25 Apr 07
Potentially habitable planet found!
By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP SCIENCE WRITER
Last updated April 24, 2007
WASHINGTON -- For the first time astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for "life in the universe."
The planet is just the right size, might have water in liquid form, and in galactic terms is relatively nearby at 120 trillion miles away. But the star it closely orbits, known as a "red dwarf," is much smaller, dimmer and cooler than our sun.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Habitable_Planet.html
25 Apr 07
Originally posted by ArrakisOne problem with that scenerio, those red dwarf's are not so placid as you might think given their small energy output.
Potentially habitable planet found!
By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP SCIENCE WRITER
Last updated April 24, 2007
WASHINGTON -- For the first time astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for "life in the universe."
...[text shortened]... cooler than our sun.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Habitable_Planet.html
A planet with liquid water would have to be a LOT closer to that star than our sun, say ten times closer or more. Sticking with the ten times number, it is about 10 million miles away from that star. Ok, then the problem is coronal discharges. On red dwarf's they are a lot more violent than our sun, our G2 kind of sun, and AC 4 ly away, a near sister to our sun, are really the placid ones in the galaxy. So here you have a planet that could have life and maybe more advanced than just bacteria or plants but it would suffer onslaught after onslaught of intense radiation. That means the planet would have to have a violently churning molten iron core generating a humungus magnetic field to keep the bad stuff away from the planet's surface.
Hmm, sounds like a good plot for a sci-fi novel, eh.
Planet with intelligent life found not 40 ly away but on a planet in orbit around a red dwarf. So they live in constant fear of the killer blast from their tiny (not to them of course, they are in close) sun. The sun becomes their god which they worship and unlike our sun that may have some burps now and again, THAT sun can emit so much junk that it bloats in the sky for a few days and so the inhabitants think its the war of gods, the sun god who hates the earth god and they can see the results of the constant battle twixt the two. I think a good writer can run with it. What do you think?
25 Apr 07
Originally posted by ArrakisMaybe we could send them some tips on global warming.
The planet is just the right size, might have water in liquid form, and in galactic terms is relatively nearby at 120 trillion miles away. But the star it closely orbits, known as a "red dwarf," is much smaller, dimmer and cooler than our sun.
25 Apr 07
Originally posted by sonhouseWell, you have some interesting ideas, but they are mostly based on what we know about life on our planet. The older I get the more I realize how little i know about anything. 😕
One problem with that scenerio, those red dwarf's are not so placid as you might think given their small energy output.
A planet with liquid water would have to be a LOT closer to that star than our sun, say ten times closer or more. Sticking with the ten times number, it is about 10 million miles away from that star. Ok, then the problem is coronal disch ...[text shortened]... ungus magnetic field to keep the bad stuff away from the planet's surface. What do you think?
BTW, when I was a kid I saw a SF movie where we landed on Mars. Now we all know the atmosphere is thinner on Mars than on the Earth, right? So the writer designed this monster with a huge chest and large lung capacity to breathe more air in in order to live in Mars's thinner atmosphere.
Even as a kid I knew that that concept was all wrong. If life were on Mars it would have developed within the thin atmosphere. The difference is that people often make the mistake of taking something we know about life on earth and then adapting it to a new invironment.
Perhaps a new way of thinking about life is better.
25 Apr 07
Originally posted by beatlemaniaIt's the irresistible urge to explore. If we didn't have it, we wouldn't even know that we live on a planet and the world would still be flat.
One thing I don't get is why do we spend billions of dollars searching for something that 99.9% most likely doesn't exist,when we could use all that money towards making life on the planet better? 😕
25 Apr 07
Originally posted by ArrakisAny hot babes?
Potentially habitable planet found!
By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP SCIENCE WRITER
Last updated April 24, 2007
WASHINGTON -- For the first time astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for "life in the universe."
...[text shortened]... cooler than our sun.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1501AP_Habitable_Planet.html