Another Earth

Astronomers have found yet another 'exo-planet', this one is in the 'goldilocks zone', ie just the right temperature to accommodate liquid water.

I think its fascinating. Its not that many years since I was at school, where I was taught that although theoretically possible, there's no evidence at all of planets outside of our solar system, and almost certainly no chance of ever finding out in our lifetimes.

Yet here we are. Apparently more than 800 found so far. I wonder when we'll get a call from the little green men (not the ones in white coats).

 

Your mind never ceases to amaze me! You come up with the most intriguing, and thought provoking threads.

 

Yess

Only 42 light years away & seven times bigger than this place

Been discussing it with the Ziglets this afternoon & we've worked out that things there may or may not have one or more legs, will be too simple to make things or will be so far beyond us that they just wont notice us.

We decided that they would be able to make things if they hadn't evolved like moths.

Apart from the kids thoughts, I proposed we send them a directional transmission now, something like "Congratulations, you have won"

Willow said they would just delete it as galactic spam.

If we sent it now, we'd get notification in 84 years,

 

It looks like Willow will have to accept the postal charges then

 

Another Earth?? Yer at the Bottom of Our Garden Get the Helicopter Ziggs Me and Clueless Need a Lift

 

Even if Man (not my island) could get there, how long before we'd ruin it like Earth?

 

Given our history ... about 50yrs

 

The exciting thing for me about all this is not that they've found another planet, its that they can now find them.

The result of this will be that the astronomers and technology companies can now go to investors with something tangible, rather than just a hunch, and so we can expect to see an almost exponential increase in research funding not just for the ongoing search using current technology but better than that, I reckon lots of investment will produce new technology.

At the moment, none of these exoplanets can be viewed directly. They are simply too small given how far away they are, and then there's the 'noise' from their star, masking them out. Currently they are deduced by very clever computer programs looking at the very slight wobble of stars, and if we are lucky, the slight dimming caused by a planet transiting its sun, which we can only see if the planet's orbit is on just the right path relative to us.

Mark my words though. Within 20 years max, the technology will be there to produce almost as much detail as we can get about planets within our own solar system.

This is immensely relevant to all of us in a way. Apart from helping to answer some age old philosophical questions, it will also maybe put our own existence into some sort of perspective. I reckon it will also cause a few problems though. There will be those that say that the abundance of other planets in certain proof of other life. There will be those that say it proves no such thing and its a travesty to even suggest it, some will say it is proof that there is no god, some will say it is proof there most definitely is a god, and there will be some that deny the science altogether. One thing is for certain, it will give a lot of people something to think about.

 

This one is interesting detection wise as it doesn't cross its star from our point of view.

That means we can't do the usual magnitude calculations, ie. the star gets dimmer when the planet makes a transit across the disc.

We are making all our observations by looking at the planet next to the star, not an easy thing to do.

 

Another one, and in the 'goldilocks zone' again. This one is, comparatively, just down the road. A mere 12 light years away. That means we could strike up a conversation with any little green men there and the transmissions would only have a 24 year round trip. Slow yes, but not much worse than the early days of IRC chat rooms on early t'interweb.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20770103

According to my physics teacher at school, who was a very good but somewhat over ambitious chap, we should be able to build a probe that could achieve 1/10th of the speed of light, so if we get him on the case, we should be able to get a closer look in about 4 generations.

 

GC are thinking of building one of these,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bussard_ramjet

That would do the job

 

It's probably them that keep ringing about the PPI claim I can have!

 

I think it's all a hoax as we are supposed to be obliterated tomorrow according to the Mayans so I guess someone else has to take over control ...

 

Where have all the Mayans gone?
Worked at Comet - every one.

The Sun has gone, Night is here.
There's no tomorrow - where's the Beer!