Astronomers Discover a Planet Almost Identical to Earth

Originally posted by jonnywhite
There're lots of planets and lots of people and machines looking for them.

We found our first extrasolar planet in the 1990's, I believe.

It's like the exponential growth of computing.

Nothing conspiratorial about it.

BUT I doubt we've found earth. Just an earth-like planet with remarkable similarity.

What I'm wondering is what're the odds of finding a planet similar to our own based on hte best evidence and how do these odds compare to the data we're uncovering?

What goes hand in hand with the exponential discoveries of extra-solar planets is the hostile envirornments, previously thought impossible to support life...where we have discovered life! I mean effen volcanic vents? Artic ice...life is just the opposite of fragile...it evolves in the most inhospitable of climates...the universe likes to create life. I think we are actually way off the mark assuming that only an earth twin would be habitable to life...but if this planet is "close" to earths habitat zone...then it surely has a form of life.

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Awesome, so this earth gets polluted entirely, then we move on to the next earth. Do we get to see some pictures? they didn't mention anything about the temperature.

reply to post by Char-Lee


It explains what you were asking! Want me to spoonfeed it to you or do you think you will be able to read about it on your own?

A planet has to have plate tectonics in order to be like Earth. And an Ocean.

Plate tectonics and the ocean are both major facilitators in the theory of evoluton.

And if you don't belive in evolution, the steady state of molten rock moving the surface around without melting that suface or boiling off all of the water seems to me to be a very narrow range of all the possile combinations of mass, chemical composition and distance from a not too cold or short lived supernova sun.

It is possible that all of the variations of climate in the last 4 billion years have had more to do with the activity of the mantle and core and the crust than anything else.

Originally posted by Waldy
reply to post by Char-Lee

 

It explains what you were asking! Want me to spoonfeed it to you or do you think you will be able to read about it on your own?

Thanks so much but I think I will let someone with an ounce of kindness and decency in them answer any questions I may have instead of you.

Show me pictures of a blue planet and I might believe it. It could be like Mars for all we know.

reply to post by TheProphetMark


Everyone always says "civiliation more advanced out there". What if there isn't? What if, in all the Universe, we - Earth Human Beings - are the most advanced civilization in the Universe? What if? Isn't that a bit scary?
That potentially, we humans will be the pioneers of the Universe?

Already scientists are saying Warp Drive could be a reality. That Alcubierre's idea isn't so far fetched after all (and just a side note I have been a fan of his ideas since I read about it in high school in the 90's).
That faster than light travel IS possible.

I just don't like selling human kind short. UFO's are a real phenomenom, but clear cut existence of Aliens hasn't been confirmed yet. So the possibility IS there that we could really, honestly be the most advanced species in the Universe.

Think about the implications if thats true.

reply to post by SLAYER69


I actually joined ATS just to reply to this thread, that picture from the article and that story is from a 2011 movie called 'Another Earth' where they discover a twin planet of the earth with people and everything. I'm not saying the article is fake but it is really weird that hollywood always makes movies about stuff that later 'become reality'.

This is the imdb profile of the movie, and it's an interesting watch if you ever have the time: www.imdb.com...

reply to post by BristolStew


If this earth gets polluted we can't move to the other earth cus it's probably filled up with people like us if it has had the same conditions.

So we will have to fight against them for the remaining earth.

This is amazing. Yet another planet that possibly sustains life. I hope it does.

S and F

The possibilities alone amaze me, if there is in fact life on that other planet I want to know how advance they are, what they look like, just questions like those. I doubt we'll know those in my lifetime, but just thinking about it is amazing.

reply to post by SLAYER69

From the research that I've done, for another planet to be deemed an earth twin, it would have to be a rocky water world like earth, which requires a finely tuned dynamic equilibrium balancing as that which has occurred here on earth due not to the distance from the sun (habitable zone, or goldilocks zone) but to the influence of our large moon ("large" by comparison to the size of the earth) without which liquid water over the majority of the surface of the planet, and the cycle of life that we enjoy would not be possible.

The key then would involve a spectroscopic analysis of the planet's atmosphere and surface to determine if it's a rocky water world like earth, something that will become possible within 10-20 years compliments of the Square Kilometer Array or SKA.

The more target of interest planets we find in the interim while that scientific instrument is being developed the greater the likelihood that we'll find what we're looking for in the form of a world covered in liquid water.

But we don't want to jump the gun just because the planet is the right kind at the right distance from the right kind of star, although that's the precondition at least as a starting point, so it's still an exciting discovery nevertheless, but even if it was a rocky world at the perfect distance from a sun exactly like ours even still it might not be a "living" planet hosting an evolutionary process of life, like on earth.

Forgive my lack in understanding how telescopes work but, is it possible to zoom in and actually focus in on the surface of said planet?

reply to post by Ear-Responsible

Not yet, and not with an optic telescope, but it will be via radio telescope (see my post above) within 10-15 years.

I don't see what the big deal is, there are likely to be plenty of earth like planets out there, what we need to find is an earth like solid rock type planets the size of Jupiter or bigger, now that would be something to see, can it even be possible since most planets that we know of that size are gas planets. Who knows, but hey would be a sight to see, and whatever would life there if anything it would really be out of this world. Anyone ever wonder what kind of planets spin around suns lets say the size of Arcturus or even Canis Majoris?

Ah just random musings.


plausibility habitable planets around red giants.

Originally posted by Klassified
reply to post by SLAYER69

 

Like I said in your last thread about this Slayer...

I am of the opinion they are always way ahead of what they announce, so most likely they have already been eyeballing our twin for quite some time...

And voila! Here's our twin. A little too Coinkydink for me.

This was going to be point essentially. How dumb do they think we are?
It's like they were trying to get their credibility up a bit so they say something like,

"within the year we will find an earthlike planet!"

week goes by

"We found earthlikeplanet!! love us!!"

Originally posted by Elvis Hendrix
reply to post by metaldemon2000

 

I agree, I always wondered why CETI etc scanned for radio waves. It dosent make any sense unless we were looking for a civilisation that are an axact mirror of ourselves! And that is really far fetched.

And even then radio waves wouldn't make any sense after a light year or so, probably long before then. I have trouble picking up radio stations outside of town. They would pick up noise but they would have to be extremely lucky to get even that, which they have once or twice.

Originally posted by yourmaker

Originally posted by Klassified
reply to post by SLAYER69

 

Like I said in your last thread about this Slayer...

I am of the opinion they are always way ahead of what they announce, so most likely they have already been eyeballing our twin for quite some time...

And voila! Here's our twin. A little too Coinkydink for me.

This was going to be point essentially. How dumb do they think we are?
It's like they were trying to get their credibility up a bit so they say something like,

"within the year we will find an earthlike planet!"

week goes by

"We found earthlikeplanet!! love us!!"

Or maybe they just achieved their goals rather quick because as we already knew the universe is just teeming with planets.

History will look back on these days and say "what dumbasses, those things were practically colliding with them and they had difficulty finding them?? How primitive!"

Originally posted by wantsome
Show me pictures of a blue planet and I might believe it. It could be like Mars for all we know.

Maybe, however just a few years ago the argument went something like this:

There are no planets outside out solar system because we never confirmed any before and humans are never wrong!

Now its :

No such thing as earthlike planets because we never confirmed one!

Lol

Next it will be :

There are no such thing as dinosaurs outside of our solar system! Humans rule!