*News* Planet System Similar To Ours Revealed

Space.com

Well.. this news has just been released today.. lets see what else they discover about this system. If they have discovered this within 12 years, imagine what can be achieved in the coming years!

Just for my fellow UKers, the story is being covered on tonights ITV 10.30 News.

The full story hasn't been released yet so update to follow...


[edit on 6-11-2007 by fiftyfifty]

Yes i heard that being announced on the evening news and choked on my tea on hearing this. If it is as signficant as they are making it out to be, this will be the most important discovery for mankind so far...

reply to post by fiftyfifty

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Cool article, but I don't think this is too similar to our solar system.

The similarity scientists see in this system and ours is the fact that there are at least five planets orbiting that star. This confirms that the number of planets in our solar system isn't unique.

The newly discovered planet is the only one that falls within the "habitable zone", and that new planet is a gas giant. There could be another habitable planet in that "gap" they mentioned, but any other habitable worlds in this system would be moons that may (or may not) exist orbiting that newly discovered gas giant.

[edit on 11/6/2007 by Soylent Green Is People]

I'm still wondering why they are so eager looking for other planets like ours... Don't you?

reply to post by PureET

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^
^^Not really. It's called exploration and discovery.
It's what humans do (and have always done.)

reply to post by PureET

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I'm just hoping that SETI will point the new Alan Telescope Array at it

Hopefully, NASA's view of the potential this has for life will make it a priority in the eyes of Shostak, et al.

its a nice discovery many exoplanet hunters have speculated on moons of gas giants being habitable if the gas giants in the HZ. This is a real example of one of those gas giants. Good stuff

roll on 2008 for CoRoT results, should get alot more planets, maybe even one the size of earth


no, evryone involved with exoplanet discovery is driven by 1 question more than any other: Are we alone?

[edit on 6-11-2007 by yeti101]

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People

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I think he is implying something a little deeper than just good old pure science and exploration. I like the way the astronomers quoted, speculate about rocky moons with possibility of water that may have life bearing environs:


And then the one about earth like planets ... glad to know someone is working towards real disclosure ...

[edit on 6-11-2007 by 2believeor0]

Wouldnt this Gas Giant emit strong radiation, similar to what our Jupiter does?
If that were the case then that would make any nearby moon fairly inhospitable even if there were water etc..
What do some of you guys think about this or if it is mentioned in the article, i didnt catch it..

Thats what i was thinking.

I don't think moons would be the best place to search for life. Even within the golden zone, the fact that it being a moon, and orbitiing a gas gaint would propose many problems.

One of Jupitors moons is almost enitly made out of H2O, and becasue of Jupitors magntic feild has liquid water possobly below the surface, although there are periodic times when liquid water does surfcae.

Overall the best find we could have would be to find a group of large gas gaints that are FAR from the star. This would give space for many small rocky planets to be in this space in between the star and the gas gaints.

I don't think the announcement of this discovery has anything to do with disclosure. The planets in this sytem aren't that much different than the other 250 that have been discovered in the past 12 years -- the only thing that makes this system newsworthy is the number of planets.

Talking about life on other planets isn't new. Scientists have been talking seriously about this for over 40 years now (e.g. Dr. Drakes famous "Drake Equation" and SETI). And prior to that even the common person believed life on other planets was possible.

Since Dr. Drake in the 1960s, a whole branch of science has been created that deals specifically with the possibilities of life on other worlds.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I don't think there is any need for a gentle "disclosure program", nor do I think such a program exists. Humans, and human civilization have been ready for the possibility of life on other worlds for some time now.

100% agree with Soylent, these scientists arnt asking the govt for any info on ufos lol i assume thats what you mean by "disclosure", they are continuing what theyve been doing for the last 12 years...exploring other stars trying to find planets

dont tar respectable hard working scientists with the crackpot alien spaceship brush. it offends me