way galaxy host rocky worlds in the habitable zone. That's a lot of potentially life-supporting real estate....
Kepler-1649c is just 1.06 times the size of Earth and gets 75% of the stellar energy influx that our planet gets from the sun. This combination of characteristics makes the newfound world quite special indeed.
"There are other exoplanets estimated to be closer to Earth in size, such as TRAPPIST-1f and, by some calculations, Teegarden c," NASA officials wrote in the same statement. "Others may be closer to Earth in temperature, such as TRAPPIST-1d and TOI 700d. But there is no other exoplanet that is considered to be closer to Earth in both of these values that also lies in the habitable zone of its system."
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Nuclear powered ion propulsion.
New planet? Let’s call it Myanus.
Just not gonna happen unless we develop some sort of warp speed. It does exist as a theory, does it not?
The problem with theory and theoretical physics is that at some point engineers have to build it out of solid material and pretend it can take the stresses and withstand the unexpected and unknown. Then it has to last 100’s if not thousands of years. Moving parts have a tendency to erode and fail. Fun to ponder.
It's not written in stone the opportunity to discover life rest solely on people from earth. We could be contacted or "discovered" by alien life tomorrow. And that might have already occurred in the past.
Exactly, and like the defunct McDonald’s DLT, the hot side stays hot and the cold side stays cold.
Probably about the melting temperature of soft metal on the sun side, and close to Kelvin Zero on the other.
If it has an atmosphere, the winds would be crazy! Hot air rises, cold air sinks. The disparity could cause global hurricane force winds. Maybe life could exist at the point where the sun is perpetually but never quite setting. Life forms would be short, heavy and squat to avoid being blown away...
Why don’t we just transport there? /s
Paging all libtards your space crafts depart in one hour.
Alpha Centauri, is about 4 light years away. If we developed technology that increased our speed in space by 10X (average over distance), we might be able to get to Alpha Centauri in about 13,500 years
Google the “Kardashev Scale”. Type I, II, III civilizations. We have yet to qualify even as a Type I, which is a long long way off, controlling the energy of just our star, the sun. Then comes controlling entire star systems, then comes controlling a galaxy, not to say galactic clusters. To us, any Type III civilization technology would appear as absolute pure magic, if it could even be perceived by us at all.
Since Kepler-1649c sun is a red dwarf, you die from the radiation before you landed.
Additionally, because we are carbon-based beings we are limited in our capacity to expand beyond our exothermic environment. We would need to invent a proxy system such as AI capable of meeting the demands of travel in the universe. It would not be us as presently constituted.
The star is apparently a red dwarf. For a planet to be in the habitable zone wouldn’t it have to be much closer to the star than we are at 93m miles? Wouldn’t a planet that close to a star also be in tidal lock, with one side always facing and the other not, like our moon. Were the planet in tidal lock, it is difficult to see how complex life could evolve.
because we are carbon-based beings we are limited in our capacity to expand beyond our exothermic environment.
an assumption
Well, the Earth used to be flat, too. Discovery leads to discovery. Star Trek fan here. Spock could figure it out.
Anybody see the movie “Passengers.” Pretty cool conception of travelling at partial speed of light and taking 89 years to reach a destination. The passengers are all in suspended animation, of course.
Was Myanus also a Roman God? There were so many it’s hard to keep track of them.
X100,000 flare activity?
Dave Lister will be ok.
We need to call him up and get him started.
I think we need to wait for WW3 before he invents warp drive.
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