Topic: Earth-like planet discovered 50 light-years away

[Harlax]

Now who was it that was just saying our Solar System was probably unique.....

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/08/26/new.planet/index.html

(SPACE.com) -- In a discovery that has left one expert stunned, European astronomers have found one of the smallest planets known outside our solar system, a world about 14 times the mass of our own around a star much like the sun.

It could be a rocky planet with a thin atmosphere, a sort of "super Earth," the researchers said today.

[Clark Kent]

Wow, that's one big rock.  I want to know more.

[Redshift the Kook]

Woah, brilliant find! It's good to know there could be such variety amoungst the stars out there and the fact that this is so close to us increases the chances of other systems like this.

[J. Carney]

Yeah, next thing you know, we'll be accused by the rest of the world f wanting to invade it to steal it's oil!!

This is super-cool. I gotta e-mail this to some folks!

[S'Raek]

But this is no typical Earth. It completes its tight orbit in less than 10 days, compared to the 365 required for our year. Its daytime face would be scorched.

The planet's surface conditions aren't known, said Portuguese researcher Nuno Santos, who led the discovery. "However, we can expect it to be quite hot, given the proximity to the star." 

Hot as in around 1,160 degrees Fahrenheit (900 Kelvin), Santos said.

Somehow this doesn't seem to advance the possibilities of another Earth to me.....just my opinion I guess. 

[J. Carney]

But this is no typical Earth. It completes its tight orbit in less than 10 days, compared to the 365 required for our year. Its daytime face would be scorched.

The planet's surface conditions aren't known, said Portuguese researcher Nuno Santos, who led the discovery. "However, we can expect it to be quite hot, given the proximity to the star." 

Hot as in around 1,160 degrees Fahrenheit (900 Kelvin), Santos said.

Somehow this doesn't seem to advance the possibilities of another Earth to me.....just my opinion I guess. 

It's not the fact that we found THIS PLANET to be like Earth, but that we can find one that is BUILT LIKE EARTH- meaning small and rocky and not so massive as the gas giants that we have found so far.

[Clark Kent]

I think you're right, this planet does seem a bit too massive to support life like ours.  I have the feeling a human would be crushed in its gravity.

[Ravok]

 At 14 Gs of gravity they would die of massive heart failure in seconds.
Not to mention the1600 degree temps.

[J. Carney]

At 14 Gs of gravity they would die of massive heart failure in seconds.
Not to mention the1600 degree temps.

Yeah, people would... but Tholians would be right at home .

Still we found a (relatively) small, solid planet. It's a great step in the right direction.

[Ravok]

  You i didn't even think of it that way but it does sound like the Hold Fast. ( Tholian home world.)
 Gee no boarding partys against those guys.

[Don Karnage]

the bigger the planet less gravity for us, since it might be a good place but unless we can go there at light speed we will go live there in 50 years, so take children at early age so when your there the will be adult 

[Chris SI]

It would be cool if they had a race that just dicovered us, and said 'its a tiny place, covered by water, probaly unsuitable for us, few mountains!

[J. Carney]

It would be cool if they had a race that just dicovered us, and said 'its a tiny place, covered by water, probaly unsuitable for us, few mountains!

ROFL... I wnder how many times we will discover that has happened when we make contact with whoever else is out there?

[Don Karnage]

if the discover another planet with a civilization, will the have a none interfering law like the prime directive in startrek?

[Grand Master of Shadows NCC37385]

the bigger the planet less gravity for us, since it might be a good place but unless we can go there at light speed we will go live there in 50 years, so take children at early age so when your there the will be adult 

I remember reading somewhere that they had found the aging gene. The one that tells cells when to die. They turned it off in rodents and they lived two or three times their natural age. Imagine living to be 240 years old.

[Clark Kent]

240 years?  no thanks.  With all the steroids and hormones kids are getting and that's going into food in ever increasing amounts you could be a 6' tall man and be the same as a midget by then.

[Don Karnage]

imagine ben 7 to 8 feets talls, you can't fit into cars, bus, you have to watch yourself when you pass the dors, and watch for the topfan