Posted on 08/31/2004 8:42:10 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
Three planets have been discovered in other solar systems and are the closest ever found to Earth in size, marking an important step in the search for planets that could support life elsewhere in the universe, scientists have announced.
The planets are significantly smaller than the many dozens found so far and might even be rocky, an essential platform for life to evolve. The scientists who discovered the three planets said they were probably too hot to support life themselves, although one has a lukewarm zone that could conceivably support biological organisms.
While the existence of habitable planets elsewhere in the universe has long been hypothesized, the discoveries bring scientists much closer to finding another planet like Earth in another solar system. Given the number of stars in the universe, such planets might well be plentiful.
Many conditions would need to be met for any other planets to support life. Candidates need to be at an optimal distance from a star, and neither too hot nor too cold. They would probably need liquid water and would not trap harmful radiation, as Venus does. Once such a planet has been found, scientists could answer the final question: Was life on Earth a miraculous quirk or the inevitable result of physics, chemistry and celestial geography?
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Nothing like the study of astronomy to make you believe in God.
If that's true then light from the Galaxies is doing the same thing and there isn't as many galaxies as we think. Instead of seeing billions of galaxies we are just seeing the same few galaxies over and over again. Remember galaxies are moving so by the time their light got back to it's starting point they are long gone. If the universe has been around a long time then the light would have "Looped around" many times. So instead of seeing billions of "Real" galaxies we are instead actually just seeing billions of "Echos".
If there is intelligent life out there that can get here, don't you think first, they'd be scientists? I don't know if they'd reveal themselves because our understanding to them would be too primitive. And wouldn't they want to explore our universe? (Art Bell mode ===> maybe they are already here) If our society advanced to that level, could explore millions of light years away in a feasible time frame, we'd be ambassadors for the human race on earth, not antagonistic barbarians. I kind of think if those who were more advanced than us experienced the consequences of wmd's. Physics and math explain our existence.
oops. with the hand of God guiding us.
That's true, it's still fun to speculate what's out there, how it works, etc. It would be so cool to be on that cutting edge of science. That's our next frontier.
Are any of them Type M planets?
The libs would not survive, They have to have productive
individuals take care of them.
Instead lets move Mercury into orbit around Venus and
move Venus to the trailing trojan point of Earth's orbit.
Then drop a few ice comets on Venus and forbid libs
comeing anywhere near our planet.
As our telescopes become more powerful, we will discover many more planets. There are billions of planets to be found in our galaxy alone. And our galaxy is only a normal size galaxy in a constellation of millions of other galaxies. And our constellation is only an average constellation in a universe of billions of constellations.There are some here in FR who will continue to grasp at straws, hoping against hope (though I can't imagine why) that those discoveries never come.
But they will come. As sure as Bush is going to win this election, we'll find earthlike planets in the sky someday. In fact, even more sure than that.
Instead of seeing billions of galaxies we are just seeing the same few galaxies over and over again. Remember galaxies are moving so by the time their light got back to it's starting point they are long gone. If the universe has been around a long time then the light would have "Looped around" many times. So instead of seeing billions of "Real" galaxies we are instead actually just seeing billions of "Echos".Hey dude, like wow, and really man, the sky is wow like really up there and just think, it's like down below at the same time!
(Don't bogart that joint, my friend.)
And you can't get much higher authority on any of these matters than LDS scriptures. I am truly bested by your scientific prowess.
Man, talk about ironic. I LOST a planet just last week. Tell these folks to hold these until I get in touch with them. Mine was bluish with a lot of frozen nitrogen. I just need to get the title or my receipt.
far enough out, billions and billions of light years, you'll end up at your starting point.Earlier this year some team of scientists reported that this could not be true. It was because of some recent observations somebody had made. They also came up with a range of possible sizes for the universe.If that's true then light from the Galaxies is doing the same thing and there isn't as many galaxies as we think. Instead of seeing billions of galaxies we are just seeing the same few galaxies over and over again.
(How's that for a detailed recollection? :-)
About as detailed as the theory I recall. :)
First, I'm glad you heard of this theory. Second, thanks for the link. I'll read your stuff tomorrow, it's getting late, and this isn't the latest romance novel kind of reading.
"Life could arise on a moon orbiting one of these big Jupiter+ size planets we discovered. If the Jupiter size planet is orbiting the star at at distance to give an earth like moon the climate we have it would be very favorable for life (And assuming the moon orbits far enough that it doesn't become like Io). We actually could be the few lifeforms that actually originated from a planet in it's own right."
But a moon orbiting a planet of the size of Jupiter would have frequent and long lasting eclipses. How could plant life survive when there's always an eclipse?
Nope. We have been able to reach out and find a few planets (this is with 4000 years of technology and discovery under our belts).
Due to the fundamental nature of how this universe "works", SETI is still the best method for discovering tool building life out there. However, SETI has its own limitations:
There are two real sources of noise that limits the radio astronomer's ability to search for very weak signals. The Galactic noise halo interferes with us below 1 GHz and noise due to earth's atmosphere interferes with us above about 10 GHz. This pretty much keeps all SETI searches (at least radio ones) between 1 and 10 GHz. Inside these two frequencies, from about 1.4 to 7 GHz the noise level drops off even further to near the 2.7 Kelvin Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) that permeates all space. Hydrogen (H) molecules, the most abundant element in the universe, excite and emit (masers) at around the 1.4 GHz frequency (21 cm band) and the hydroxyl (OH) emits at around 1.65 GHz. This is where much of our radio astronomy and SETI research is concentrated. Since H + OH is water, the frequency gap between these two is often called the “Water Hole”.
Many of the current SETI searches are near the 21cm band. Since this is one of the coveted frequencies of radio astronomers, we have international treaties to not broadcast at this frequency at all. So here we are looking for signs of a narrowband signal heralding the fact that intelligent life is not wholly constrained to this little planet at this frequency. Now if any intelligent race develops radio and radio astronomy, they too will recognize the importance of this 21cm band for the exploration of the universe. And they also may instigate a SETI search using this very same frequency. So here is a question; would they hear us at that frequency? It is the one frequency we are not transmitting on at all. I could just see 500 races all looking for each other at the very frequency none of them are transmitting on due to the very nature of the importance of that frequency to the exploration of the universe.
and the problem with that would be???
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.