Earth-like planet found orbiting the star next door

AP via CBC ^ | 08/24/2016

[Phlap]

After scanning the vast reaches of the cosmos for Earth-like planets where life might exist, astronomers have found one right next door. NASA's New Horizons probe, the fastest spacecraft launched, left Earth hurtling toward Pluto at about 36,000 mph. At that speed, it would take more than 78,000 years to get there.

[stremba]

In this context, earth-like means a terrestrial planet (ie made of metal and rock as opposed to a gas giant), having a mass comparable to earth, and orbiting its star at a distance such that its temperature is consistent with the presence of liquid water (liquid water may not actually be present, the temperature just can’t be so cold that water would freeze nor so hot that it would boil). That leaves a lot of possible differences between this planet and earth.

[DoughtyOne]

Yes, but there’s places much closer.

The Sun has a pretty level year around temperature, and I hear the winters there are nice and cozy...

[conejo99]

There is a proposal that tiny chip sized craft with large solar sails could be accelerated with giant lasers and reach 20% of light speed.

[stremba]

True earth-like does not mean inhabitable. It means basically a planet with gravity comparable to earth’s with an orbital distance such that its temperature would allow water to exist as a liquid. Certainly many other factors could prevent such a planet from being habitable. (And habitable, of course does not mean inhabited)

[Mr. Douglas]

And you always know what’s coming when one of them asks Kirk, “What...is...love?”

[teeman8r]

as earth’s twin, it sounds like nasa is grasping at straws...

nothing about it sounds like earth.

[Calvin Locke]

... flaring red dwarf star ...

That was my first thought. Then again, the story originated from the AP.

The CBC apparently didn't have the story vetted by its people producing the "Quirks & Quarks" radio show.

[from occupied ga]

There is a proposal that tiny chip sized craft with large solar sails could be accelerated with giant lasers and reach 20% of light speed.

To what purpose? It would have to be able to return information somehow, and any radio or laser power source necessary to get the energy to be detectable at 25 trillion miles away would be one heck of a lot larger than "chip sized"

[amorphous]

We would need to find and use some errant body that's going in that direction, much like bugs climb onto driftwood during a flood.

Then a few millennial later, our decedents simply kick the tires and light the fires, and land on their new home.

It's probably how we got started here on Earth in the first place. Then again, maybe we're really on a similar mission even now; perhaps unknown to us, the earth is really our ship for colonization, as planned for by our ancestors eons ago.

After all, we are moving at 483,000 miles per hour around the galaxy, which is 1 / 1387 the speed of light.

[minnesota_bound]

The green females are the most fun!

[George from New England]

Ooops, forgot to design brakes !!!

[from occupied ga]

We would need to find and use some errant body that's going in that direction, much like bugs climb onto driftwood during a flood.

First off I think finding such a body would be an extremely low probability event. But, assuming you find one going in the right direction you have to have everything you're taking along match velocity with it. If it's going at a speedy clip then somehow you have to get up to the speed of whatever you're riding on otherwise you have the bug hitting the window of the jet plane effect. Then there's the problem of the other end. How do you slow down enough to avoid making a kinetic energy explosion dwarfing the size of the KT boundary event? I would say that the devil is in the details, but these aren't details. They're the major components of your proposal.

[Secret Agent Man]

There are no muslims around either.

[Secret Agent Man]

Wishful hopefulness of faith assumptions.

[Secret Agent Man]

Grasping at funding more like it.

Money for probe missions that will have to be funded for decades.

[GraceG]

[ Only 78,000 years? What are we waiting for? lol ]

We and “we” as in the government has tech that can get us there a LOT faster.... by at least 3-4 orders of magnitude...

[GraceG]

[ In this context, earth-like means a terrestrial planet (ie made of metal and rock as opposed to a gas giant), having a mass comparable to earth, and orbiting its star at a distance such that its temperature is consistent with the presence of liquid water (liquid water may not actually be present, the temperature just can’t be so cold that water would freeze nor so hot that it would boil). That leaves a lot of possible differences between this planet and earth. ]

Since proxima centari is a red dwarf it is probably tidally locked. Unless you are talking about a large moon of a gas giant, or a dual planet system like the earth-moon system.

It could be tidally locked and have life, but it would be an “eyeball” planet

http://www.space.com/20856-alien-planets-eyeball-earths.html

[thulldud]

Then again, maybe we're really on a similar mission even now; perhaps unknown to us, the earth is really our ship for colonization, as planned for by our ancestors eons ago.

[conejo99]

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/russian-billionaire-unveils-big-plan-build-tiny-interstellar-spacecraft

I think there are a couple varieties of plans. Some use the light sail as a return signal device.

[stremba]

Earth like should not be taken to mean habitable. Odds are that the planet they found is not habitable. The temperature I referred to would be the temperature calculated based on the irradiance of the star and the orbital distance of the planet. To be earth like means that the average planetary temperature must be 32-212F. That would be the case for a tidally locked planet, but the average temperature would not reflect actual conditions. The day side would be much hotter than the average with the night side much colder.