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NASA's Kepler Telescope Discovers First Earth-Size Planet in 'Habitable Zone'

Orphia Nay

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Orphia Nay
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Announcement from NASA about an hour ago:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/m/news/news.php?release=2014-119#.U1BtrVXa46Z

Using NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered the first Earth-size planet orbiting a star in the "habitable zone" -- the range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the surface of an orbiting planet. The discovery of Kepler-186f confirms that planets the size of Earth exist in the habitable zone of stars other than our sun.

While planets have previously been found in the habitable zone, they are all at least 40 percent larger in size than Earth, and understanding their makeup is challenging. Kepler-186f is more reminiscent of Earth.
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:thumbsup:
 
Yay!
Just the start. There's bound to be lots of earths out there. That doesn't shock me... what knocks me off my feet is that very dedicated, very bright people have teased out ways to find them. Considering what we're looking for, how small a world is, set against the bright light of its parent star, it's incredible.
 
Brainache said:
I just had an evil thought: What if we convince the US Fundies that there are intelligent beings there who have never heard of Jeebus...?

Would they all start raising more money for NASA to spread the Word to another world?

Raising money for silly things is one job that they seem to be very good at...
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South Park beat you too it - Watch the episode "Starvin Marvin in Space"
 
Monketey Ghost said:
Yay!
Just the start. There's bound to be lots of earths out there. That doesn't shock me... what knocks me off my feet is that very dedicated, very bright people have teased out ways to find them. Considering what we're looking for, how small a world is, set against the bright light of its parent star, it's incredible.
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:thumbsup: Thanks for that! I was having similar feelings but couldn't put them into words as eloquently as you did.
 
So this is the first out of how many thousand stars they've looked at. Divide 200 billion by the thousands they've looked at and you'll probably come up with millions of earth-like planets just in our galaxy.

Steve S
 
John Jones said:
But do they serve decent barbecued pork ribs? Get back to us when that happens.

Only then will we KNOW there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.
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Its a simple question. Would you eat this new planet if it were made of barbecued pork ribs. Just say, "yes" and we'll move on.


Also, does this make it an "M" class planet? And why M? Why halfway through the alphabet? Why not A since this is the main type of planet starfleet should be looking for? or E? as in Earth?
 
C_Felix said:
Its a simple question. Would you eat this new planet if it were made of barbecued pork ribs. Just say, "yes" and we'll move on.


Also, does this make it an "M" class planet? And why M? Why halfway through the alphabet? Why not A since this is the main type of planet starfleet should be looking for? or E? as in Earth?
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"A" planets have a restricted list.

Celebrities only.
 
C_Felix said:
Also, does this make it an "M" class planet? And why M? Why halfway through the alphabet? Why not A since this is the main type of planet starfleet should be looking for? or E? as in Earth?
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http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Class_M

During the mid-22nd century, Vulcan science used the term Minshara class for such planets. Vulcans were not able to determine if a planet was Minshara-class through orbital scans, instead sending down probes to collect the necessary data. (ENT: "Strange New World"). In 2151, Starfleet officers were not familiar with the term and Enterprise chose to adopt it. However, by 2154, Starfleet had adopted the term class M. A century later the term was in general use in Starfleet, even though the term "Earth-type" was also occasionally used.
 
An interesting find. Now the challange is to see if we can detect anything about its atmosphere. If we can find one that is relatively unstable, like our own, it would be a strong indication of life--metabolism is one of the few processes that can sustain an unstable condition for long (in a lot of ways, that is what a metabolism is). I know we can detect atmospheric composition, at least at a gross level, on exoplanets, so the next few weeks could be extremely exciting.
 
Orphia Nay said:
Announcement from NASA about an hour ago:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/m/news/news.php?release=2014-119#.U1BtrVXa46Z

:thumbsup:
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"capable of potentially having liquid water on surface" is an insufficient qualifier for any realistic consideration of "habitable zone." Red Dwarf stars in particular are problematic "parent" stars for life as we understand it. They tend to have extended very chaotic youths, "habitable zones" tend to be so close that tidal locking is an expected predominant feature of such systems. given the limited planetary evolution understandings we have for such systems seems to indicate that most of the planets are gas giants or the remnant cores of gas giants which have had their gaseous primary masses eroded away by the hyperactive chaos of their star's extended infancy and childhood. They may make good homes for migrating interstellar populations, but as the cradles for new life, I am not encouraged (in the hunt for ET) by this finding.
 
steve s said:
So this is the first out of how many thousand stars they've looked at. Divide 200 billion by the thousands they've looked at and you'll probably come up with millions of earth-like planets just in our galaxy.

Steve S
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Venus is still the closest to an identical twin, Earth-like planet we've found anywhere in the Universe, so far, and just look how hospitable it is to life.
 
Trakar said:
Venus is still the closest to an identical twin, Earth-like planet we've found anywhere in the Universe, so far, and just look how hospitable it is to life.
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Then there is that moon with liquid water under ice...

There are more things, Horatio.

I get that proving liquid water is problematic. However, the Goldylocks zone is pretty well-defined. And even if we can't prove anything on this planet, it is valuable proof of concept--we can find planets of the right size, in the right place. Now we need to find the right planets. Simply finding this planet is proof that we can do what we set out to do. To say what you did above when we have literally only just begun the search is far too dismissive of the find. Believe me, crap finds are VERY important at the early stages of explorations, as they allow one to refine one's search parameters and to learn what to look for. We've found the eroded scrap of bone in the wash, now we just need to follow it up-slope.
 
Trakar said:
Venus is still the closest to an identical twin, Earth-like planet we've found anywhere in the Universe, so far, and just look how hospitable it is to life.
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So in our solar system it's 1 out of 2. I'll take half of a few million earth-like planets.

Steve S
 
steve s said:
So in our solar system it's 1 out of 2. I'll take half of a few million earth-like planets.

Steve S
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Actually, as far as we can evidence at this point, it is simply 1 out of all. I seriously doubt that this holds as the final word, but asserting that it is inaccurate requires more than just assumed presumption that there "should be" millions of Earth-like worlds that are filled with life in our galaxy. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary supporting evidences,...which at this time do not exist.
 
Brainache said:
I just had an evil thought: What if we convince the US Fundies that there are intelligent beings there who have never heard of Jeebus...?

Would they all start raising more money for NASA to spread the Word to another world?

Raising money for silly things is one job that they seem to be very good at...
Click to expand...


I like it. Those extraterrestrial sinners may never know the glory of being washed in the blood of the lame!
 
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