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Earth-like planets may be more rare than thought
Nature Magazine ^ | 30 July 2004 | Philip Ball

Posted on 07/30/2004 11:12:50 AM PDT by PatrickHenry

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To: Dead Corpse

The Milky Way galaxy has approx. 100,000,000,000 stars and it's 1 of approx. 1,000,000,000 or so galaxies. So this nitwit is ready to conclude there are no more "earths" after a very crude form of investigation of 110 planets around 25 or so stars that at this point can ONLY, ONLY detect Jupiter-sized planets.

Utter rubbish from a pseudo-scientist who had to work hard to find something to write about.


21 posted on 07/30/2004 11:39:44 AM PDT by Neville72
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To: PatrickHenry

There is only one data point. And that is us. All else is speculation. However, using probability, we can make some predictions. Thusly was born the "Drake Equation".


22 posted on 07/30/2004 11:42:52 AM PDT by RadioAstronomer
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To: ECM

the book was
"the rare earth"
written by brownlee and another u of wash prof
an amazing book.
They go thru all the arguments why complex life is so rare. This is my solution to fermi's paradox.


23 posted on 07/30/2004 11:45:15 AM PDT by genghis
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Comment #24 Removed by Moderator

To: PatrickHenry
There are 110 of these extrasolar planets, at the latest count, and they are all between about a tenth and ten times as massive as Jupiter. Most of them are, however, much closer to their sun than Jupiter is to ours

Why is this surprising? If we're using gravitational anomolies to detect planets, of course it's going to be easier to find large planets that are close to their sun, because the effects of gravity are much greater.

25 posted on 07/30/2004 11:53:06 AM PDT by ThinkDifferent
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To: PatrickHenry; AAABEST; Mycroft Holmes

Drake equation ping. I always go back and forth on this ....


26 posted on 07/30/2004 11:56:30 AM PDT by fooman (Get real with Kim Jung Mentally Ill about proliferation)
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Comment #27 Removed by Moderator

To: PatrickHenry

When there are billions of stars in each galaxy, and billions of galaxies, it's kinda hard to believe we're unique.


28 posted on 07/30/2004 12:00:27 PM PDT by jimt
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To: Neville72
The Milky Way galaxy has approx. 100,000,000,000 stars and it's 1 of approx. 1,000,000,000 or so galaxies. So this nitwit is ready to conclude there are no more "earths" after a very crude form of investigation of 110 planets around 25 or so stars that at this point can ONLY, ONLY detect Jupiter-sized planets.

Utter rubbish from a pseudo-scientist who had to work hard to find something to write about.

Well said.

Jupiter is not habitable: it is too cold, and is mostly composed of dense gas. And it is unlikely that extrasolar giant planets would support life either.

This type of thinking always amazes me. Yes, life that evolved on Earth has adapted to the conditions found on Earth, no surprise here. Would it be so surprising that life elsewhere in the universe would adapt to the conditions there?

29 posted on 07/30/2004 12:02:20 PM PDT by RJL
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To: PatrickHenry

Are We Alone (reason to ponder what makes the earth unique)


http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1181928/posts


30 posted on 07/30/2004 12:02:26 PM PDT by Lucy Lake
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To: PatrickHenry
They suggest that other planets were not formed by the same kind of process that produced our Solar System, so they might not have smaller, habitable companions.

We've been over all this time and again on FR. Current detection methods select a highly specific (and probably highly unusual) sample which tells us little about Earth-like (or even Jupiter-like) worlds.

The idea that these close binary brown dwarf systems formed differently from our solar system in no way supports the title of this article, even if the idea is perfectly correct.

31 posted on 07/30/2004 12:02:41 PM PDT by Physicist
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To: TonyRo76

I think arminianism is arrogant and man centered and borders on man's will being a false idol...


32 posted on 07/30/2004 12:04:09 PM PDT by RUCKUS INC. ("Wow, what a crapweasel." - Frank_Discussion)
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To: TonyRo76

I think arminianism is arrogant and man centered and borders on man's will being a false idol...

I am a Conservatie Baptist who says "Thank God for Martin Luther"


33 posted on 07/30/2004 12:04:42 PM PDT by RUCKUS INC. ("Wow, what a crapweasel." - Frank_Discussion)
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Comment #34 Removed by Moderator

To: RadioAstronomer

What is your opinion of the arguments made in "Rare Earth". The Drake equation only gives the upside, but doesn't seem to take into account the conditions that would preclude higher forms of life. For instance, the radiation conditions in the core of galaxies and in the arms of spiral galaxies are too high to allow the survival of higher life forms. That leaves the area between the arms for habitable zones in spiral galaxies, and stars only stay in between the spiral arms for extended periods of time if they are 1/2 the radius of the galaxy from the center of the galaxy. These factors alone remove several orders of magnitude from the number of possible stars that could sustain higher forms of life.


35 posted on 07/30/2004 12:07:04 PM PDT by Pres Raygun
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To: PatrickHenry
I know as much about this as any non-specialist. Rare Earth makes as good an argument as the SETI proponents. One significant difference: the negative case is falsifiable (just find some ETs or an Earthlike extra-solar planet). The positive case can be continued literally forever: "They are there, we just haven't found them yet." It is worth some effort to find out, but anyone who claims to have the answer now is frankly full of crap.
36 posted on 07/30/2004 12:07:16 PM PDT by atomic conspiracy (A few words for the media: Julius Streicher, follow his path, share his fate.)
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To: thecabal

This seems too easy but "In the beginning God created the heavens (plural) and the earth (singular)"


37 posted on 07/30/2004 12:08:05 PM PDT by RUCKUS INC. ("Wow, what a crapweasel." - Frank_Discussion)
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To: RightWingAtheist
I wonder if Martin Beer is any relation to the great german astronomer Wilhelm Beer.

IIRC, they have a common ancestor Tümuch Beer...

38 posted on 07/30/2004 12:10:17 PM PDT by null and void (Freedom is written with blood on the streets, not with ink in congress.)
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To: PatrickHenry
They also tend to have more elongated orbits than those of Jupiter and the Earth, both of which orbit the Sun on almost circular paths.

I thought our planets' orbits were "wildly elliptical."

39 posted on 07/30/2004 12:10:38 PM PDT by Junior (FABRICATI DIEM, PVNC)
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To: ThinkDifferent
Why is this surprising? If we're using gravitational anomolies to detect planets, of course it's going to be easier to find large planets that are close to their sun, because the effects of gravity are much greater.

Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner!

It's called a "selection effect" - the data sample looks biased towards hot Jupiters, but that's only because current detection technologies find those preferentially. Give it about 10 years and we will have much better data with the new surveys coming on line. Anyway, personally I find it amazing that we now know of 10 times as many planets OUTSIDE our solar system as IN it!

The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia

Exo Planets

40 posted on 07/30/2004 12:10:50 PM PDT by alnitak ("That kid's about as sharp as a pound of wet liver" - Foghorn Leghorn)
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