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Has Nasa found a new Earth? Astronomer discovers first same-sized planet in a 'Goldilocks zone' ...
www.dailymail.co.uk ^ | PUBLISHED: 08:57 EST, 24 March 2014 | UPDATED: 10:03 EST, 24 March 2014 | By Victoria Woollaston

Posted on 03/25/2014 10:32:40 AM PDT by Red Badger

The host star hasn’t been named but was identified as an M1 dwarf M dwarfs make up 70% of stars in the galaxy and are smaller than our sun Nasa astronomers found a total of five planets orbiting this unnamed host The outermost planet sits in the star’s habitable zone and may have liquid water on its surface This so-called goldilocks planet is believed to be 1.1 times the size of Earth Until now, the most Earth-like planet was Kepler-62f - 1.4 times the size Details of the new star system are due to be announced later this year

The hunt for alien life has been given a boost after scientists discovered a habitable planet almost the same size as Earth.

Astronomer Thomas Barclay from Nasa’s Ames Research Centre in California made the discovery using data collected by the Kepler space telescope.

The unnamed planet was found orbiting an unidentified star in its so-called Goldilocks zone - a region around the star that emits just enough energy, light and temperature for liquid surface water to appear.

Mr Barclay made the announcement during the Search for Life Beyond the Solar System conference in Arizona.

Using the Kepler images, Mr Barclay said he believes he has found a new star system consisting of five planets orbiting an M1 dwarf star.

M dwarfs are stars that are much smaller and dimmer than Earth’s sun, and aren’t bright enough to be seen with the naked eye.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: astronomy; exoplanet; space; xplanets
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To: hoagy62
...they assume that the population went to zero.

Or civilization succumbed to Green Politics and everyone was living in the 19th Century.....................

61 posted on 03/25/2014 1:43:58 PM PDT by Red Badger (LIberal is an oxymoron......................)
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To: Red Badger

I did, too-I’m fond of convoluted characters. When I was a kid I read Citizen of the Galaxy several times, and I re-read Farnham’s Freehold last year, and it was still scary...


62 posted on 03/25/2014 2:31:11 PM PDT by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: Red Badger

What exactly is the goldilocks zone around a dwarf star?

This doesn’t make sense.


63 posted on 03/25/2014 2:34:14 PM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: <1/1,000,000th%

Not too close and not too far away.................Just right................


64 posted on 03/25/2014 2:37:15 PM PDT by Red Badger (LIberal is an oxymoron......................)
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To: Red Badger

Sign at a gym: “Remember, when the aliens arrive, they eat the fat ones first.”


65 posted on 03/25/2014 2:44:02 PM PDT by Oatka (This is America. Assimilate or evaporate.)
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To: Red Badger

A planet that close to it’s star would be fried by solar flares repeatedly. It wouldn’t be able to maintain an atmosphere.

And any civilization that could develop there would never be able to develop satellite radio. ;)


66 posted on 03/25/2014 2:49:47 PM PDT by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: Red Badger
The host star hasn’t been named but was identified as an M1 dwarf

Which obviously makes it a "Class M" planet.

67 posted on 03/25/2014 2:51:21 PM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republicans Freed the Slaves" Month.)
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To: circlecity
Wikipedia has a good article describing the Habitable Zone.

It basically related the mass and brightness of the star and the distance of the planet.

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)

LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

68 posted on 03/25/2014 5:50:07 PM PDT by LonePalm (Commander and Chef)
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To: Red Badger
Smarter people than me have said, "never".


69 posted on 03/25/2014 6:20:11 PM PDT by backwoods-engineer (Blog: www.BackwoodsEngineer.com)
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To: Texan5
I re-read Farnham’s Freehold last year

Interesting; I re-read it last year, too.

The opening scenes were pretty "hot", in more than the nuclear way.

70 posted on 03/25/2014 6:22:58 PM PDT by backwoods-engineer (Blog: www.BackwoodsEngineer.com)
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To: Focault's Pendulum
Just think. If there were only one unique creation per galaxy, how many billion of sentient life forms there would be?

It is irrelevant. We will never be able communicate.

71 posted on 03/25/2014 7:19:04 PM PDT by backwoods-engineer (Blog: www.BackwoodsEngineer.com)
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To: backwoods-engineer

Why?


72 posted on 03/25/2014 7:20:15 PM PDT by RedHeeler
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To: RedHeeler
Why would we never be able to communicate?

Suppose they lived on the near side of the Andromeda galaxy, the closest. That's a 4-million-year round trip for a radio wave or laser. You gonna be here? Heck, I seriously doubt our civilization will be here.

Also, the communication equations are just impossible for a path like that. Humanity does not possess the ability to control the power required to be "heard" at those distances without integration times beyond the human lifetime. We're talking quadrillions of watts with antennas the size of a small moon, just to say "hi". I'm a communications engineer and ham radio operator, and I have had friends who have bounced a signal off the moon. The loss from the moon and back is over 230 dB. I cannot even fathom what it would be to another galaxy.

No. I think I am on pretty solid ground when I say "we" will never communicate with "them", if "they" are in another galaxy.

73 posted on 03/25/2014 7:51:42 PM PDT by backwoods-engineer (Blog: www.BackwoodsEngineer.com)
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To: backwoods-engineer

Hugh and Barbara certainly did make it interesting-between a lunatic, toasted wife, the temptation of his daughter’s friend, and the threat of imminent death, I understood his giving in.


74 posted on 03/26/2014 9:22:06 AM PDT by Texan5 ("You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: Red Badger
Has Nasa found a new Earth?

Should be right next to the new Heaven.

75 posted on 03/26/2014 3:44:49 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: backwoods-engineer

Solid answer, backwoods-engineer. Yet, perhaps there are still unknown fractal acceleration particle forms of energy. Just sayin’, such is possible.


76 posted on 04/06/2014 10:41:40 PM PDT by RedHeeler
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