NASA "Scores of Earth-like planets"

[VirusType2]

Scores of Earth-like planets orbit sun-like stars scattered throughout the Milky Way, NASA scientists said today. This morning, the agency released data on more than 1,000 new exoplanets, and early indications are that 54 of them are at just the right distance from their stars to harbor life as we know it.

Today’s results more than double the exoplanet-candidate population, bringing the number of planet candidates identified by Kepler to 1,235.

"The fact that we've found so many planet candidates in such a tiny fraction of the sky suggests there are countless planets orbiting sun-like stars in our galaxy,"

NASA said today that 54 planet candidates are in their stars’ Goldilocks zones — not too hot, not too cold, not too far, not too old — which means they might have liquid water, and therefore a key ingredient for life. Of those 54, five are near the size of Earth. Pretty stunning news when you think about it: In one tiny slice of the sky, scientists have found five other planets that may very well resemble our own.

http://www.popsci.com/science/artic...ornucopia-more-doubling-current-cosmic-census

 

[<RJMC>]

so how many thousands years till a telescope could get a glimpse of the surface?

 

[Remus]

The fact that there are so many planets with the potential to harbor life as we know it, makes the mistery why the sky's so silent that much bigger.
Perhaps the evolution of inteligent, self aware life forms that are also capable of developing technology, is extremely rare.

 

[ríomhaire]

God damn it NASA invent FTL travel!

Like, right now:angry:

 

[VirusType2]

The fact that there are so many planets with the potential to harbor life as we know it, makes the mistery why the sky's so silent that much bigger.
Perhaps the evolution of inteligent, self aware life forms that are also capable of developing technology, is extremely rare.

That's almost exactly what crossed my mind as I read this. It's a good thing really... there is no guarantee that an alien race would be good shepherds of the human race. At least humans have the capacity.

 

[Maestro]

so how many thousands years till a telescope could get a glimpse of the surface?

My question exactly.

 

[Sheepo]

The fact that there are so many planets with the potential to harbor life as we know it, makes the mistery why the sky's so silent that much bigger.
Perhaps the evolution of inteligent, self aware life forms that are also capable of developing technology, is extremely rare.

a) Space is really ****ing big.

b) Since we've not developed any way to contact life forms that aren't based pretty much on blind luck, if we're to judge them by our own efforts, the likelihood of mutual contact is like a bullet hitting another bullet. In space.

 

[Krynn72]

Perhaps the evolution of inteligent, self aware life forms that are also capable of developing technology, is extremely rare.

Uh, yeah no shit. Plus the universe is like, you know, kinda big. Thats not to mention that if the Big Bang theory is true, then its not unlikely that many of the planets capable of sustaining life are roughly the same age (considering the age of the universe, "roughly the same" is a rather broad phrasing) which in turn would mean that, given the time needed to evolve a highly intelligent lifeform, we might be evolving and maturing at roughly the same time as other lifeforms. Who then may be looking out into the stars and getting a glimpse of our solar system, thinking to themselves, "I wonder if theres life on any of those planets," and "how come nobody visited our planet yet? :sadface:"

 

[MJ12]

One day we're going to find out that we were the most advanced race in the universe all a long. Then u gunna feel sad.

 

[Remus]

One day we're going to find out that we were the most advanced race in the universe all a long. Then u gunna feel sad.

That's what I think is most likely TBH. Well maybe not in the entire universe, but probably in this galaxy.

What's so sad about that? Masters of the ****ing universe bitches!

 

[Dan]

Somebody's gotta be the first to go around planting conspiracies on the other planets. Might as well be us.

 

[Krynn72]

We'll have been worrying about alien invasions for so long, that when we finally discover another intelligent lifeform, we'll be so suspicious of them that we'll invade their planet and kill them all, just in case.

 

[Remus]

Somebody's gotta be the first to go around planting conspiracies on the other planets. Might as well be us.

I iz in ur skiez ubducting ur pipz for teh lulz.

 

[MJ12]

What's so sad about that? Masters of the ****ing universe bitches!

Imagine if you grew up in a community of nothing but white-trash evangelicals, and all you thought about was "Man, I bet outside my town there are a lot of cool open minded people who do not smell". One day you leave your town, and you find that there is nothing, and your town of trailer-trash evangelicals was as good as it was going to get.

 

[Remus]

Imagine if you grew up in a community of nothing but white-trash evangelicals, and all you thought about was "Man, I bet outside my town there are a lot of cool open minded people who do not smell". One day you leave your town, and you find that there is nothing, and your town of trailer-trash evangelicals was as good as it was going to get.

Except that's not the case at all. There are plenty of open minded, cool people right here on Earth. Yes, the painfully stupid still make up the majority, but I'm optimistc, I think things will change.

 

[Sheepo]

Except that's not the case at all. There are plenty of open minded, cool people right here on Earth. Yes, the painfully stupid still make up the majority, but I'm optimistc, I think things will change.

Well the point is really that the universe can only ever offer disappointment. I don't think he was really trying to trash talk Earth so much, though I'm sure he means it to some degree.

 

[Maestro]

I'm pretty sure the first alien race we run into is going to result in horrible social gaffes, like impaling each other with probosces is a greeting on their planet, or shaking hands is poisonous to them.

 

[Sheepo]

Nothing to see here.

 

[Mogi67]

So where are all the ****in ewoks

 

[McGooTheWise]

I bet we'll get an upgraded lens in that Hubble Telescope, and zoom right in on an alien's ass who has evolved past the need for clothes, and censorship.

 

[Remus]

I bet we'll get an upgraded lens in that Hubble Telescope, and zoom right in on an alien's ass who has evolved past the need for clothes, and censorship.

Hahah, this reminds me of that episode from Dexter's laboratory where he builds this high tech telescope, cranks it up to full zoom and he sees an alien watching a black and white western on an antique TV.

 

[VirusType2]

Uh, yeah no shit. Plus the universe is like, you know, kinda big. Thats not to mention that if the Big Bang theory is true, then its not unlikely that many of the planets capable of sustaining life are roughly the same age (considering the age of the universe, "roughly the same" is a rather broad phrasing) which in turn would mean that, given the time needed to evolve a highly intelligent lifeform, we might be evolving and maturing at roughly the same time as other lifeforms. Who then may be looking out into the stars and getting a glimpse of our solar system, thinking to themselves, "I wonder if theres life on any of those planets," and "how come nobody visited our planet yet? :sadface:"

I'm almost positive Steven Hawking said something similar last year, and we were all like "No shit". But I think people keep saying it because it becomes more clear all the time.

We have long known that technologically advanced species are going to be rare; even out of the billions of life forms (that live or have lived) on Earth, humans (and our ancestors) are the only ones capable of any sort of technology. Many thought [or still think] life itself is an extremely rare anomaly of the universe, so as for technologically advanced life, you could forget about it.

But now that we realize -- in the tiny fraction of space that Kepler has studied -- we've already found 54 exoplanets that could be ideal for harboring life, it becomes more clear.

The findings are based on the results of observations conducted May 12 to Sept. 17, 2009 of more than 156,000 stars in Kepler’s field of view, which covers approximately 1/400 of the sky.

"Kepler can find only a small fraction of the planets around the stars it looks at because the orbits aren’t aligned properly. If you account for those two factors, our results indicate there must be millions of planets orbiting the stars that surround our sun."

"Kepler is providing data 100 times better than anyone has ever done before"

 

[Tyguy]

One day we're going to find out that we were the most advanced race in the universe all a long. Then u gunna feel sad.

That would be very depressing but I prefer to believe that there is a federation of civilizations which only make contact if the species in question are worthy of learning the secrets of the universe. Pretend you're part of a selection committee...would you even think twice about making contact with a species that kills itself and allows the majority of the world to live in poverty. They are also so primitive as to still worship gods. I think i'd check the "Check back in 1,000 years" box.

 

[Krynn72]

Man, you guys are stupid. Even if we're the smartest there is (fat chance) it would still be amazing to find other life forms. I can just imagine you guys having children, and having one born with autism and go "man, thats lame. This totally ruined the experience for me."

 

[MJ12]

I don't want to meet aliens with autism, you wanna meet autistic aliens? Have fun man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDMMwG7RrFQ

 

[Bad^Hat]

I can just imagine finding our first single-cell organisms. Nurturing their development without interfering too much with the natural order of things. Calculating the time it'll take them to evolve complex bodies and sentient intelligence.

Then go back a few thousands years later and build them some pyramids.

 

[VirusType2]

I can just imagine finding our first single-cell organisms. Nurturing their development without interfering too much with the natural order of things. Calculating the time it'll take them to evolve complex bodies and sentient intelligence.

Then go back a few thousands years later and build them some pyramids.

**** yeah. Like, what if we found evidence that humans were more advanced in the past, or that we came from another planet at some point. I always found these ideas very fascinating.

 

[Tyguy]

Then go back a few thousands years later and build them some pyramids.

I've always found it annoying that the construction of the Giza pyramid is still considered one of the "wonders" of the world. Slaves are capable or marvelous feats when threatened with a painful death. I'd like to see us find a lesser evolved civilization and build a Starbucks as a temple. Wifi accessible.

 

[Insano]

**** yeah. Like, what if we found evidence that humans were more advanced in the past, or that we came from another planet at some point. I always found these ideas very fascinating.

You should watch Stargate SG1/Atlantis then

 

[Remus]

You should watch Battlestar Galactica then

Fixed.

 

[VirusType2]

I saw some movie where they found a space ship crashed in the ocean or something, and it was from another time - from the past. It was obviously a space craft from Earth - maybe the US

... ring any bells?

It was a long time ago, mid-nineties, but I'll never forget that idea.

 

[Remus]

I saw some movie where they found a space ship crashed in the ocean or something, and it was from another time - from the past. It was obviously a space craft from Earth - maybe the US

... ring any bells?

It was a long time ago, mid-nineties, but I'll never forget that idea.

The movie is called "Sphere".

And it's a US spaceship from the future that recoveres the alien artifact (the sphere) then an "unknown event' occurs that sends it back milions of years back through time.

 

[VirusType2]

Wow. Great, thanks. I'm going to have to see that one again.

 

[JUL3]

What would these aliens look like?

 

[VirusType2]

I think most likely it would be similar to archaea, viral, or some other microbial shit. Not just because evolution started with simple life (thereby increasing the chances of finding it on a young planet), but also because it seems to most easily thrive. We find it in thriving in extremely hot temperatures (hot enough to kill most anything) and extremely cold temperatures (ice).

 

[ríomhaire]

I've always found it annoying that the construction of the Giza pyramid is still considered one of the "wonders" of the world. Slaves are capable or marvelous feats when threatened with a painful death. I'd like to see us find a lesser evolved civilization and build a Starbucks as a temple. Wifi accessible.

Don't historians now think the pyramids were build mainly by farmers who were paid to do the work while the fields were flooded by the Nile?

If we end up on a planet with intelligent life, I just hope no one from either planet is stupid enough to offer the other food.

 

[Tyguy]

I believe Giza was built by slaves (didn't have a clue, I wiki'd it) but as far as the rest I have no idea. (too lazy to wiki the rest)

 

[VirusType2]

I heard recently that they now think that there were competitions between large groups of workers (teams), and the workers were well fed and appreciated, especially the winners. They suggested it was the best job available for a capable person at the time. A far cry from slave driven work. But we don't really know.

 

[No Limit]

so how many thousands years till a telescope could get a glimpse of the surface?

Nasa had a really cool mission planned using something called nulling interferometry which blocks out the light from a solar system's star to see direct images of planets, unfortunately due to funding cuts it got postponed indefinitely:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrestrial_Planet_Finder

The keck observatory does this to some extent but since it's a earth bound telescope what it can do is limited.

So I don't think it will be thousands of years, if we can get funding then maybe a few decades.

 

[CptStern]

This morning, the agency released data on more than 1,000 new exoplanets, and early indications are that 54 of them are at just the right distance from their stars to harbor life as we know it.

it'll be harder for certain religions to continue pushing the idea that we are the center of the universe. it's a wonder they still hold on to their convictions despite the mountain of evidence that completely contradicts pretty much their entire belief system. at this point it's not longer a case of faith but willful ignorance