RootsAir From Costa Rica, joined Feb 2005, 4179 posts, RR: 45 Posted (6 years 4 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 1819 times:
A North American and European team lead by a Swiss group of astronomers from Geneva have discovered an exo planet, 20,5 light years away that could be habitable as traces of water have been found! It is around 5 times bigger than Earth .
This is a major discovery and these next years the planet should be studies in more depth.
Beaucaire From Syria, joined Sep 2003, 5252 posts, RR: 26 Reply 2, posted (6 years 4 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 1798 times:
..there are potentially millions of planets comparable to planet earth in the universe,considering the billions of galaxies ...
I don't understand the frenzy to get all exited about this discovery - what use will it be for humankind to explore this planet ??
What use is it to send people on mars ? Just because it's there ?
The billions invested on a Mars-trip are better spend on research on alternative aircraft-propulsion systems .
Thers is water and comparable temperatures than to our climate - will that be enough reasons to invest billions of $ to explore this further ?? I am convinced we are not the only breed in universe - it's just to remote to consider that among the trillions of stars we would be unique...
Banco From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2001, 14752 posts, RR: 55 Reply 4, posted (6 years 4 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 1778 times:
Quoting Beaucaire (Reply 2): I don't understand the frenzy to get all exited about this discovery - what use will it be for humankind to explore this planet ??
What use is it to send people on mars ? Just because it's there ?
Firstly, because it's more evidence that earth might not be unique in having life (lots of "mights" there) and as for what use is it to do things, you might as well ask why bother to climb Everest. It's part of the human condition to see what's there.
She's as nervous as a very small nun at a penguin shoot.
Flyingbabydoc From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 6, posted (6 years 4 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 1751 times:
With all that is going on in terms of pollution, over-population, deforestation and so on, it is really difficult to believe that there is still life on THIS planet...
RootsAir From Costa Rica, joined Feb 2005, 4179 posts, RR: 45 Reply 7, posted (6 years 4 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 1744 times:
Quoting Flyingbabydoc (Reply 6): With all that is going on in terms of pollution, over-population, deforestation and so on, it is really difficult to believe that there is still life on THIS planet... Sad
Well you and I posting in this forum seems to be a good evidence no ?
A man without the knowledge of his past history,culture and origins is like a tree without roots
Banco From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2001, 14752 posts, RR: 55 Reply 8, posted (6 years 4 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 1740 times:
Quoting Flyingbabydoc (Reply 6): it is really difficult to believe that there is still life on THIS planet.
It's impossible for us to eliminate life on this planet. Only human conceit could think for a moment we could. We could eliminate ourselves but not life.
She's as nervous as a very small nun at a penguin shoot.
Flyingbabydoc From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 11, posted (6 years 4 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 1722 times:
Quoting Banco (Reply 8): It's impossible for us to eliminate life on this planet
I would not be so sure. Eliminate completely the protection against UV rays and no DNA replication would be successful without severe mutations, on none at all. Since DNA methylation is so highly susceptible to UV light, it is feasible to assume that not even the toughest bacteria or virus would survive in an unprotected environment.
Klaus From Germany, joined Jul 2001, 20853 posts, RR: 55 Reply 12, posted (6 years 4 weeks 1 day 8 hours ago) and read 1717 times:
Quoting Flyingbabydoc (Reply 11): I would not be so sure. Eliminate completely the protection against UV rays and no DNA replication would be successful without severe mutations, on none at all. Since DNA methylation is so highly susceptible to UV light, it is feasible to assume that not even the toughest bacteria or virus would survive in an unprotected environment.
The oceans just below a depth of a few meters and many caves would still qualify as "protected environments". Life on dry land is the oddity, not the one in the seas.
TedTAce From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 13, posted (6 years 4 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 1706 times:
Quoting Banco (Reply 8): It's impossible for us to eliminate life on this planet.
I guess that when our sun expands in a few billion years and the temperaure reaches a tepid 500 degrees (c), you'll just put on some extra sun screeen.
(Yes I'm pulling #'s out of my a$$ in the following, but I'm sure I'm in the ballpark or conservative.)
I think it's kind of funny that we are getting excited about a planet that MIGHT support us being over 20 light years away. 5X bigger seems to tell me that it's going to have a lot more gravity then we can deal with (especially after 20 years in space). The next problem is that 6 months in space is a lot for humans FORGET about 20+ years. Oh and by the way, last time I checked, the fastest object we have is moving @ 1/10th of 1% of the speed of light, given Moore's law it will be about 200 years before we are even close to light speed. So at best I think we are stuck here for another 500 years. I'm not saying we shouldn't try, but good luck.
Oh and even if we MYSTICALLY came up with something (tomorrow) that could propel us at the speed of light (or better) and we 'moved' to that planet (presuming the planet could support us) What would make us different from these guys?
Flyingbabydoc From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 14, posted (6 years 4 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 1704 times:
Quoting Klaus (Reply 12): The oceans just below a depth of a few meters and many caves would still qualify as "protected environments". Life on dry land is the oddity, not the one in the seas.
Indeed, yet the food chain would have to be completely changed - even deep sea creatures are somehow dependent down the line on plancton which thrives on a "mild" sun.
Banco From United Kingdom, joined Oct 2001, 14752 posts, RR: 55 Reply 16, posted (6 years 4 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 1691 times:
Quoting TedTAce (Reply 13): I guess that when our sun expands in a few billion years and the temperaure reaches a tepid 500 degrees (c), you'll just put on some extra sun screeen.
And what part of that is down to"us"?
I said it was impossible for humans to eliminate life on this planet, so no need to roll your eyes. Nature will certainly do it, because the earth has a finite life.
Quoting Flyingbabydoc (Reply 14): even deep sea creatures are somehow dependent down the line on plancton which thrives on a "mild" sun.
Not so. This was thought to be the case until scientists discovered creatures that took their nutrients directly from volcanic fissures deep beneath the sea, not relying on the sun at all.
Quoting Flyingbabydoc (Reply 11): I would not be so sure. Eliminate completely the protection against UV rays and no DNA replication would be successful without severe mutations, on none at all. Since DNA methylation is so highly susceptible to UV light, it is feasible to assume that not even the toughest bacteria or virus would survive in an unprotected environment.
As above.
She's as nervous as a very small nun at a penguin shoot.
KROC From United States of America, joined May 2000, 19737 posts, RR: 76 Reply 17, posted (6 years 4 weeks 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 1677 times:
Quoting TedTAce (Reply 13): Oh and even if we MYSTICALLY came up with something (tomorrow) that could propel us at the speed of light (or better) and we 'moved' to that planet (presuming the planet could support us) What would make us different from these guys?
We won't have really long dreadlock looking things danggling off of us?
"Never tell anybody outside the family what you're thinking again"
N231YE From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 24, posted (6 years 4 weeks 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 1632 times:
Quoting ArniePie (Reply 22): We might be lucky and have a good tailwind.
A good tailwind provided by solar wind
25 Beaucaire: This discovery shows the dilemma of astrophysics- they make great discoveries but completely useless for us "earthlings"... In all honesty - I couldn'
26 Scbriml: Ted and Ryanair pwn3d in two posts! Priceless.
27 YooYoo: Better take the LR model. Why? I don't see much out of the box thinking here. One needs to have a "vision" Hell, with that attitude 120 years ago, ou
28 Jaysit: Isn't that the planet Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Kirstie Alley are from?
29 DesertJets: By that same argument we could ask why our ancient fore fathers decided to start wandering about the place and get in boats to see what was over the
30 ArniePie: 20.5 lightyears away, this means they have The A-team and Knightrider on the tele by now, poor bastards no wonder they are going to have a hostile att
31 Beaucaire: I said that I am a supporter and interested in science - with my engineering background I had some exposure to research. But I would consider for ins
32 AirTranTUS: Calm down guys. That planet was probably destroyed 10 years ago in a black hole, but we haven't seen it, cause it will be another 10.5 years till we c
33 GDB: 20 Light years is very close indeed. Maybe, future better telescopes, for specific planet hunting, might provide better info on this world, chemicals
34 Yellowstone: It gave us the hand vacuum, aka Dustbuster, for one.
35 JGPH1A: If it's a DL flight, you can bet they still won't play the 2nd IFE program ...and will provide a bus shuttle service to Saturn for only GBP29,675,321
36 777236ER: And in a A380, cruise speed of 912 km/h we have 1.938122266*10^14 / 912 = 2.12513406 *(10^11) hours = about 24 243 434 years. So an A380 will save yo
37 CastleIsland: Good luck with the ETOPS certification.
38 AsstChiefMark: That's only a four day trip at warp 9.65. Ensign... Set a course... Engage!
39 DesertJets: They'll first need to develop a spaceport at 40 Eridani to handle any emergency diversions.
40 DeltaDC9: The only way the Human race can maintain its existence indefinitely is to leave Earth eventually. Not to our children's children. The Earth has seen
41 TRVYYZ: A light-year is a unit of distance. It is the distance that light can travel in one year. Light moves at a velocity of about 300,000 kilometers (km)
42 DeltaDC9: We already have theoretical designs that may attain up to 1/10th light speed, and NASA has been working on alternative propulsion for a long time. Gi
43 CastleIsland: I hope you're not a scientist or an engineer. If they all thought things were impossible, we'd be living in the stone age. Sure it's unlikely, but an
44 MDorBust: And how long for a DC-8 full of souls?
45 N1120A: But the cockroaches will. Actually, I heard it was going to replace HHN as their gateway to Frankfurt, Koeln and Luxembourg.
46 TRVYYZ: How many scientists or engineers really think it is possible?
47 Yellowstone: NASA used to have a team, IIRC, that was dedicated to theorizing about possible future propulsion technologies. Most of them involved tech that we do
48 FlyDeltaJets87: Hmmm....but what is it at Ludicrous Speed?
49 NorthStarDC4M: *spaceballs* Then Sir! When! Then! When will then be now? We just missed it sir! When!? Just then sir! ...STOP! But sir... i really.. JUST STOP! ...
50 Boeing4ever: Manifest Destiny? Seriously, how much oil and when can we invade? B4e-Forever New Frontiers
51 TedTAce: That'a about it for now, but even then we might have to grow those things for one reason or another. I misread what you stated, sorry. Now that I kno
52 DeltaDC9: A lot can happen in 500 years. BTW, I clearly remember the doubt all the way up to Apollo 11, and the conspiracy theories that cropped up tyring to p
53 Banco: No probs. It'd kill a lot of life, but it certainly wouldn't kill anything like all of it. Some creatures would even thrive on it. No, humans couldn'
54 TSS: As Larry Niven once said: "The reason the dinosaurs are extinct is they didn't have a space program".
55 TedTAce: 500, MAYBE, presuming something else doesn't happen in the mean time. That's simple math that anyone who has seen an F-1 (much less a cluster of 5) c
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