Alien Earths — 2 billion of them are out there

MSNBC/Space.com ^ | 03/22/2011 | Charles Q. Choi

[OldDeckHand]

That's scientists' latest estimate for our galaxy alone, based on Kepler data

Roughly one out of every 37 to one out of every 70 sunlike stars in the sky might harbor an alien Earth, a new study reveals.

These findings hint that billions of Earthlike planets might exist in our galaxy, researchers added.

These new calculations are based on data from the Kepler space telescope, which in February wowed the globe by revealing more than 1,200 possible alien worlds, including 68 potentially Earth-size planets. The spacecraft does so by looking for the dimming that occurs when a world transits or moves in front of a star.

[Retired Greyhound]

if you say so

[illiac]

Are they where the 7 missing states are???

[Tax-chick]

*snicker*

[DigitalVideoDude]

Checked your Kepler Wiki page which leads to this page:
http://jwleaf.org/docs/probability-of-planetary-transit.html

Those scientist-types think of everything. :-)

[Young Werther]

How many are there? Let me count the orbs!

[who_would_fardels_bear]

So that's what that movie was about.

They picked the perfect "host" to play Robert Porter ... by demeanor and namesake.

[Venturer]

Like I said guessing.

[OldDeckHand]

"Like I said guessing."

Sure, if Kepler's laws of planetary motion, calculus, geometry and mathematical probability are guessing, then yeah - it's just like guessing.

Another indication our public schools have failed us; People can't understand the discipline of observational science.

[Daffynition]

Dr. Mark Powell: What if I were to tell you that according to a man who lived on our planet, named Einstein, that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light?

Prot: I would say that you misread Einstein, Dr. Powell. May I call you Mark? You see Mark, what Einstein actually said was that nothing can accelerate to the speed of light because its mass would become infinite. Einstein said nothing about entities already traveling at the speed of light or faster.

[mlo]

"if you say so"

I do. Our galaxy is one of billions. None has a special place that gives them a better view. Our planet is around a star that is one of billions, within that one galaxy. It has no special place that gives a better view. If anyone said we were in the perfect place to observe the universe, then they didn't understand very much about the universe.

[freedumb2003]

I’ll even settle for green women.

"Settle?" ;) :)

[Thunder90]

PING

[dfwgator]

Pinto: Okay. That means that..our whole solar system...could be, like...one tiny atom in the fingernail of some other giant being......This is too much!

That means..one tiny atom in my fingernail could be—

Professor Jennings: Could be one little...tiny universe

Pinto: Could l buy some pot from you?

[freepersup]

The Jolly Green Giant approves.

[TADSLOS]

LOL!

[freepersup]

The original Men In Black ‘movie ending,’ explained just about everything about our existence... (in a campy theoretical sort of way- eh?)

* Against my better judgment I'm sticking to my fermentation addled response. ;o)

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Thunder90. I thought I'd pinged this one, maybe I pinged the other one(s) and missed this one. Mea culpa weeks behind on things.

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[dragnet2]

I take it neither of you actually read the article? My impression is that they didn't.

Some of the comments made regarding articles such as this, involving planets possibly capable of harboring life, or the possibility of life outside earth, are about as ignorant as it gets.