[QUOTE]Kepler-22b is the first confirmed planet in the “habitable zone,” the area where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface, that has been discovered by NASA’s Kepler mission.
The planet’s radius is about 2.4 times that of the Earth. It is located about 600 light years away.
[/QUOTE]
Source: [url]http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/05/first-planet-in-habitable-zone-discovered/?hpt=hp_t2[/url]
:D
I thought we found planets in the habitable zone before?
I'll go there, when there lives atleast 10,000 people there.
I would never know how to start a planet.
[QUOTE=FPChris;33582115]I'll go there, when there lives atleast 10,000 people there.
I would never know how to start a planet.[/QUOTE]
also you would be dead upon arrival
[QUOTE=st_nick5;33582112]I thought we found planets in the habitable zone before?[/QUOTE]
I don't think they were confirmed though, this would be the first confirmed one.
Considering its 600 light years away, i wonder what it actually looks like right now.
[QUOTE=FPChris;33582181]Considering its 600 light years away, i wonder what it actually looks like right now.[/QUOTE]
About 600 years older
[QUOTE=KillerTele;33582125]also you would be dead upon arrival[/QUOTE]
Actually if you could travel at a reasonable fraction of c, you could get there within a lifetime due to time dilation. Everyone you leave on Earth would be dead and buried by the time you got there though.
[editline]5th December 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=FPChris;33582181]Considering its 600 light years away, i wonder what it actually looks like right now.[/QUOTE]
There's a Starbucks.
[QUOTE=FPChris;33582181]Considering its 600 light years away, i wonder what it actually looks like right now.[/QUOTE]
Its inhabitants found more advanced ways to kill each other.
I know fuck all about this type of stuff, but is it possible to launch some kind of un-manned spaceship towards the planet? If there is life, or in thousands of years when there is, they could find the spaceship and know about us.
I dunno, just an idea... To me it seems pointless to say "oh hey, we've found a habitable planet" and then do absolutely nothing about it.
[QUOTE=- Livewire -;33582395]I know fuck all about this type of stuff, but is it possible to launch some kind of un-manned spaceship towards the planet? If there is life, or in thousands of years when there is, they could find the spaceship and know about us.
I dunno, just an idea... To me it seems pointless to say "oh hey, we've found a habitable planet" and then do absolutely nothing about it.[/QUOTE]
Unfortunately it's too far away. Light is the fastest thing in the universe, and as the article states, it takes 600 years for light to get there, so we don't have much of a chance of getting there any time soon.
[QUOTE=- Livewire -;33582395]I know fuck all about this type of stuff, but is it possible to launch some kind of un-manned spaceship towards the planet? If there is life, or in thousands of years when there is, they could find the spaceship and know about us.
I dunno, just an idea... To me it seems pointless to say "oh hey, we've found a habitable planet" and then do absolutely nothing about it.[/QUOTE]
It isn't pointless because it is the first step to finding out and studying the possibility of life besides our own. If our planet developed life, then it is very well possible that other planets may contain some type of life, whether is be micro-organisms or actual sentient beings.
[QUOTE=- Livewire -;33582395]I know fuck all about this type of stuff, but is it possible to launch some kind of un-manned spaceship towards the planet? If there is life, or in thousands of years when there is, they could find the spaceship and know about us.
I dunno, just an idea... To me it seems pointless to say "oh hey, we've found a habitable planet" and then do absolutely nothing about it.[/QUOTE]
600 light years away means it takes 600 years for the light from that planet to reach earth.
If it takes light 600 years to get there, how long do you think a space ship is going to take to get there?
Well, people aren't willing to invest in something that'll take nearly a million years to get there and do an in-depth survey, and even then we could simply improve telescope tech and observe from afar. Without a reliable quantum entanglement device, it wouldn't be worth sending a probe. Even with a QED ansible it'd still take aeons to reach the planet, and even then the ansible might not work as we imagine.
[QUOTE=FPChris;33582181]Considering its 600 light years away, i wonder what it actually looks like right now.[/QUOTE]
When they look at us, it will be the end of the middle ages.
They will come over and say Afternoon! We see you have invented the handgun and the blast furnace!
They will address us like "Oh there comes Othello, acting like a complete prat as usual."
[QUOTE=Noble;33582470]600 light years away means it takes 600 years for the light from that planet to reach earth.
If it takes light 600 years to get there, how long do you think a space ship is going to take to get there?[/QUOTE]
Yeah that's a good point, as I said I don't really understand this stuff I just find it interesting to wonder about sometimes.
It's too massive. We couldn't live on the surface, anyway.
[QUOTE=- Livewire -;33582497]Yeah that's a good point, as I said I don't really understand this stuff I just find it interesting to wonder about sometimes.[/QUOTE]
Wonder about things and try to understand them
[QUOTE=- Livewire -;33582497]Yeah that's a good point, as I said I don't really understand this stuff, i just find it interesting to wonder about sometimes.[/QUOTE]
It would be nice though if we could develop FTL (faster than light) travel someday to travel to these places. Wouldn't be in our lifetime, if at all, of course
This gives us all the more reason to develop ways to reach out into the stars. It's a shame the age of the space shuttle and ISS basically slowed our development in that regard.
On another point, I imagine they'll be checking to see if the planet has oxygen in it's atmosphere? From my understanding we're capable of checking the atmosphere's composition from Earth, and if it has oxygen, then it has to have life (oxygen's a fairly unstable element alone, and significant quantities in the atmosphere imply it's continually being renewed.)
[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;33582501]It's too massive. We couldn't live on the surface, anyway.[/QUOTE]
Where does the article quote its mass
[editline]5th December 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Canuhearmenow;33582537]This gives us all the more reason to develop ways to reach out into the stars. It's a shame the age of the space shuttle and ISS basically slowed our development in that regard.
On another point, I imagine they'll be checking to see if the planet has oxygen in it's atmosphere? From my understanding we're capable of checking the atmosphere's composition from Earth, and if it has oxygen, then it has to have life (oxygen's a fairly unstable element alone, and significant quantities in the atmosphere imply it's continually being renewed.)[/QUOTE]
It'll have to transit in front of its star or they won't be able to analyse the absorption spectrum of its atmosphere (if it even has one)
[editline]5th December 2011[/editline]
I think. I'm not actually sure how they detected it
[QUOTE=MR-X;33582457]It isn't pointless because it is the first step to finding out and studying the possibility of life besides our own. If our planet developed life, then it is very well possible that other planets may contain some type of life, whether is be micro-organisms or actual sentient beings.[/QUOTE]
Keep in mind, our planet developing life was a one-in-a-million sort of thing.
And that's just the single celled organisms, multicellular is a whole bag of coincidences on its own.
Don't get me started on how hilariously insane it is that we Humans exist.
Let's launch there now, steadily boosting our way there, increasing our speed in the friction-less environment of space, until we're close to the speed of light, and then in roughly 600 years, several generations later, we'll land!
It'll be worth it, because in 600 years you know we'll all be dead here.
[QUOTE=Psychokitten;33582567]Keep in mind, our planet developing life was a one-in-a-million sort of thing.[/QUOTE]
and there are about 50 billion planets in the Milky Way alone, making our existence very likely indeed
[QUOTE='[Seed Eater];33582572']Let's launch there now, steadily boosting our way there, increasing our speed in the friction-less environment of space, until we're close to the speed of light, and then in roughly 600 years, several generations later, we'll land!
It'll be worth it, because in 600 years you know we'll all be dead here.[/QUOTE]
Were are we going to get 600 years worth of fuel, and how are we going to store it on a probe?
And how is it going to transmit information back to us when it's there?
[editline]5th December 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Turnips5;33582590]and there are about 50 billion planets in the Milky Way alone, making our existence very likely indeed[/QUOTE]
Granted. But we can't just find a new planet and automatically assume it has life. We have to check first.
[QUOTE=Psychokitten;33582604]Were are we going to get 600 years worth of fuel, and how are we going to store it on a probe?[/QUOTE]
you don't need "600 years' worth" of fuel, there's no friction in space
you just need enough to accelerate you to a bloody high speed and then decelerate, which is still an assload
[editline]5th December 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Psychokitten;33582604]Granted. But we can't just find a new planet and automatically assume it has life. We have to check first.[/QUOTE]
Sure, but nobody's assuming it has life yet, it's simply another step toward finding it
If its diameter is 2.4 times that of earth, does that mean its gravity is greater than that of Earth? If so, by how much?
[QUOTE=ElectricSquid;33582660]If its diameter is 2.4 times that of earth, does that mean its gravity is greater than that of Earth? If so, by how much?[/QUOTE]
No, and in fact if it had the same mass as Earth it'd have weaker gravity, since the gravitational force decreases with the square of the distance between two massive objects
You can't say anything about its gravity until you know its mass.
[QUOTE=ElectricSquid;33582660]If its diameter is 2.4 times that of earth, does that mean its gravity is greater than that of Earth? If so, by how much?[/QUOTE]
We would have to know the mass, rather than the size of the planet to get an idea of it's gravity.
edit - beat me to it
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/ljsGM.jpg[/IMG]
As you can see, the heavier an object is the more its going to bend spacetime, the planets orbit around this bend it creates.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/DVX3h.gif[/IMG]
Neutron stars are extremely heavy objects, so they will have immense gravitational effects, as you can see how deep a depression it creates in space time compared with a regular star.
Another visualization of it, also showing how massive objects in space affect a beam of light
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/6NQ6I.gif[/IMG]
[QUOTE=Turnips5;33582538]Where does the article quote its mass[/QUOTE]
It has 2,4 times the radius of earth, and unless it's a gas giant or such, it's density will be similar to that of earth. You would be lucky if your heart was able to pump blood from your legs to your head.
[editline]5th December 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=Turnips5;33582693]No, and in fact if it had the same mass as Earth it'd have weaker gravity, since the gravitational force decreases with the square of the distance between two massive objects
You can't say anything about its gravity until you know its mass.[/QUOTE]
But significantly lower density is extremely improbable unless the planet is made of gasses, which would be again compeltely useless for us.
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