Earth-like Planet found in the making

theotherguy

theotherguy

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Astronomers have discovered a ring of gas, dust, rocks and water " bang-smack in the middle of the habitable zone" of a planet 424 light years away from here. They speculate that it will form an Earth-like planet in about 100-million years.

A huge ring of warm dust encircling a sun-size star 424 light-years away may well be molded into an Earth-like planet in the next 100 million years, astronomers reported this week. A team that examined infrared light hailing from the star HD 113766 discovered a belt of powdery dust and probably rock?the raw material for a planet?in the star's habitable zone, the sweet spot where water can stay liquid.

The composition of the dust suggests it is also just right for forming a rocky or terrestrial planet instead of a gaseous one, the group reports in a paper set to be published in The Astrophysical Journal. "It's sitting damn, bang-smack in the middle of the habitable zone," says astrophysicist Carey Lisse of Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md., a co-author of the report. "That's really cool," he says, because astronomers have never conclusively sighted a rocky planet forming in this "Goldilocks" zone.
6BB66C08-E7F2-99DF-31D62995B90ADB96_1.jpg
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Scientific American

Pretty cool. Another piece of evidence that our type of planet might not be so uncommon in the universe.
 
Well, if the universe is so infinitely large, wouldn't it be inevitible that there is an earth-like planet like us?
 
Vegeta897 said:
Well, if the universe is so infinitely large, wouldn't it be inevitible that there is an earth-like planet like us?
Click to expand...

Yes, but its still highly unlikely that we'd find something like this so soon.
 
I really am starting to get an interest in astronomy... The funny thing is, I found a beautiful picture of a nebula and put it as my desktop background. Later, I took an interest in it and found out that it was actually the Andromeda galaxy. Here it is: http://hubble.heim.at/images/M031-3_full.jpg

But the one I have is much different, I'll upload it. Sorry if I'm going a little off topic, but... yeah.
 
Vegeta897 said:
Well, if the universe is so infinitely large, wouldn't it be inevitible that there is an earth-like planet like us?
Click to expand...

Infinity is an impossible number to achieve, because it just keeps going on and on. There is still a number even for a near-infinate amount of space. Of course, THERE is an infinate amount of space, which means that space is a paradox.
A very.. VERY confusing paradox.
 
Infinity doesn't need to be "achieved" for my theory to work...

And yes I still know it's awesome that we've actually FOUND something like this. I was just posing a relevant point.
 
There is no way in hell there is no life anywhere else. The universe is so stupidly huge, I just find it impossible that we are the only life. Plus there is the fact that the universe keeps growing..
 
The universe itself keeps growing, but the matter inside it does not. The matter is actually slowly breaking down, and after a few trillion years, there will be nothing left but a thin sheet of electrons.

New stars, however, are still forming from the existing matter, and new planets around them.

I think its entirely feasible that there might be at least a few hundred million planets in the universe capable of supporting life. And, given those numbers I think it to be quite reasonable to assume anywhere from 100-1000 that have achieved intelligent, multicellular life. However, planets, stars, and systems die out at such an incredible rate that any civilization that is able to flourish in the universe is probably destroyed within a few millenia if they do not become a Class II civilization, and move to other planets.

There may be no other intelligent species alive in the universe today besides us, but with the vast number of planets, there may be a few more out there. Even if there weren't, there certainly have been in the past, and will be in the future. Who knows, maybe a few billion years from now, a civilization on that planet we just discovered will look upon our broken and burnt Earth, and wonder if anyone was ever living there.
 
I think we'll be able to terraform another planet (mars) before our planet burns out.


And even with your theory of life burning out at a faster rate then it can live or whatever, I just think the universe is so big that there is always atleast 1 living cell on another planet other then ours at all times, and when that planet dies, there is another to take it's place, I doubt we've ever been alone, even if it is one cell, or an entire civilization. Our life couldn't have been a fluke, there has to be some life, some where else that has the same situation as us, give or take some years of technology (hundreds, thousands, maybe millions). The universe is just too big for us to be alone like that.
 
100 million years. That is just so convenient isn't it.

WAIT!!!! If we were to travel at the speed of light towards that planet, would time have travelled fast enough to reach it just in time for an earth like state or will time slow down? help please..
 
I look forward to owning property there some day.
 
soulslicer said:
100 million years. That is just so convenient isn't it.

WAIT!!!! If we were to travel at the speed of light towards that planet, would time have travelled fast enough to reach it just in time for an earth like state or will time slow down? help please..
Click to expand...

another complicated sounding question.... hah. The whole thought of all this space stuff is becoming very interesting. I have no doubt in my mind that there are other living beings out there. It'll just be quite awhile before any is discovered "publicly".
 
Acepilotf14 said:
Infinity is an impossible number to achieve, because it just keeps going on and on. There is still a number even for a near-infinate amount of space. Of course, THERE is an infinate amount of space, which means that space is a paradox.
A very.. VERY confusing paradox.
Click to expand...

Our universe is most accurately estimated at about 78 billion light years across. This has to do with the rate of expansion and the age of the universe. It could possibly be infinite since we just can't prove it, but that's probably not the case. To our physical bodies, however, the universe is infinite since we can not exist outside of space-time. You'd never be able to leave the universe since there's no future for you there. Much like your inability to leave a black hole's event horizon is due to time (your time) being pulled into the singularity.
 
Once space-travel exceeds the speed of light (yes, I know about relativity and stuff . . . I'm sure there's a way around it), a place like this would make a great deep-space outpost. The resources from it could be harvested and a large society could be built. 424 years is really too long for anything (even if you consider time-compression at near-light-speeds). PRobably also need a way to transfer information faster than light speed too before we consider any serious human exploration beyond this galaxy.
 
We must travel 100 Million years into the future and steal that planet's oil.
 
If the proton has a half life, we're all ****ed.... I think it does.. I can't remember.
 
How can astronomers see something 424 light years away from us?
 
Acepilotf14 said:
Infinity is an impossible number to achieve, because it just keeps going on and on. There is still a number even for a near-infinate amount of space. Of course, THERE is an infinate amount of space, which means that space is a paradox.
A very.. VERY confusing paradox.
Click to expand...
The universe isn't infinite.
 
There's nothing confusing about infinity really, look at a circle for instance, you can infinitely follow the surface around over and over again. Naturally as we do, it's only when you apply finite qualities to something does the concept of inifinity seem weird.

But no our universe can't be infinite, because apparently there was a time it didn't exist as it does, so that implies a finite quality.
 
Awesome discovery. I wish the US citizens would GTFO and start supporting more space stuff. With our current level of technology we could support colonies on Mars, it's just we don't want to seize the day.
 
Cheomesh said:
Awesome discovery. I wish the US citizens would GTFO and start supporting more space stuff. With our current level of technology we could support colonies on Mars, it's just we don't want to seize the day.
Click to expand...

Better to get a moonbase first.

Incidentally, I recall that space isn't infinite, it just curves back on itself. A circle is infinite in length too, that way.
 
phantomdesign said:
Once space-travel exceeds the speed of light (yes, I know about relativity and stuff . . . I'm sure there's a way around it)
Click to expand...

Past the speed of light, bit optimistic aren't we? Maybe if we where all tachyon particles.
 
1-4 billion stars in a galaxy, over a billion galaxies...

nothing surprising
 
phantomdesign said:
Once space-travel exceeds the speed of light (yes, I know about relativity and stuff . . . I'm sure there's a way around it), a place like this would make a great deep-space outpost. The resources from it could be harvested and a large society could be built. 424 years is really too long for anything (even if you consider time-compression at near-light-speeds). PRobably also need a way to transfer information faster than light speed too before we consider any serious human exploration beyond this galaxy.
Click to expand...


Exceeding the speed of light? Never. That's one thing we've been sure of since Einstein dropped his knowledge on us. The speed of light is essentially a cosmic speed limit. Laws of physics do not work past that point, and time is immeasurably out of whack.

I'm seeing a lot of people in this thread just sort of making stuff up. The basic facts are:

We won't fly there. We'll either skip through a wormhole (if they exist) or we probably just won't go at all. Even if we built a ship that could sustain light speed, we'd be dead long before the crew ever got there, even though the trip would seem instantaneous to them.

The universe is possibly infinite, we don't know since we can't see the end. It's probably not though. In fact I'm gonna go ahead and say that I'd bet everything I own that it's not. So it's finite, but since the geometry of time curves, and we can only go in one direction through it, we'll never be able to break out.

For those speculating on the possibility of life on other planets, you have to consider what it takes to become highly intelligent. It takes cooperation and peace. Otherwise you'll kill others and eventually be killed. Many astronomers reluctantly agree that human beings probably will not survive to see a great interstellar journey or communication with other life forms. This is because we're so concerned with ourselves as individuals. Sure, everyone else should get hybrid cars, but I'll keep my rice rocket and shitty pickup truck because I'm too lazy. Or that mother ****er stole my lawn mower, I'll kill him. On a global scale, we have world leaders more concerned with personal beliefs and imposing them on others, causing mass death. Hopefully this is where evolution takes hold and by chance we'll see the greedy, small minded humans die off while the smart, peaceful ones thrive and focus on communication, science, art, space travel, etc. Until we see fundamental changes, we're dead.

Here's a link to the drake equation which at least lends a hand to understanding how rare meaningfully intelligent life would be.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation

I just skimmed over it but I believe that the latest speculation provided by NASA entered into the drake equation in terms of our galaxy is

result in

N = 6 ? 0.5 ? 2 ? 0.33 ? 0.01 ? 0.01 ? 10000 = 2

2 intelligent species.
 
Glo-Boy said:
Exceeding the speed of light? Never. That's one thing we've been sure of since Einstein dropped his knowledge on us. The speed of light is essentially a cosmic speed limit. Laws of physics do not work past that point, and time is immeasurably out of whack.

I'm seeing a lot of people in this thread just sort of making stuff up. The basic facts are:

We won't fly there. We'll either skip through a wormhole (if they exist) or we probably just won't go at all. Even if we built a ship that could sustain light speed, we'd be dead long before the crew ever got there, even though the trip would seem instantaneous to them.

The universe is possibly infinite, we don't know since we can't see the end. It's probably not though. In fact I'm gonna go ahead and say that I'd bet everything I own that it's not. So it's finite, but since the geometry of time curves, and we can only go in one direction through it, we'll never be able to break out.

For those speculating on the possibility of life on other planets, you have to consider what it takes to become highly intelligent. It takes cooperation and peace. Otherwise you'll kill others and eventually be killed. Many astronomers reluctantly agree that human beings probably will not survive to see a great interstellar journey or communication with other life forms. This is because we're so concerned with ourselves as individuals. Sure, everyone else should get hybrid cars, but I'll keep my rice rocket and shitty pickup truck because I'm too lazy. Or that mother ****er stole my lawn mower, I'll kill him. On a global scale, we have world leaders more concerned with personal beliefs and imposing them on others, causing mass death. Hopefully this is where evolution takes hold and by chance we'll see the greedy, small minded humans die off while the smart, peaceful ones thrive and focus on communication, science, art, space travel, etc. Until we see fundamental changes, we're dead.

Here's a link to the drake equation which at least lends a hand to understanding how rare meaningfully intelligent life would be.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation

I just skimmed over it but I believe that the latest speculation provided by NASA entered into the drake equation in terms of our galaxy is

result in

N = 6 ? 0.5 ? 2 ? 0.33 ? 0.01 ? 0.01 ? 10000 = 2

2 intelligent species.
Click to expand...

Actually in the 1960's, drake came up with a number in the thousands.
But that was then adjusted to 10.

Today those numbers might come out to around 2 I suppose.
 
I'm not going to attempt to read that, but did all that factor in all the other billion+ galaxies?
 
Well I'm pretty sure there are other "life forms" out there, even if we cannot recognize them.

Remember what Breen saw! "...carbon stars with ancient satellites colonized by sentient fungi. Gas giants inhabited by vast meteorological intelligences. Worlds stretched thin across the membranes where dimensions intersect... "

Check out the book "Solaris" some time. It's about where we travel to a planet totally covered by an ocean. We study this ocean, not realizing until later that the ocean WAS the intelligent life form we thought didn't exist on the planet. We could not, however, communicate -- it was as intelligent as we where, but our "ways" of "thinking" where so different, so ALIEN, that there was no possible "Rosetta Stone" that you see in other Sci-Fi's.
 
The ocean thing reminds me of a Discovery Channel special called 'Alien Planet' It's really cool, everyone should watch it. It's about how we send probes to another planet with life on it, and the only ocean on the planet is goo, because it's basically alive (it's a bunch of single cells that work together to digest/hunt/etc).
 
Our biggest chance of ever discovering life on another planet or moon would've been if they existed in our own solar system. If the Moon had had an atmosphere it's not impossible that it would've contained life. How cool wouldn't that have been?
 
hehe i knew that this would happen
i bet that there are millions of planets like ours in the universe
 
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