Earth-Size planet found orbiting Alpha Centauri. Could it host life!? (Spoiler: Nope.) - Polidicks

[quote]WASHINGTON (AP) -- Astronomers say that just outside our solar system they've found a planet that's the closest you can get to Earth in location and size. It is the type of planet they've been searching for across the Milky Way galaxy and they found it circling a star right next door - 25 trillion miles away. But the Earth-like planet is so hot its surface may be like molten lava. The team of European astronomers who found it say it's likely there are other planets circling the same star. And those planets could fit the not-too-hot, not-too-cold description that astronomers sometimes call the Goldilocks Zone. The star system is Alpha Centauri B. The research was released online Tuesday in the journal Nature.[/quote] [url=http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SCI_NEARBY_PLANET?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-10-16-17-44-58]Source[/url] [quote]European astronomers have discovered that around the nearest star Alpha Centauri orbits the planet whose mass is nearly equal to the Earth It is also the lightest planet ever discovered. Investigations were carried out with the help of the instrument HARPS mounted on the 3.6 m telescope of the La Silla Observatory in Chile. Alpha Centauri is one of the brightest stars in the southern sky and the closest solar system - is only 4.3 light years away. This system is actually composed of three stars - Alpha Centauri A and B, which are similar to the Sun and move in orbits close to each other and one distant, pale, red Proxima Centauri. The possibility that in this system there are planets and possibly life scientists speculate since the 19th century, however, even a very precise studies have failed to reveal anything. Until today. 'Our observations HARPS instrument that lasted for more than four years have revealed a small, but real signal coming from the planets turned around Alpha Centauri B every 3.2 days, "said lead researcher Xavier Dumusque from the Geneva Observatory and the Centro de Astrofisica da Universidade do Porto in Portugal. "This is an extraordinary discovery, in which we use our technique to the limit. ' The existence of a small planet was determined from the wobble of the star images influenced by its gravity. The effect is truly portable - runs the star forward or backward at a speed of 1.8 kilometers per hour, which is about the speed of crawling children. The planet is around Alpha Centauri B at a distance of about six million miles, much closer than Mercury is to the Sun. From another star Alpha Centauri A is a hundred times further, however, and it is in his heaven, probably a very shiny object. The first exoplanet in the sun-like star was discovered early as 1995. Since then, it has found more than 800, however, generally are all much larger than Earth. The biggest challenge for scientists is to search for small planets the size of Earth that are in the habitable zones of their parent stars. "This result represents a major step in the discovery of Earth's twins in the immediate vicinity of our Sun. We live in an exciting time, "said Xavier Dumusque. [/quote] [url=http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http://www.tportal.hr/scitech/znanost/220563/U-orbiti-najblize-zvijezde-otkriven-Zemljin-blizanac.html%23.UH3TM7R9ndk&act=url]Source[/url]

basically size = grain of sand VS our sun? Right?

[quote]But the Earth-like planet is so hot its surface may be like molten lava.[/quote] i want to swim in it

i found the planet which was two times the size of earth and consisted 1/3rd out of diamond more interesting. whats so cool about a molten rock floating a huge star besides the fact its the same size imagine me going to africa and claiming this random dude of same size is my long-lost brother

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge's_Law_of_Headlines[/url]

HOLY FUCKING SHIT I thought it was all empty because, hey, it's so close, we would've found it before.

Why does everyone assume Earth sized = like Earth?

[quote]The team of European astronomers who found it say it's likely there are other planets circling the same star. And those planets could fit the not-too-hot, not-too-cold description that astronomers sometimes call the Goldilocks Zone[/quote] Here's hoping they are right.

[QUOTE=Ogopogo;38066158]Here's hoping they are right.[/QUOTE] They weren't really making a prediction, they just said, "I guess they could be there." Basically they have no idea.

[QUOTE=Elexar;38066006]i found the planet which was two times the size of earth and consisted 1/3rd out of diamond more interesting.[/QUOTE] Wait when was this?!

[QUOTE=carcarcargo;38066094]Why does everyone assume Earth sized = like Earth?[/QUOTE] A lot of people want to believe that we aren't alone. And that somewhere in this vast space exists a planet similar to ours that hosts life. Would be so cool to see what they do, how they live, how they act next to humans. Imagine having another race of species talking to you, asking about what us humans do.

It is mathematically impossible that we live on the only planet that can support life.

[QUOTE=Daniel Smith;38066503]It is mathematically impossible that we live on the only planet that can support life.[/QUOTE] I believe that is said for our own galaxy. Yes there is probably a couple out there that have the same utilities our species needs to survive with. But there can be other planets with a species used to their planet and have adapted to it over time.

[QUOTE=Daniel Smith;38066503]It is mathematically impossible that we live on the only planet that can support life.[/QUOTE] It's estimated out of the possible billions of stars that we can see, that there is only 10 of which that can host, or have intelligent beings.

[QUOTE=Rocko's;38066458]A lot of people want to believe....[/QUOTE] [IMG]http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/i-want-to-believe-dan-twyman.jpg[/IMG]

All of these bullshit statistics. Where are you people getting them? [QUOTE=Daniel Smith;38066503]It is mathematically impossible that we live on the only planet that can support life.[/QUOTE] No. [QUOTE=SatansSin;38066536]It's estimated out of the possible billions of stars that we can see, that there is only 10 of which that can host, or have intelligent beings.[/QUOTE] By who?

[QUOTE=SatansSin;38066536]It's estimated out of the possible billions of stars that we can see, that there is only 10 of which that can host, or have intelligent beings.[/QUOTE] thats actually the estimate for intelligent species only, its theorized that there are numerous worlds that can support life, but not all life is sentient o advanced.

[QUOTE=SatansSin;38066536]It's estimated out of the possible billions of stars that we can see, that there is only 10 of which that can host, or have intelligent beings.[/QUOTE]where the hell did you get that bullshit statistic from

Wouldn't it just be a huge bummer if the life found on earth was recurring or very similar to Earth like planets? "Dear GOD we found a planet that can host life. Are those cows?"

It freaks me out to know there is probably one species out in one of those planets looking for us. And probably will find out about us before we find out about them.

[QUOTE=Falubii;38066590]All of these bullshit statistics. Where are you people getting them?[/QUOTE] Most likely hearsay. Did you know that a study found that people are much more likely to believe in whatever you tell them if you preface it by saying some variant of "studies show?"

[QUOTE=Paramud;38066637]Most likely hearsay. Did you know that a study found that people are much more likely to believe in whatever you tell them if you preface it by saying some variant of "studies show?"[/QUOTE] I get it.

I'd say it's really hard to come up with any meaningful statistic when it comes to this kind of thing. We just now discovering extra solar planets, so there's no guarantee that such a prediction can be true.

I think the odds of a sentient species developing along the same timeline as us (IE: within thousands of years of each other) are relatively slim but there's no doubt some other form of life out there

Nice to know that there's a planet around Alpha Centauri, but it's still just another planet; nothing too special. I'm more interested in those planets that are purported to have liquid water on them; they're a bit more "habitable" than the usual blasted heaths and massive gas giants we tend to find.

[QUOTE=yawmwen;38065981]i want to swim in it[/QUOTE] you would die

I just realised, what if we ARE the only planet that hosts life? :saddowns:

This is big, we've wondered about planets around Alpha Centauri for a long time but never found any evidence. I was starting to think our nearest neighbor was just a boring binary system with a few asteroids drifting through it.

OP's avatar is related.

I played enough Alpha Centauri to know how to deal with the mindworms. We should definitly try to go for a more nature friendly approach :v: or else "planet" will reject us.