Earthlike planets may be common: study

Reuters ^ | 09/07/06

[KevinDavis]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Earthlike planets covered with deep oceans that could harbor life may be found in as many as a third of solar systems discovered outside of our own, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.

These solar systems feature gas giants known as "Hot Jupiters," which orbit extremely close to their parent stars -- even closer than Mercury to our sun, University of Colorado researcher Sean Raymond said.

The close-orbiting gassy planets may help encourage the formations of smaller, rocky, Earthlike planets, they reported in the journal Science.

"We now think there is a new class of ocean-covered, and possibly habitable, planets in solar systems unlike our own," Raymond said in a statement.

[KevinDavis]

[Army Air Corps]

"'We now think there is a new class of ocean-covered, and possibly habitable, planets in solar systems unlike our own,' Raymond said in a statement."



Waterworld! Maybe we could send Costner there...

[cripplecreek]

Common yes but among numbers of stars too numerous to imagine and at distances beyond comprehension.

[true_blue_texican]

"may" be common and ARE common, are 2 different things!

[Hawk1976]

We won't know until we go. Another reason America needs to be producing physicists and engineers instead of hoping to import them.

[Tzimisce]

Wow.

[SunkenCiv]

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[SunkenCiv]

of some interest?

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[Jedi Master Pikachu]

BBC Version:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5325476.stm .

[PatrickHenry]

How did this end up in "chat"?

Anyway, here's more info on this. I was about to post it when I discovered your earlier thread:
Earth-Like Planets May Be More Common Than Once Thought, Says CU-Boulder-Penn State Study.

[Larry Lucido]

As many as 40 percent of the 200 or so known planets around other stars are Hot Jupiters, the researchers said.

I imagine the percentage is so high because "Hot Jupiters" are easier to spot, not because there are actually that many percentage-wise.

But is the article saying that 1/3 of solar systems have "Hot Jupiters"? That sounds like a high percentage. Or is the article just poorly edited?

[nuke rocketeer]

We won't know until we go. Another reason America needs to be producing physicists and engineers instead of hoping to import them. Instead of producing more f*@&ing lawyers!!!!!!!

[Candor7]

This measures a minimum mass of 5.9 Earth masses for the new planet, which is orbiting Gliese 876 with a period of 1.94 days at a distance of 0.021 astronomical units (AU), or 2 million miles. It is a hot desert rocky planet.

WOW a place to send ALL Islamofascists.

(Artists Conception)