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An artist's rendering shows a planet called Kepler-20e. The surface temperature of Kepler-20e, at more than 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit, would melt glass. [Reuters]

Search for Habitable Alien Planets Hampered by Gravity

1 posted on 02/16/2012 4:22:36 AM PST by SunkenCiv
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To: SunkenCiv

I guess we’re just stuck here.


4 posted on 02/16/2012 4:24:56 AM PST by ZX12R (FUBO GTFO 2012 ! We should take off and Newt washington from orbit.)
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To: SunkenCiv
This is easy...

Wanna_JKR

Just give Bammie a kill-switch for gravity...

Here...
...or any other danged planet that fits the Dhimmicrat's daily narrative...

Just get Dingy Harry off his attitude...
VOILA! = problem solved!

6 posted on 02/16/2012 4:36:05 AM PST by Wings-n-Wind (The main things are the plain things!)
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To: SunkenCiv

I like gravity, it helps keep my feet on the ground. And being a Christian of the “Scriptures only” for truth, I love the Lord God of Israel who created all temporal things by Jesus Christ our Lord and who will burn the whole sin stained universe after the Lord Jesus rules on the earth for a 1000 years and then delivers up the Kingdom to God the Father.
Then the new heavens and new earth comes down from God out of heaven.
Until then, gravity is a good thing.


7 posted on 02/16/2012 5:09:50 AM PST by kindred (Jesus Christ is the Lord God and Messiah of Israel, a present help in time of trouble.)
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To: SunkenCiv
The search for habitable alien planets will be harder because tidal forces could remove water from planets to leave them dry worlds.

I would think this is the case only because the primary way of detecting exoplanets at this time is via the gravitational effect they have on the star they're orbiting. They 'tug' on it causing a 'wobble' in the light signal from the star (back and forth redshift-blueshift). Planets with a significant gravitational effect on their star usually get very close to it at some point and/or are very massive. Planets and Moons only experience tidal heating when they are sufficiently close to a star or planet(in the case of moons). Tidal heating is a gravitational effect. In other words, Earth is obviously a habitable planet, yet it isn't massive enough (or close enough to the Sun) to cause much of a wobble of the Sun. Therefore, we can't easily detect Earth-size planets at the Earth-Sun distance or greater using the current techniques, and so many such planets are 'invisible' to us at the moment.

8 posted on 02/16/2012 5:12:39 AM PST by ETL (ALL (most?) of the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: SunkenCiv

Earth also doesn’t experience much tidal heating from the gravitational effects of the Sun. Most of Earth’s internal heat comes from radioactivity in the core, and, to a much less degree, some leftover heat from the formation process.


10 posted on 02/16/2012 5:23:30 AM PST by ETL (ALL (most?) of the Obama-commie connections at my FR Home page: http://www.freerepublic.com/~etl/)
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To: SunkenCiv

Gravity: It’s not just a good idea.....it’s the law.


13 posted on 02/16/2012 5:37:23 AM PST by GreenHornet
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To: SunkenCiv
Oh Noes!! Tidal warming!!

We're all gonna dry!!

15 posted on 02/16/2012 5:37:53 AM PST by Erasmus (Able was I ere I saw this crappy little island.)
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To: SunkenCiv

They could use a planet like that in Europe. It’s cold there and that might help balance out global temperatures, but I’m no scientist.


22 posted on 02/18/2012 10:38:14 AM PST by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
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