Potentially Habitable Planet Found

[The Helper]

WASHINGTON (AP) - 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.

There's still a lot that is unknown about the new planet, which could be deemed inhospitable to life once more is known about it. And it's worth noting that scientists' requirements for habitability count Mars in that category: a size relatively similar to Earth's with temperatures that would permit liquid water. However, this is the first outside our solar system that meets those standards.

"It's a significant step on the way to finding possible life in the universe," said University of Geneva astronomer Michel Mayor, one of 11 European scientists on the team that found the planet. "It's a nice discovery. We still have a lot of questions."

Read more story here.

 

[MeRcChRiS]

ive always wanted a vacation home =P

 

[Hero]

ive always wanted a vacation home =P

yeah me too...with about 600 acres to myself XD

 

[mase]

Lol, are you a billionare?

Thats crazy. That would still take a long time to be able to inhabit even after they find out it is habitable if it is due to super hi-tech transport that has not yet been created

 

[BlargIAmDead]

"Before you book your extrastellar flight to 581 c, a few caveats about how alien that world probably is: Anyone sitting on the planet would get heavier quickly, and birthdays would add up fast since it orbits its star every 13 days.

Gravity is 1.6 times as strong as Earth's so a 150-pound person would feel like 240 pounds.

But oh, the view. The planet is 14 times closer to the star it orbits. Udry figures the red dwarf star would hang in the sky at a size 20 times larger than our moon. And it's likely, but still not known, that the planet doesn't rotate, so one side would always be sunlit and the other dark."

 

[XXXconanXXX]

Lol, are you a billionare?

Thats crazy. That would still take a long time to be able to inhabit even after they find out it is habitable if it is due to super hi-tech transport that has not yet been created

They'd probably be dead by the time the ship reaches there in say oh a million years or so.

 

[Blackveiled]

Probally not...

The universe is basically a cloth, which can be moved....

There are complex building blocks, its basically just building a complicated ditch... =)

 

[XXXconanXXX]

Probally not...

The universe is basically a cloth, which can be moved....

There are complex building blocks, its basically just building a complicated ditch... =)

You'd still be dead by the time technology was able to even conceive such a vast and grand concept.

=P

 

[Chile]

Well, if you lived there for a while and then came back to Earth, you'd probably feel a lot like Superman- a thought, of course, which ties nicely into the recent discovery of rocks with the same composition as Kriptonite here on earth....

 

[Andrewgosu]

252,792 km/h - Speed of the Helios 2 solar probe - fastest man-made object.

- Source, Wikipedia.org

(Light travels at 300,000,000 m/s...)

Anyway, 1 land mile is about 1.6 km, so, 120 trillion miles would be 192 trillion kilometers.

- The time in hours for the fastest man-made object to travel to the planet.

192,000,000,000,000 / 252,792 = 759,517,706.26 hours

(Am I missing a few zeros from the 192 trillion kilometers?)

There is 8,765.8 hours in a year.

- The time in years to travel to the planet.

759,517,706.26 / 8,756.8 = 86,734.6 years

(It takes +6 months to reach Mars...)

So, the fastest man-made object would take 86,734.6 years to travel there. If my calculations are correct*.


And Jesus was born 2,000 years ago...


*I am not sure.

 

[Blackveiled]

You'd still be dead by the time technology was able to even conceive such a vast and grand concept.

=P

Very true =)

 

[Cheddar]

Nice one there Andrewgosu. I couldn't really comprehend just how far away this place was. Not to mention that they'd have to have it be able to accomodate a human being and enough supplies and stuff.

Actually, I tried telling a bit of people at my school about this, they were midly interested, though I think I should tell people who are a bit less on the "lemme copy your homework" side. Who am I kidding? I pretty much only know one person at my school who would really give a crap.

Well, this is some discovery in my opinion, I'm wondering why this hasn't made it a bit more into the news. But I guess science has a bit more to work on at the moment.

 

[WolSHaman]

actually i read an article awhile ago about hyperdrive being in development in theory, and that would make the trip a whole lot faster. Here's a link:
http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg18925331.200-take-a-leap-into-hyperspace.html

 

[Jindo]

You'd still be dead by the time technology was able to even conceive such a vast and grand concept.

=P

From what I heard, they're trying to come up with something that can travel at the speed of light.

Even then, that will (apparently) take 20 years to get there and back.

Still, we'd be able to witness the event just in time if they succeed in building it.