• GJ 667Cc - fourth planet that could support life found
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[img]http://resources2.news.com.au/cs/newscomau/v2/_shared/base/css/images/icons/homepage-title.png[/img] Source: [url]http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/gj-667cc-fourth-planet-that-could-support-life-found/story-fn5fsgyc-1226261477392[/url] [img]http://resources1.news.com.au/images/2010/08/27/1225910/851025-planets.jpg[/img] GJ 667C isn't as hot as the sun, but is thought to be close enough to absorb as much incoming light and energy as Earth. Picture: AFP Source: AFP [release] • Three planets close to dwarf star GJ 667C • One close enough to absorb heat for life • [url=http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/twelve-eyed-six-legged-dancing-robot-athlete-coming-to-a-planet-near-you/story-fn5fsgyc-1226260807299]Dancing robot coming to a planet near you[/url] [B]INTERNATIONAL astronomers say they have found the fourth potentially habitable planet outside our solar system with temperatures that could support water and life.[/B] The team analysed data from the European Southern Observatory about a star about 22 light-years from Earth known as GJ 667C, which is known as an M-class dwarf star and puts out much less heat than our sun. However, at least three planets are orbiting close to the star, and one of them appears to be close enough that it likely absorbs about as much incoming light and energy as Earth, has similar surface temperatures and perhaps water. The new rocky planet, GJ 667Cc, orbits its star every 28.15 days - meaning its year equals about one Earth month - and has a mass at least 4.5 times that of Earth, according to the research published in Astrophysical Journal Letters. "This planet is the new best candidate to support liquid water and, perhaps, life as we know it," said Guillem Anglada-Escud, who was with the Carnegie Institution for Science when he conducted the research but has since moved on to the University of Gottingen in Germany. The theory about water, however, cannot be confirmed until astronomers learn more about the planet's atmosphere. Other planets circling the same star - which is part of a three-star system - could include a gas-giant and an additional super-Earth with an orbital period of 75 days, but more observations are needed to confirm that. Some experts have been skeptical that M-class dwarf stars could have planets that support life because they are too dim and tend to have lots of solar flare activity, which could send off lethal radiation to nearby planets. And even though this star, GJ 667C, has a much lower abundance of elements heavier than helium, such as iron, carbon, and silicon - the building blocks of terrestrial planets - than our sun, astronomers are intrigued by the possibilities. "This was expected to be a rather unlikely star to host planets. Yet there they are, around a very nearby, metal-poor example of the most common type of star in our galaxy," said co-author Steven Vogt, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at University of California Santa Cruz. "The detection of this planet, this nearby and this soon, implies that our galaxy must be teeming with billions of potentially habitable rocky planets." French astronomers in May last year confirmed the first exoplanet, Gliese 581d, to meet key requirements for sustaining life. It is a rocky planet about 20 light-years away. Swiss astronomers reported in August that another planet, HD 85512 b, about 36 light-years away seemed to be in the habitable zone of its star. The US space agency NASA confirmed its first discovery of such a planet late last year - Kepler 22b, about 600 light-years away.[/release]
We must send just a satellite or something to one of those plants. It won't reach any time soon, but it must at some point. We must try. Just to see if something exists there.
isnt 22 lightyears relatively close? We gotta try...
Only 22 light years away? That's not that far at all! Still, it's year is about equal to one Earth month, and with a mass 4.5 times Earth's, it's not really the planet for us. Still exciting though.
[QUOTE=Killer900;34518873]Only 22 light years away? That's not that far at all! Still, it's year is about equal to one Earth month, and with a mass 4.5 times Earth's, it's not really the planet for us. Still exciting though.[/QUOTE] well you must take into account the fact that if we ever jump ship, not all of us will be getting on the life boats to this new planet if you know what i mean, only a selected few.
[QUOTE=Burgervich;34518829]We must send just a satellite or something to one of those plants. It won't reach any time soon, but it must at some point. We must try. Just to see if something exists there.[/QUOTE] I wish, it would be ridiculously difficult do to, for one, aiming the thing, stars are big sure, but remember the 1 in 60 rule, if your one degree off, in 60 miles you will be one mile off course, meaning if they are off by one degree in their aim, they will miss the star system by 0.3667 light years, sure, it would then be close enough that using something like the hubble telescope they could possibly see details of the planet like colour and shape, but they would have no way to tell the probe where to aim its telescope, as it would have to be dormant until it gets close enough to the star that it can actually do something, and then it would probably only be able to send back a single image, due to the power requirements needed to send data that far, I wish we could, but I dont see it being able to be done in the near future
[QUOTE=The Rifleman;34518860]isnt 22 lightyears relatively close? We gotta try...[/QUOTE] With out current level of technology it would take around a half-million years to get a satellite to Alpha Centauri, our closest neighbor.
Actually it's not the problem of sending stuff close to light speed (it can't be too close or it will disintegrate / transform into energy completely), the problem is getting it to stop :v:
[QUOTE=Burgervich;34518829]We must send just a satellite or something to one of those plants. It won't reach any time soon, but it must at some point. We must try. Just to see if something exists there.[/QUOTE] we are seeing the star 22 years ago, and we wouldn't be able to send a probe that far and get it to survive the trip. That's a huge waste at current prices
Newt Gingrich is jizzing all over this I bet
[QUOTE=DeanWinchester;34519262]Actually it's not the problem of sending stuff close to light speed (it can't be too close or it will disintegrate / transform into energy completely), the problem is getting it to stop :v:[/QUOTE] Well, both of them are equal a problem.
In a hundered years they will be laughing at us for even considering the thougt that we are alone in the universe.
[QUOTE=demoguy08;34519363]In a hundered years they will be laughing at us for even considering the thougt that we are alone in the universe.[/QUOTE] i sincerely hope you're right. it would be wonderful if we could establish communication but the principles of physics really bite us in the ass
We have the technology to make generation ships. but 22 light years is a LONG time.
Would be really strange experiencing all the seasons in a month, assuming it has seasons.
[QUOTE=Killer900;34518873]Only 22 light years away? That's not that far at all! Still, it's year is about equal to one Earth month, and with a mass 4.5 times Earth's, it's not really the planet for us. Still exciting though.[/QUOTE] Each season is over within a week? When can I sign up to go this Eden?
We should claim ownership. Facepunch home world. Let's do this.
I hate how astronomers only look for life on planets similar to Earth. What if there's life out there that thrives quite different from us? No water or oxygen, just something entirely different. Maybe they drink lava and breath in gaseous iron. We aren't the center of the universe, you know.
[QUOTE=cardfan212;34519713]I hate how astronomers only look for life on planets similar to Earth. What if there's life out there that thrives quite different from us? No water or oxygen, just something entirely different. Maybe they drink lava and breath in gaseous iron. We aren't the center of the universe, you know.[/QUOTE] We're just looking for planets that can support carbon life forms at the moment.
[QUOTE=viperfan7;34519145]I wish, it would be ridiculously difficult do to, for one, aiming the thing, stars are big sure, but remember the 1 in 60 rule, if your one degree off, in 60 miles you will be one mile off course, meaning if they are off by one degree in their aim, they will miss the star system by 0.3667 light years, sure, it would then be close enough that using something like the hubble telescope they could possibly see details of the planet like colour and shape, but they would have no way to tell the probe where to aim its telescope, as it would have to be dormant until it gets close enough to the star that it can actually do something, and then it would probably only be able to send back a single image, due to the power requirements needed to send data that far, I wish we could, but I dont see it being able to be done in the near future[/QUOTE] They don't just send a rocket in one direction and hope it stays on track you know :v: Correctional boosters keep it on course...imagine all the rocks that hit it and send it off course? [editline]3rd February 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=cardfan212;34519713]I hate how astronomers only look for life on planets similar to Earth. What if there's life out there that thrives quite different from us? No water or oxygen, just something entirely different. Maybe they drink lava and breath in gaseous iron. We aren't the center of the universe, you know.[/QUOTE] I too have wondered this. Just because we only know of life forms which require water, carbon, etc. doesn't mean they're the only ones that exist. I mean, there are many different elements out there we're not even aware of!
i don't get how you people can say stuff like "22 light years isn't far away!" i mean really, that's 1.29326996 × 10^14 miles, or 2.08131625 × 10^14 km. think about it guys
[QUOTE=Trumple;34519836]They don't just send a rocket in one direction and hope it stays on track you know :v: Correctional boosters keep it on course...imagine all the rocks that hit it and send it off course? [editline]3rd February 2012[/editline] I too have wondered this. Just because we only know of life forms which require water, carbon, etc. doesn't mean they're the only ones that exist. I mean, there are many different elements out there we're not even aware of![/QUOTE] But it does make sense that we're looking for life that is similar to us, because from our experience, it has the best chance of sustaining life. We live in an environment like this, so it's reasonable to assume that others would too, whereas we have no evidence of a life form that drinks lava and breathes gaseous iron (to use cardfan212's example), so it makes no sense to specifically look for it.
[QUOTE=geoface;34519089]well you must take into account the fact that if we ever jump ship, not all of us will be getting on the life boats to this new planet if you know what i mean, only a selected few.[/QUOTE] The problem with that is it's going to be just like the 2012 movie with the lifeboats, it won't be people who generally are the best of us and the people who are truly the pinnacle of the human race, it will be people who have the most money, and that's where our recolonisation will go wrong, because money is inevitably the cause of our greed and generally our greatest weakness.
[QUOTE=geoface;34519089]well you must take into account the fact that if we ever jump ship, not all of us will be getting on the life boats to this new planet if you know what i mean, only a selected few.[/QUOTE] If we ever do go to another planet it'll probably be so far away that the ship (or fleet of ships) will need to be large enough to sustain us for multiple generations. And since humanity moving to another planet would probably only happen because of some kind of catastrophe on earth it really isn't unreasonable to think that the population here would be low enough so that anyone who [i]wants[/i] to go to space could. I mean, if we're advanced enough to be able to do this in the first place we're advanced enough to take millions and millions of people
[QUOTE=geoface;34519089]well you must take into account the fact that if we ever jump ship, not all of us will be getting on the life boats to this new planet if you know what i mean, only a selected few.[/QUOTE] Overpopulation
[QUOTE=garychencool;34520414]Overpopulation[/QUOTE] As long as earth is capable of supporting 10 billion+ people (which is where we're heading), we won't have any reason to leave
[QUOTE=cardfan212;34519713]I hate how astronomers only look for life on planets similar to Earth. What if there's life out there that thrives quite different from us? No water or oxygen, just something entirely different. Maybe they drink lava and breath in gaseous iron. We aren't the center of the universe, you know.[/QUOTE] When I was younger I used to be one of those people who thought everyone else seemed to be on the 'carbon chauvinism' train too (look it up), but after having done my own research on the matter, having done chemistry into my final year of highschool, and having done chemistry in university (especially when you delve into uni level organic chemistry with a little helping of quantum mechanics through inorganic chemistry) I've come to realise that carbon is indeed with a high degree of certainty, most probably the element of choice for life. It'd be hard for me to explain why in one concise post why that's the case, but if you do the research you come to realise how great an element carbon is for the job, and how great a solvent water is to be used by life. If you really want to know more on the subject I could try to delve into it and explain it, however.
[QUOTE=Madman_Andre;34519214]With out current level of technology it would take around a half-million years to get a satellite to Alpha Centauri, our closest neighbor.[/QUOTE] if they could just try project orion running we could do it easily [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)[/url]
[QUOTE=skynrdfan3;34520116]i don't get how you people can say stuff like "22 light years isn't far away!" i mean really, that's 1.29326996 × 10^14 miles, or 22 light years = 2.08131625 × 10^14 km. think about it guys[/QUOTE]Well when you take into account the sheer vastness of the universe itself, 22 light years really isn't that far away.
[QUOTE=viperfan7;34520680]if they could just try project orion running we could do it easily [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)[/url][/QUOTE] Unfortunately the treaty forbidding nuclear detonations in space (arguably the best place for them) makes that impossible.
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