And So, Earth #2 is Discovered

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In an interesting development, a planet quite similar to Earth has been discovered. Being 20 light years away, it is relatively close considering how massive the universe is.

The planet is 12,000km in diameter, compared to Earth at 8,000km. The temperature estimated to range between 32 & 104 degrees Fahrenheit, yet years only take 14 days! Sneeze and you'll miss a season, pract near =p Finally, something passes the Goldilocks Test.

The atmosphere could be similar, but gravity is twice that of Earth's, supposedly.

Originally Posted by Article

As Seth Shostak says: "We've never found one close to being like the Earth until now. We are finding that Earth is not such an unusual puppy in the litter of planets."

I think this quote does a nice job of summing up the volume of this discovery. Living there is a distant hope, but the main victory is the fact that we've found something very similar to Earth. This is a huge find.

How ya doing, buddy?

Fuckin' awesome.

So when Earth dies, all can just migrate to that place. Victory for science~

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I want images of this planet or I refuse to believe it.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Yeah, seeing how we are still only capable of sending something through space at no faster than a few thousand kilometers per hour and Gilese is 1.89210568 × 1014 kilometers away, and that fact that they're not even 100% certain that Gilese can sustain life at all...it's not worth me getting excited for in my lifetime.

Maybe in my great-great-great-great-great grandchildrens' lifetimes, but not mine.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Think about this: on that planet, you would weigh twice as much as you do now. I'm not sure If I could handle weighing 300lbs. You could develop heart troubles from the increased gravitational pull as your heart struggles to pump blood around your body.

I was speaking idiomatically.

That star is older, so when Earth dies, I don't think it'd be the best place to move. This is really cool though. I hope it pans out. I want people migrating off this planet soon.

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Given the rate at which the planet makes a revolution around its "sun", and the intensified gravity, I'd still be skeptical of life on this new planet. It's atmospheric conditions may be similar to our own, but this doesn't mean the geophysical properties can nurture life. The accelerated orbit would likely mean that this planet doesn't experience "seasons" in the way we're accustomed.

If there is life, however, it is perhaps primitive, protozoa and bacteria that can endure themselves in hypergravity. That discovery would still be monumental, though. The only downside is that it could potentially destroy the concept of theology as it currently stands.

FELIPE NO

If gravity is twice that of Earth's, it would be quite uncomfortable living there.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by PiccoloNamek

Think about this: on that planet, you would weigh twice as much as you do now. I'm not sure If I could handle weighing 300lbs. You could develop heart troubles from the increased gravitational pull as your heart struggles to pump blood around your body.

Then 30% of America is fucked XD

Seriously though, I'm not very suprised something like this was eventually found, but at least it boosts the odds of Earth2 becoming a reality. Now we just need pics so that we can rag on how fat the planet is.

Years only take 14 days? Damm...

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Maybe they have zombies living in that planet!! ZOMBIE WORLD!!

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Irregardless of what sorts of life forms we'll find (if any) on there, they've had billions of years to evolve. Might find something interesting~

The gravity & seasonal variation shouldn't have a bearing on life. The main deciding factor is the atmospheric make-up. Given the proper container, anything can happen. It's not like we have a sweet-spot on gravity, or our 365 day years are ideal (heck, they used to be much shorter), but rather we've been existing in it for a loooong time.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

amazing, this only boost my belief that there is another type of life other than ourselves. The chances that there isn't is just becoming lower.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Chie

amazing, this only boost my belief that there is another type of life other than ourselves. The chances that there isn't is just becoming lower.

See, its not a matter of belief, but rather a matter of odds of Intelligent life being on other planets. It's entirely way too unlikely for there to be an entire ecosystem full of life, and not have that sort of occurance occur ANYWHERE else in the entire universe.

Try this on for odds: "The Statistics", taken from http://www.thekeyboard.org.uk/Extrat...ial%20life.htm,

Spoiler:

Quote:

1) The number of galaxies. An estimated 50 billion galaxies are visible with modern telescopes and the total number in the universe must surely exceed this number by a huge factor, but we will be conservative and simply double it. That's 100,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe.

2) The number of stars in an average galaxy. As many as hundreds of billions in each galaxy.

Lets call it just 100 billion.

That's 100,000,000,000 stars per galaxy.

3)The number of stars in the universe.

So the total number of stars in the universe is roughly 100 billion x 100 billion.

That's 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars, 10 thousand, billion, billion. Properly known as 10 sextillion. And that's a very conservative estimate.

4) The number of stars that have planetary systems. The original extra-solar system planet hunting technology dictated that a star needed to be to close to us for a planet to be detected, usually by the stars 'wobble'. Better technology that allows us to measure the dimming of a stars brightness when a planet crosses its disk has now revolutionised planet hunting and new planets are being discovered at an ever increasing rate. So far (August 2003) around 100 have been discovered so we have very little data to work on for this estimate. Even so, most cosmologists believe that planetary formation around a star is quite common place. For the sake of argument let us say it's not and rate it at only one in a million and only one planet in each system, as we want a conservative estimate, not an exaggerated one. That calculation results in:

10,000,000,000,000,000 planets in the universe. Ten million, billion, as a conservative estimate.

5) The number planets capable of supporting life. Let's assume that this is very rare among planets and rate it at only one in a million. Simple division results in:

10,000,000,000 planets in the universe capable of producing life. Ten billion!

I completely acknowledge this is both very simple and very faltered as far as scientific standards of testing and probability goes, but that itself goes to show that even with a simple example of how much or few the odds of life developing on other planets are, with those results showing multi billion possibilities, that the chances are higher then we might realize.

So, is there Intelligent Life out there? That's what we need to discover

I was speaking idiomatically.

If the planet is 25% larger than Earth and there are only 14 days to a year, doesn't it mean that planet is spinning waaaay to fucking fast?

(they spinnin' nigga! they spinnin'!)

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SPINNAZ~

THEY DON'T STOP

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Render

If the planet is 25% larger than Earth and there are only 14 days to a year, doesn't it mean that planet is spinning waaaay to fucking fast?

(they spinnin' nigga! they spinnin'!)

Not sure about the articles Gech linked, but the one I read on Yahoo mentioned how they're not sure if the planet even rotates about its axis. I imagine the days they're talking about are Earth days.

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Wow. Looks very interesting. I honestly have the belief that there are other planets similar to our own. I mean, with the so many possibilities out there in the universe, it just seems easy to assume that there may be something, even remotely close. Guess it will take a few hundred more years, and avoiding total destruction of our own planet, to find out.

How ya doing, buddy?

I'm sure we could train ourselves to survive at 2x gravity. I mean, Goku trained at like 100x gravity.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

If we were to train at 1.6 times normal gravity, our power levels would be over NINE THOUSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND

:scouter br8ks:

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

14-day years and therefore 7-day transitions from freezing to 104 degrees and back again? It sure won't be sustaining any Earthly lifeforms, to be certain.

Perhaps microbes and bacteria, at a stretch.

Space stuff is really cool... but it's just frustrating that we aren't technologically advanced enough to be able to study this stuff up-close and in person. It's like the carrot on a string that tempts the horse forever and ever.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by RacinReaver

Not sure about the articles Gech linked, but the one I read on Yahoo mentioned how they're not sure if the planet even rotates about its axis. I imagine the days they're talking about are Earth days.

It could be like Mercury where it's rotation is longer than it's revolution.


This is indeed exciting. Finally the shortlived TV series Earth 2 will be realized!

I was speaking idiomatically.

Wanted for Questioning.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I was hoping the planet in question would be orbiting Alpha Centauri. It would have been closer, though the mind worms could have been a problem.

Still, this is actually fairly interesting. Both the fact that they've found such a planet and the fact that they can find such a planet. It's not like you can use a telescope and look around for planets. I remember one of my professor last term making a comment on how little info you have to work with when trying to find extrasolar planets and the convoluted, unintuitive and indirect methods that have to be used. I don't remember much of it though, astrophysics is not my favorite part of physics.

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Originally Posted by Guru

14-day years and therefore 7-day transitions from freezing to 104 degrees and back again? It sure won't be sustaining any Earthly lifeforms, to be certain.

Perhaps microbes and bacteria, at a stretch.

Space stuff is really cool... but it's just frustrating that we aren't technologically advanced enough to be able to study this stuff up-close and in person. It's like the carrot on a string that tempts the horse forever and ever.

The severity of the seasonal change would depend how fast the planet itself is spinning, the angle it's spinning at and how eliptical its solar orbit is. If it were spinning at right angles to it's orbit and in a perfect circle, it would have no seasons at all.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Venus isn't inhabitable at all though, really. Its surface temperature hangs around 450 degrees Celsius on average, and about 97% of its atmosphere is CO2. There is literally no oxygen, to boot.

The size isn't a huge deal, but moreso the average temperature and atmospherical make-up.

Jam it back in, in the dark.