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Tweefo
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« on: December 06, 2011, 10:08:39 AM » |
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Here we go again. The Kepler spacecraft found a planet in the Goldilock zone of a sunlike star. The Goldilocks zone is of course where it not too hot, not too cold. The newspapers are going to run with this and call it a 'second earth". I won't be surprised if they announce alien life.
The planet Kepler 22b orbits the star Kepler 22 and is about 600 light years away. It was discovered by the transit method - the light from the star gets blocked as the planet moves in front of the star. They could work out the size of the planet but not the mass. We do not know if the planet has got an atmosphere / water / continents or not. It might be just a rocky lump or a Venus like hell. But they will call it a second Earth.
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cyghost
Skeptically yours
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Carpe diem
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« Reply #1 on: December 06, 2011, 10:45:42 AM » |
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So kepler found kepler22b orbiting kepler 22. copper clapper caper springs to mind.... Who are "they"? The media? ETA: re-read and got my answer for above.  I'm not sure they will myself. here is a link for anyone interested. NASA ain't claiming life so the media better behave or we'll sick tweefo on em! |
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st0nes
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« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2011, 11:59:47 AM » |
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They should really think about giving the interesting finds better names. Kepler 22B just doesn't cut it. The triple-breasted whore of Kepler 22B? Nah. I'm sure the folk who live there call it something else.
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brianvds
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« Reply #3 on: December 06, 2011, 12:17:01 PM » |
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They should really think about giving the interesting finds better names. Kepler 22B just doesn't cut it. The triple-breasted whore of Kepler 22B? Nah. I'm sure the folk who live there call it something else.
How about LV-426...? :-) |
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st0nes
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« Reply #4 on: December 06, 2011, 12:18:52 PM » |
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They should really think about giving the interesting finds better names. Kepler 22B just doesn't cut it. The triple-breasted whore of Kepler 22B? Nah. I'm sure the folk who live there call it something else.
How about LV-426...? :-) I don't wish to know anyone who calls his planet LV-426 |
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Brian
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I think therefor I am, I think
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« Reply #6 on: December 06, 2011, 12:31:04 PM » |
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The T shirt will read: "I'm from LV-426" Naah...Better to call it "Third rock from Kepler"
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BoogieMonster
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« Reply #7 on: December 06, 2011, 14:22:55 PM » |
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Pandora is an obvious choice.
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GCG
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« Reply #8 on: December 06, 2011, 14:28:12 PM » |
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more importantly; who cares? unless the residents of this planet is grilling my cats for dinner, i really dont give a shit. scientifically interresting, but unless i get live to actually travel there, it has zero impact on my life.
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brianvds
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« Reply #9 on: December 06, 2011, 15:00:19 PM » |
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Here we go again. The Kepler spacecraft found a planet in the Goldilock zone of a sunlike star. The Goldilocks zone is of course where it not too hot, not too cold. The newspapers are going to run with this and call it a 'second earth". I won't be surprised if they announce alien life.
The planet Kepler 22b orbits the star Kepler 22 and is about 600 light years away. It was discovered by the transit method - the light from the star gets blocked as the planet moves in front of the star. They could work out the size of the planet but not the mass. We do not know if the planet has got an atmosphere / water / continents or not. It might be just a rocky lump or a Venus like hell. But they will call it a second Earth.
Hehehe, no more than half an hour after reading this, I watched a bit of news on TV. Lo and behold: "Second earth found, possible alien life, etc etc." And I notice that much sensation is being generated about it in the popular media as well. |
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brianvds
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« Reply #10 on: December 06, 2011, 15:04:05 PM » |
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more importantly; who cares? unless the residents of this planet is grilling my cats for dinner, i really dont give a shit. scientifically interresting, but unless i get live to actually travel there, it has zero impact on my life.
You are remarkably incurious for a skeptic... As for the impact on your life, well, the point of science is to satisfy our curiosity, not to impact our lives. I find that this sort of discovery has an absolutely profound impact on my mental life though, and considering that almost all of physics was directly or indirectly discovered as a result of astronomical research, I wouldn't bet that this sort of discovery will NOT sooner or later have practical ramifications. |
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Mefiante
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« Reply #11 on: December 06, 2011, 15:48:10 PM » |
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The most immediate — and beneficial — effect of discovering extraterrestrial life would be to topple several theologies with a single deft stroke, and imperil quite a few others. Culturally, it would offer rich fodder to those pursuing existential questions. Scientifically, it would significantly raise the probability of there being more ET life because we would have doubled the number of samples we have of it, samples that are, galactically speaking, jostling for elbow room on the same flagstone.
It is no overstatement to say that it would be the discovery of the millennium.
'Luthon64
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GCG
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« Reply #12 on: December 06, 2011, 16:37:51 PM » |
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more importantly; who cares? unless the residents of this planet is grilling my cats for dinner, i really dont give a shit. scientifically interresting, but unless i get live to actually travel there, it has zero impact on my life.
You are remarkably incurious for a skeptic... As for the impact on your life, well, the point of science is to satisfy our curiosity, not to impact our lives. I find that this sort of discovery has an absolutely profound impact on my mental life though, and considering that almost all of physics was directly or indirectly discovered as a result of astronomical research, I wouldn't bet that this sort of discovery will NOT sooner or later have practical ramifications. the fact that there is a possible planet out there that may support life, is no big hoo-hah to me. That penny dropped for me ages ago. I denounce the theory that all life has to be carbon-based, thus planets with a non-oxygen atmosphere wont support life, is bollocks. our minds cannot fathom the ingenius ways life has figured a way out, and just because we want to put 'life' into a little carbon-based box, doesnt mean there isnt bigger, more mindblowing things out there. it's because of my curiousity, that finding planets in the big beyond, does not blow my hair back anymore. gotten over the wow-factor yonks ago. show me actual alien life, or communication from said planet, and i will be pretty much sliding off my chair in anticipation. |
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Mefiante
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« Reply #13 on: December 06, 2011, 16:50:56 PM » |
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I seriously doubt that any self-respecting exobiologist would dare claim that ET life must be carbon-based. Nonetheless, there are compelling chemical and physical reasons that strongly suggest that ET life would also be carbon-based to a very high degree of probability. These reasons have chiefly to do with carbon’s valence and electron shell structure (which determine the range of compounds and molecules it can form), and its relative abundance universally compared to many other elements.
'Luthon64
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multichocolate
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« Reply #14 on: December 07, 2011, 00:14:21 AM » |
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No, it won't cause many theologies to die if life were found. All that would happen would be that creationists would just modify their theory a bit, maybe at last accepting evolution, and then what you will see are TBN sponsored spaceships and Jehovah's witness missionary crafts who'll go there to try convert the aliens. Or an even better theory? The devil transported some ancient life from earth to this planet to try deceive people.
By the way, I always feel quite depressed that we probably won't make contact with any et life in my lifetime. I so desparetly with the aliens to be like those little space men in the NES Track and Field video game, the part where you used to tie in the long jump.
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