Possible first earth-like plan­et "super- Earth" found out­side our So­lar Sys­tem

Wouldnt 5 times earths mass mean 5 times it's gravity? Maybe I'm just so tired at the moment I'm forgetting something...

Either way, this is a great find by the astronomers. If life had started there, I wonder what a creature built to move in 5 G's would look like?

Originally posted by d1k

Originally posted by pepsi78
Big discovery, but 20 light years is still far away, it would take a probe hudreds of years to get there, it would take an object betwen 80 and 100 years to get there, and that if it the object were to be traveling at a quorter of light speed.
[edit on 24-4-2007 by pepsi78]

Using 1950's technology. I'm positive our government has near light speed and maybe even faster secret technology.

It's true there is tehnology capabile of accelerating an object at speed near the speed of light by constant sustained acceleration in time it could reach a very high speed let's say over a period of couple of years, the ion drive can do this in fact.
1
The problem is the kinetic mass it would acumulate at that speed, at such great spead it's hard to stop because it's mass would be "it's mass X times light speed" it would have to reduce speed at a great distance to be able to manuver at all if it does not want to miss it's tajectory, it's imposible to decelerate in a short period of time because of the kinetic mass of the object due to it's speed.

2
The probe would be uncontrolable from earth, even if it's traveling at light speed people from earth would not be able to control it once it's out of reach and far away since radio waves take alot of time to travel from one part of the galaxy to another, an automatic trajectory is hard to accive on such a long jurney because even 1 centimiter off course can throw it off course for good, since it would be moving 1 centimeter away at light speed in 20 light years the probe would be in a totaly different location, probaly not even close to the solar sistem it wanted to get to.

Other than the ion drive there is no other propulsion sistem capabile of doing this , maybe just nuclear reactors but that is not an option,and it's not a problem with the propulsion sistem but the problem is how to control the probe really from so far away.






[edit on 24-4-2007 by pepsi78]

Perhaps we could send a sleeper generational ship to this world for exploration. Maybe we can establish a base of operations there or find life forms that will greet us with pitchers of margaritas.

Originally posted by pepsi78
It's true there is tehnology capabile of accelerating an object at speed near the speed of light by constant sustained acceleration in time it could reach a very high speed let's say over a period of couple of years, the ion drive can do this in fact.
1
The problem is the kinetic mass it would acumulate at that speed, at such great spead it's hard to stop because it's mass would be "it's mass X times light speed" it would have to reduce speed at a great distance to be able to manuver at all if it does not want to miss it's tajectory, it's imposible to decelerate in a short period of time because of the kinetic mass of the object due to it's speed.

2
The probe would be uncontrolable from earth, even if it's traveling at light speed people from earth would not be able to control it once it's out of reach and far away since radio waves take alot of time to travel from one part of the galaxy to another, an automatic trajectory is hard to accive on such a long jurney because even 1 centimiter off course can throw it off course for good, since it would be moving 1 centimeter away at light speed in 20 light years the probe would be in a totaly different location, probaly not even close to the solar sistem it wanted to get to.

Other than the ion drive there is no other propulsion sistem capabile of doing this , maybe just nuclear reactors but that is not an option,and it's not a problem with the propulsion sistem but the problem is how to control the probe really from so far away.
[edit on 24-4-2007 by pepsi78]

Good points, but it's not difficult to lock a trajectory, create somesort of a navigation system in 3d space, and mathematically correct the probes trajectory based on that navigation system. I'm sure it can be done.

As far as the speed of light - the ION drive is so slow that by the freaking time it got half way it'd still only be 1/3 the speed of light. No, the best way is to break out that Gravity Tech the Governments been holding on to for the last...uhm... 40 years *coff* roswell *coff* ... and use it. Imagine element 115 coming to light all of a sudden and HEY we have gravity based acceleration. I'm know, I'm rambling...lol..i'm tired.

But hey think of this - maybe if this discovery is confirmed to be true, the government actually would break out the tech and sponsor an expedition.

In the mean time - I say groups like SETI and HAM radio operators start using directional antenna's and start transmitting radio waves in that direction. You never know, if there is life, maybe their listening? Anyone ever seen Contact!?! Could happen !

Originally posted by johnsky
...

My statement was referring to technology that is not known to anyone in the public. Not some published theoretical engines that we already have heard about. Technology that has all the wrinkles like you have mentioned ironed out so to speak or technology that does not even come across problems like you listed.

[edit on 24-4-2007 by d1k]

Originally posted by carnival_of_souls2047
Perhaps we could send a sleeper generational ship to this world for exploration. Maybe we can establish a base of operations there or find life forms that will greet us with pitchers of margaritas.

Now that would be cool! LOL! Seriously though, image what the stars would look like (and astronomy) from that planet. Especially if one side of it was perpetually dark....you could probably see half the universe from that vantage point!

This has got to be one of the coolest things discovered yet (in terms of exoplanets)!!!

I wonder if they've seen us yet? (assuming there is life on the planet) They are probably wondering: "I wonder if there is life on that planet over there?" "I wonder what life would be like with 5x less gravity?" "How strange would that be" lol.


Did they really call the planet "c"?

Why do they give them such boring names?

Why not:

Earth 2.0? (just kidding)

IMO, the top priority here and now is to focus our ears and eyes
(dishes and telescopes) upon this newly found planet. If there are
civilizations there at least as advanced as we are, they hopefully
are generating some sort of electromagnetic radiation for our
dishes to hear/see, or artificially created particles into the
atmosphere that the Hubble space telescope can detect.

There's no need to wait for decades to learn if intelligence resides
on this "super-Earth" planet. Admitedly a probe would be best,
but even at the speed of light, it would take 20 years to get there
and 20 years for its transmissions to be beamed back to Earth.

This planet can grow from an exciting discovery to an EPIC discovery
in just a couple of years if all the world's resources begin looking and
listening intently ASAP.

[edit on 24-4-2007 by carewemust]

i'm hoping this topic doens't die out. maybe president bush would like to keep on talkin about this to take the focus off of iraq lol.
anyways.... is there anyway we can point the hubble at this thing?
or another powerful telescope? i dont know much about telesopes so excuse my idiocy if i'm wrong lol.

Well I doubt this planet is habitable in the traditional sense. There is one hypothesis that this planet is an Iceball so that would make it unlikely that it harbors any intelligent life. Though if an intelligent species were to evolve on that planet, they would be adapted to such extreme conditions that I don't think that even staring right at it from a foot away, we'd recognize it as anything intelligent. But that speculation is for the future. Now we just have to continue observations to see what other planets there are in the 80 or so other Red Dwarf stars in our vicinity. Remember space is huge. We got something like half a trillion stars in our own galaxy so don't expect to hit gold right away.

I don't know what good does this do humanity if we can't even see it.
It might be just like mars, dry.
I think with a little more contribution from all the nations on this planet, if not from all at least from most of them we would have a biger eye to wach the universe in a better detailed picture.

I hear that there is a project of some sort of laser telescope that would work with small telescopes aranged in a circle that would transmit some how the data they recived with a laser to the middle of the circle where a device is located to decode the data and put it in one image, the whole thing would look like a weel, the advantage of this telescope is that some how all the small independent telescopes act as a big one, for this to work the telescope would have to be placed in orbit, the problem with this telescope is that it costs too much, but the raito of success on what we can see would be far greater than ever before, maybe this is the answer to see some shapes of how planets really look, 20 years light years is not that far for a telescope, in fact it means 20 years as it is, looking back in to the past 20 years ago.

Reading that this planet is billions of years older than ours along with the idea that if we are watching them now they could have been watching us for a long time, wouldn't it be even cooler to think if some of the NEOs that have shown themselves through the latest 50 years are actually propelled from that planet?

Maybe they went and did the same thing as we did with Voyager, sending out information about themselves and their history.

Love this news

Originally posted by pepsi78
I don't know what good does this do humanity if we can't even see it.
It might be just like mars, dry.

A. It will settle a very old argument. If we can find several planets like earth then it will settle the speculation that the Earth is unique.

B. It will help us put some real numbers in the Drake Equation.

C. ?? Unexpected Discoveries could happen that may have an effect on the technology you use in some way. It's about pushing at boundaries.

I think with a little more contribution from all the nations on this planet, if not from all at least from most of them we would have a biger eye to wach the universe in a better detailed picture.

Space Telescopes cost billions of dollars. Ground based telescopes cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Not many countries can justify that expense, though they can justify leasing out land to richer countries to build their telescopes in good places. I hope China and India get in on the fun though as there is a big blind spot where they're at.

I hear that there is a project of some sort of laser telescope that would work with small telescopes...

This what you mean?

www.jpl.nasa.gov...

Space Interferometry Mission

aritst's concept of Space Interferometry Mission

Proposed Launch: 2015
Purpose: Space-based optical interferometer to study stars and detect extra-solar planets

The Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) is an orbiting interferometer that will link a pair of telescopes to function in unison as a much larger "virtual telescope." One goal is to detect planets of varying sizes -- from huge planets several times the size of Jupiter down to planets about as massive as Earth. It will do this by precisely locating nearby stars and looking for signs of any wobble in their positions, which may indicate that gravity from orbiting planets is tugging at them.

In addition, the mission will determine positions and distances to stars with an accuracy several hundred times greater than current technology allows. SIM will open the era of "precision astrophysics." It will permit the construction of a "street map" to our Milky Way galaxy which could lead to breakthrough discoveries in astronomy. The mission will determine the distances to important signposts throughout the Milky Way as well as the motions of nearby galaxies and it can study the activity deep in the cores of external galaxies. All of this will help us expand our understanding of the universe.

Partnering with JPL are Northrup Grumman Space Technology and Lockheed Martin, as well as numerous institutions represented on the science teams.

Here are some more projects.

planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov...

"The Kepler Mission will, for the first time, enable humans to search our galaxy for Earth-size or even smaller planets," said principal investigator William Borucki of NASA's Ames research Center, Moffett Field, California. "With this cutting-edge capability, Kepler may help us answer one of the most enduring questions humans have asked throughout history: Are there others like us in the universe?"

Kepler will detect planets indirectly, using the "transit" method. A transit occurs each time a planet crosses the line-of-sight between the planet's parent star that it is orbiting and the observer. When this happens, the planet blocks some of the light from its star, resulting in a periodic dimming. This periodic signature is used to detect the planet and to determine its size and its orbit.

planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov...

The Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) will study the formation of solar systems and will be capable of directly detecting giant planets outside our solar system.

Two 8-meter class telescopes on Mount Graham, Arizona, will be connected in an infrared interferometer. The resulting instrument will have a maximum baseline of 22.8 meters.

Because of its unique geometry and relatively direct optical path, the LBTI will offer science capabilities that are different from other interferometers. It will provide high-resolution images of many faint objects over a wide field-of-view, including galaxies in the Hubble Deep Field with 10 times the Hubble resolution.

Nulling techniques will enable the LBTI to study emissions from faint dust clouds around other stars. These dust clouds reflect light and give off heat, and so interfere with the search for planets. By helping to characterize these emissions, the LBTI will provide critically needed data for the design of the Terrestrial Planet Finder, a future mission that will study planets orbiting nearby stars.

wise.ssl.berkeley.edu...

en.wikipedia.org...

Originally posted by sardion2000
Well I doubt this planet is habitable in the traditional sense. There is one hypothesis that this planet is an Iceball so that would make it unlikely that it harbors any intelligent life. Though if an intelligent species were to evolve on that planet, they would be adapted to such extreme conditions that I don't think that even staring right at it from a foot away, we'd recognize it as anything intelligent. But that speculation is for the future. Now we just have to continue observations to see what other planets there are in the 80 or so other Red Dwarf stars in our vicinity. Remember space is huge. We got something like half a trillion stars in our own galaxy so don't expect to hit gold right away.

Well I've read 3-4 things on this thread that are ABSOLUTELY phenomenal in terms of hitting gold..

1)Water on planet..
2)Average temp between 0-40 Deg Celsius (this is absolutely phenomenal if true for a full rotational+ revolutionary cycle)
Was worried about this esp since the star is a dwarf and so it may not give out sufficient heat.
3)The longevity of the star is 130 billion years..
So either this place already has intelligent life or its Destination 1 for any colonial missions

This is very very very very promising..
However the revolutionary cycle is only 13 earth days.
Wonder what complexities that may cause..

Originally posted by johnsky
Wouldnt 5 times earths mass mean 5 times it's gravity? Maybe I'm just so tired at the moment I'm forgetting something...

Either way, this is a great find by the astronomers. If life had started there, I wonder what a creature built to move in 5 G's would look like?

I can imagine if they could live on earth they possibly would be VERY strong?

Originally posted by sardion2000
I hope China and India get in on the fun though as there is a big blind spot where they're at.

While I agree that telescopes here are lacking and it would be reaally cool to get some good ones here..I don't think there's a blind spot as such.
Earth's rotational and sol cycles pretty much make sure that one can see almost everything from a few select places.

Originally posted by d1k
Are there bigger/better instruments that we could use to get more information from this "super-earth"? If it were up to me i'd have every telescope on earth pointed at this thing getting as much data as possible

20 light years is pretty close if I'm not mistaken. Isn't this the closest exo-planet found yet?

But the European evidence is so exciting, Mr. Matthews says, that he and his colleagues have agreed to focus Canada’s suitcase-sized space telescope, known as MOST, on the alien solar system.

“We’re putting it on a stakeout,” says Mr. Matthews, who leads the MOST team and is currently in Vienna. (MOST stands for microvariabilty and oscillations of stars.)

He expects to have the planetary system in the microsatellite telescope’s sights by late next week. “We’ve been working on this for a few weeks,” he said in a phone interview.

Mr. Matthews says it will be possible to look for the “super-Earth” without too big an impact on other MOST projects.

“We’ll be squeezing it into to our regularly scheduled programming. That’s the beauty of having something like MOST. It’s almost like having your own private space telescope in the sense that it’s possible for us to take advantage of these targets of opportunity and adapt very, very quickly.”

With luck, Mr. Matthews says MOST, which has a much clearer view from its orbit above Earth, will be able to actually see the planet orbiting across the face of the star and confirm its existence.

The odds that MOST will be in the right vantage point to observe such a “transit” is about one in 20.
“It’s a long shot,” he says, but well worth taking because the results could be huge.

www.canada.com...

Its interesting that, a couple of days after we find out that the UN may be debating how to establish contact with alien cultures, that this story comes out.

I'm assuming its zeitgeist rather than anything planned, but it does make you wonder, doesn't it?

Originally posted by neformore
Its interesting that, a couple of days after we find out that the UN may be debating how to establish contact with alien cultures, that this story comes out.

I'm assuming its zeitgeist rather than anything planned, but it does make you wonder, doesn't it?

Hehe... I was actually thinking that, but I didn't wanna be the one to say because in all honesty I thought it was reaching a bit
Uh... and to be 100% clear, those alledged talks aren't quite confirmed yet. Still waiting for answer from the UN itself.
The ufodigest article was an old article someone dug up and reposted.

I was thinking that exact same thing about the UN discussing how to open diplomatic relations with ET's.
Has anyone else noticed how over the past few months to a year the news has focused more and more on space, and more specifically, on the search for extraterrestrial life? Now they find this 'new Earth' with possible surface water.
Disclosure anyone?... )
But seriously, I do find it interesting how the powers that be seem to be taking a much bigger interest in finding some evidence of other life.
I wait for that day with excitement!