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New planet discovered to be first in habitable zone
Christian Science Monitor ^ | Dec 6, 2011 | By SETH BORENSTEIN,

Posted on 12/06/2011 6:40:24 AM PST by Red Badger

New planet discovery excites scientists: the discovery of a new planet 600 light years away with roughly the right temperature for plant and animal habitation is causing a buzz in the science community. Though much larger than Earth, scientists haven't ruled out the possibility of life being discovered.

A newly discovered planet is eerily similar to Earth and is sitting outside Earth's solar system in what seems to be the ideal place for life, except for one hitch. It is a bit too big.

The planet is smack in the middle of what astronomers call the Goldilocks zone, that hard to find place that is not too hot, not too cold, where water, which is essential for life, does not freeze or boil. And it has a shopping mall-like surface temperature of near 72 degrees, scientists say.

The planet's confirmation was announced Monday by NASA along with other discoveries by its Kepler telescope, which was launched on a planet-hunting mission in 2009.

That is the first planet confirmed in the habitable zone for Kepler, which already had found Earth-like rockyplanets elsewhere. Twice before astronomers have announced a planet found in that zone, but neither has been as promising.

"This is a phenomenal discovery in the course of human history," Geoff Marcy of University of California, Berkeley, one of the pioneers of planet-hunting outside Earth's solar system, said in an email. "This discovery shows that we Homo sapiens are straining our reach into the universe to find planets that remind us of home. We are almost there."

(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: evolution; goldilocks; goldilocksplanet; goldilockszone; kepler; nasa; planet; space; xplanets
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A diagram comparing our own solar system to Kepler-22, a star system containing the first 'habitable zone' planet discovered by NASA's Kepler mission. Kepler-22b, the most Earth-like planet ever discovered is circling a star 600 light years away, a key finding in an ongoing quest to learn if life exists beyond Earth, scientists said on Monday. Kepler-22b joins a list of more than 500 planets found to orbit stars beyond our solar system. It is the smallest and the best positioned to have liquid water on its surface - among the ingredients necessary for life on Earth.

Photo Illustration/Ames/JPL-Caltech/NASA/Reuters

1 posted on 12/06/2011 6:40:40 AM PST by Red Badger
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To: Red Badger

Okay all you seniors....Florida is out....This is where they’re shipping you!!


2 posted on 12/06/2011 6:44:59 AM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: Red Badger

They don’t know what’s there NOW !

All they know is what WAS there in the earth year 1411. Columbus hadn’t even sailed to America yet.


3 posted on 12/06/2011 6:44:59 AM PST by George from New England (escaped CT in 2006, now living north of Tampa)
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To: Red Badger
While I find discoveries like this to be quite interesting, I find the expense to be stupid and a huge waste.

We'll never get there.

4 posted on 12/06/2011 6:51:06 AM PST by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: Red Badger
We are almost there

Are we there yet? I have to go to the bathroom!

5 posted on 12/06/2011 6:51:15 AM PST by frithguild (Restricting access to capital - Liberalism: The sharpest tool of big business, banks, etc.)
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To: Red Badger
This is a phenomenal discovery in the course of human history,

It's also a significant discovery supporting Darwin's theory of evolution.

6 posted on 12/06/2011 6:51:59 AM PST by OldNavyVet
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To: ShadowAce

We’ll get there but it’s going to take a while before the technology is developed.


7 posted on 12/06/2011 6:54:40 AM PST by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: Red Badger

One small problem. This planet is 620 light years away. It will take generation in space travel and a new generation of spacecraft to achieve star travel.


8 posted on 12/06/2011 6:55:23 AM PST by DownInFlames
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To: OldNavyVet

Only to someone desperate to find such a ‘support’.


9 posted on 12/06/2011 6:56:13 AM PST by MHGinTN (Some, believing they cannot be deceived, it's impossible to convince them when they're deceived.)
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To: OldNavyVet

No, it’s not. It doesn’t support nor disprove anything regarding evolution.


10 posted on 12/06/2011 6:58:29 AM PST by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: ShadowAce

I don’t know about that. With discovering particles (neutrinos, I think?) “appearing” and “reappearing,” teleportation just may be a reality in a few decades.


11 posted on 12/06/2011 7:00:24 AM PST by Thorliveshere
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To: OldNavyVet

Cart before the horse...
Assume that life on earth is an accident,
and therefore it MUST have happened elsewhere as well.

Just curious, though, how exactly, in your mind, does “finding a planet in the habitable zone around a distant star” support the idea that all life on THIS planet has a single common ancestry?


12 posted on 12/06/2011 7:02:34 AM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter knows whom he's working for)
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To: DownInFlames
One small problem. This planet is 620 light years away. It will take generation in space travel and a new generation of spacecraft to achieve star travel.

Not to mention whether they'll be interested in meeting us!


13 posted on 12/06/2011 7:05:05 AM PST by COBOL2Java (Obama is the least qualified guy in whatever room he walks into.)
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To: ShadowAce
It doesn’t support nor disprove anything regarding evolution.

Darwin's "Origin" has two chapters covering Geloogy.

Chapter IX "On the Imperfection of the Geological Record."

Chapter X "On the Geological Succession of Organic Beings."

14 posted on 12/06/2011 7:07:14 AM PST by OldNavyVet
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To: OldNavyVet
That post doesn't tell me anything regarding how this discovery supposedly supports evolution.

And no--I am not going to go read it. If you want to make a point, make it--don't go pointing to texts I am not familiar with, nor intend to read.

15 posted on 12/06/2011 7:11:21 AM PST by ShadowAce (Linux -- The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: Red Badger

It sounds like a LOVELY place for all the libs to start setting up and working on their ‘utopia’. They won’t drill, allow motorized vehicles of any kind, no incandescent bulbs, and on and on. I personally vow NOT to interfere with my conservative principles. It will be THEIR PLANET to manage as they see fit. They can even allow illegal immigration from other nearby planets, if they so choose.

We conservatives will stay here on the ‘polluted’ Earth with our nasty cars, nuclear plants, oil rigs, industry, farms, jobs, guns, the American Flag, and PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.


16 posted on 12/06/2011 7:12:00 AM PST by Mich Patriot (I am not worried about the deficit. It is big enough to take care of itself. Ronald Reagan)
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To: MrB
... support the idea that all life on THIS planet has a single common ancestry?

Regarding This planet ...

From "Darwin's Ghost" by Steve Jones, page 284.

"About a thousand genes are shared by every organism, however simple or complicated."

17 posted on 12/06/2011 7:16:32 AM PST by OldNavyVet
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To: DownInFlames
“One small problem. This planet is 620 light years away.”

Just our luck. This planet is probably full of Amazonian women, or maybe the place where those green skin Orion Slave Girls live, and we'll never even get there in many generations even if we leave now. Oh well, my wife wouldn't let me keep one anyway.

18 posted on 12/06/2011 7:16:32 AM PST by NavyCanDo
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To: ShadowAce
That post doesn't tell me anything regarding how this discovery supposedly supports evolution.

Evolution is a subject covering everything that exists. The Earth ... the entire universe ... everything ... is evolving.

19 posted on 12/06/2011 7:24:10 AM PST by OldNavyVet
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To: OldNavyVet
How so? Darwin's theory assumes pre-existing life and the morphing of simple forms into more complex forms in a gradual process. Spontaneous generation is a theory that long preceded Darwin, but so far the maxim, "life comes from life." has yet to be disproved. The Roddenberry notion of a galaxy swarming with humanoid life forms remains a fantasy as does the idea of a Starship Enterprise. I am reminded of a 17th century play by Cyrano about the balloonist who sail to the moon. That was before the scientist Pascal went beyond the speculators, carried a barometer up the mountain and showed that as he ascended, the air became attenuated as the pressure dropped.
20 posted on 12/06/2011 7:25:33 AM PST by RobbyS (Viva Christus Rex.)
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