Astronomers may have found a new Habitable Zone Planet right next door

originally posted by: andy06shake
On a planet that is four times the mass of the Earth, and has four times the radius, gravitational force will become four times greater.

So there it is...super high speed, traction and downforce racing like F1 or Drag Racing, anything where downforce is a factor.

HOT WHEELS IN SPACE.

a reply to: andy06shake

Regardless if I agree, your post was so beautiful that looks like written by C. Sagan.

a reply to: Subaeruginosa

I'm hopeful the launch will go ahead this time but JWST is just one mission , there's plenty of other stuff going on at the moment to keep me happy . if the Alpha Centauri planet is confirmed then that will be a first ... probably of many habitable zone planets that we just couldn't see until now , I think that's pretty exciting.

a reply to: nerbot

Getting down, never mind back up, or the force required to get back into the orbit of such a world would present all sorts of problems given our current technology.

Then again should we ever devise a means to cross the distance between the stars, in this case a around 4.4 light years, at a respectable pace and time i don't imagine it to be much of a problem going down nor coming back up.

Hot Wheels in space sounds braw all the same.

4.4 lightyears away ....they are there on the brink for the election of donald trump as potus.

originally posted by: Flavian

originally posted by: projectvxn

We both know that on the last day of September they will announce another 2-year delay.

That's the spirit, positive thinking!

Although you are probably right.....

I'm a bit jaded on the JWST.

NASA's abysmal management of the JWST program is prolific. I'm not sure that anything else NASA has done has ever been so horribly mismanaged.

We should just be thankful no one has died. But there's still time.

a reply to: noonebutme

Currently it would take around 100,000 years to reach that planet with our fastest probe.

a reply to: gortex

Well, if they discover that this Neptune-size planet has a rocky moon, you could have Pandora, exactly like in Avatar - life imitating art....weird...

Isn't that the planet the Robinsons went to but failed because the greedy deceiving doctor screwed everything up?

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: Dalamax

Mass is directly proportional to the gravitational force.

So increase in mass means increase in gravitational force.

On a planet that is four times the mass of the Earth, and has four times the radius, gravitational force will become four times greater.

But not related to size. Either is mass, this planet being four times the SIZE of earth. Doesn’t mean it will be squashier.

a reply to: andy06shake

Please excuse my ignorance, but if it is made up of lighter material than the earth, would it be lighter gravity?
That's the only question I have.

originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: Dalamax

Mass is directly proportional to the gravitational force.

So increase in mass means increase in gravitational force.

On a planet that is four times the mass of the Earth, and has four times the radius, gravitational force will become four times greater.

Yes, on one and two. Eh, not really, on number three.

It would depend on the elemental composition of the planet. If it were a gas giant, then yes, it would be huge volume wise. More than four times the volume of Earth. But, being that close to an Sol type star, it would probably lose a lot of atmosphere due to solar winds unless it had a very strong magnetic field. So the assumption is that it's probably more solid.

But if it were composed of say, 70% osmium for some reason, then it would be a lot smaller than Earth. It would probably have a dense but thin atmosphere, since an osmium core wouldn't produce a magnetic field as strong as an iron core. The atmospheric pressure would make surface temperatures very high and very humid. The thin atmosphere might not offer much protection from solar radiation.

So if you went there, you'd feel like you weigh a ton, you're sweating like a pig, and you get sunburn in minutes. Sort of like Louisiana in August.

I guess.

originally posted by: rickymouse
Isn't that the planet the Robinsons went to but failed because the greedy deceiving doctor screwed everything up?

Please excuse me while I go totally off topic and geek out.

Doctor Smith in the pilot episode was a spy sent to sabotage the Jupiter 2. He did accomplish his mission, unfortunately he was trapped on the Jupiter 2 when it launched. In the early episodes, he was a very smart and cunning villain. He reprogrammed the B-2 robot to follow only his commands. He considered taking over the ship or killing the Robinsons, but realized he needed them if he was to get back to Earth. He was a good villain, so to speak.

But around that time, Batman became very popular. Camp was in. Lost in Space went camp.

In one episode, Doctor Smith exposits something to the effect, "Maybe my best strategy is to act like a cowardly buffoon. That way, they won't see me as a threat until it's too late." After that, we see the cowardly hypochondriac that we all came to know and love. The smart mean guy never returned.

Kudos to Johnathan Harris for being able to play the same role two entirely different ways and doing a superb job on both. That is real acting talent, ladies and gentlemen.

I can certainly understand if this post is deleted for being off topic. But I feel that no one is completely dead as long as someone remembers them. Even if they never existed.

And that's what geeking out is all about.

There was an amazing game... Sid Meyer's Alpha Centauri... which was like Civilization, but in space. On a colony in that system.

originally posted by: Trueman
There must be a very embarrassing reason why all habitable planets are so far away.

its the closest star system to us. however, we should all remain focused on the important socio/political issues of our time imo

a reply to: justdust

Yes.

Gravity is a fundamental force of physics.

Basically its dependent on mass, where everything from stars, planets, and galaxies to light and sub-atomic particles are attracted to one another depending on the size, mass and density of the object.

At least that my understanding.

originally posted by: gortex
...and is perhaps where those pesky little dudes with the big heads live.

No. Centauris look like this:

a reply to: VictorVonDoom

Cheers for the info.

I would be happy with us returning to the moon VictorVonDoom never mind another planet.

End of the day, if we ever devise a means of reaching these places, it will probably be probes we send, just down to the energies required, journey time, and the fact that we are not really equipped to exist anywhere else but in the thin layer of atmospheric pressure that exists here on planet Earth.

Pretty unreal stuff, an earth like planet actually that “close” is pretty cool to hear.

a reply to: gortex

If Aliens heard we were coming they would build a Space Wall and make us pay for it.