Posted on 09/11/2006 5:51:39 PM PDT by KevinDavis
GREENBELT, Md.: The odds of finding another temperate, Earth-like planet beyond our galaxy may be “significantly higher” than earlier thought, a new study has suggested.
Scientists at NASA's Astrobiology Institute said it is more likely to find a planet covered with deep oceans and providing conditions that can sustain life, conditions similar to our own planet. The researchers had focused on the behavior of giant gas planets called 'Hot Jupiters' which are known to orbit very close to their parent.
Such gas giants were also observed to plow through any stellar material in its path often creating a “habitable zone” - an environment suitable for the evolution of life. The study was based on exhaustive simulations and several models created on at least a dozen computers. The computers simulated conditions similar to what science suggests happened over the past 200 million years. The models too were based on our own understanding of how the planets within the solar system formed.
(Excerpt) Read more at earthtimes.org ...
K-pax
So whats the point, earth-like planets are easy to find?
We should be building subdivisions up there? Or maybe
pouring billions of dollars down the rathole of NASA.
How about letting private enterprise see if they can make a go of it first.
Ummm no, this is purely for research purposes.
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