Superearths orbit nearby stars...

[Dense]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8414476.stm

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...system-spl.jpg


The discovery of potentially habitable nearby worlds may be just a few years away
Steven Vogt
University of California, Santa Cruz

Planet-hunters have discovered two "super-Earths" orbiting two nearby Sun-like stars.
These rocky planets are larger than the Earth but much smaller than ice giants such as Uranus and Neptune.
Scientists say the discoveries are a step towards finding potentially habitable planets - smaller planets that are comparable to the Earth.
Details of the new planets are described in two papers in the Astrophysical Journal.
Two US-based scientists led the international research effort - Paul Butler from the Carnegie Institution's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism in Washington and Steven Vogt of the University of California, Santa Cruz.
They combined several years' worth of data from the W M Keck Observatory in Hawaii, and the Anglo-Australian Telescope in New South Wales, Australia.

By detecting the subtle "wobbling" of the stars, caused by the gravitational tug of orbiting planets, the researchers were able to determine each planet's size and orbit.
The scientists saw evidence of three of these "low-mass planets" orbiting a star called 61 Virginis, which is just 28 light-years from Earth and is visible with the naked eye in the constellation of Virgo.
The smallest of the three was five times the mass of Earth, and orbited the star once every four days.
Dr Butler said that the signal produced by this planet was one of the smallest ever detected.
"One has to be very cautious when you claim a discovery," he said. "What gives us confidence is that we see the signal from two separate telescopes, and the two signals match up perfectly."
The other newly-discovered system was orbiting the star HD 1461, which is 76 light-years from Earth. The researchers found clear evidence for a planet 7.5 times the mass of Earth, and possible indications of two others.
Both stars resemble our Sun in size and age.
The planets have orbits too close to their stars to support life or liquid water. But, according to Dr Butler, they point the way toward finding other planets in similar orbits around nearby "M-dwarfs" - stars that are typically less than half the mass of the Sun.
"These sorts of planets around M-dwarfs actually would be in a liquid water zone," he said. "So we are knocking on the door right now of being able to find habitable planets."
Professor Vogt said: "These detections indicate that low-mass planets are quite common around nearby stars.
"The discovery of potentially habitable nearby worlds may be just a few years away."

[Kurp]

We finally found Kobol, soon the path to Caprica will be revealed!

[Cephius]

I wish I lived in the future, Earth is so 2000s

[aduidarnenye]

It amazes me that scientists can figure this shit out by the wobble of stars. I can't find my keys but they can find this! I'm impressed.

[Izzy]

Funny this was just posted today. There was a 1 hour show on Discovery last night about this exact thing and how the scientists discovered the wobble. They interviewed them etc. etc.

[Jodwahh]

It amazes me that scientists can figure this shit out by the wobble of stars. I can't find my keys but they can find this! I'm impressed.

http://www.otherlandtoys.co.uk/sonic...ng-p-1345.html

Problem solved, now focus on finding me some alien bitches to fuck please.

[Woozie]

The only problem with using the wobble of a star to detect planets is that in order for the wobble to be detectable, the planet has to be HEUG and/or insanely close to the star (like how one of the planets orbits the star in four days). It's going to be ridiculously hard to find terrestrial planets that could have water on them as long as we keep using this technique.

[Mizango]

It amazes me that scientists can figure this shit out by the wobble of stars.

We can use the wobble but we also use a cool technique called gravitational microlensing that lets us postulate an objects mass and/or distance from its parent star no matter how bright the afore mentioned parent star is. We used to have to look for stars like our Sun and wait to see if object transited the star at certain intervals and if it followed a specific path in order to determine if it was a planets of just a passing body.

There are lots of neat techniques to finding exo-planets, but these are some of the coolest yes. If you know how gravity works and can use it in any advantageous form then you are already 3 steps ahead of the curve. I cant wait until the Kepler satellite shoots back tons and tons of images from habitable zones in other galaxies

I posted this on my FB page the other day, it's funny how arrogant we are to assume that for all this time we had this privileged right to exist and that the idea of life and other habitable planets was sooo far fetched that the only logical answer for our species and every other species out there was due to magic. We are finding out new things about the Universe in leaps and bounds with each passing day, I personally find it hard to not spam my FB page or the LHC thread every single day with all the new Cosmological finding that come to light every day.

[wop]

How does Xenu fit into all these then?!!!!

[Mizango]

The only problem with using the wobble of a star to detect planets is that in order for the wobble to be detectable, the planet has to be HEUG and/or insanely close to the star (like how one of the planets orbits the star in four days). It's going to be ridiculously hard to find terrestrial planets that could have water on them as long as we keep using this technique.

Exactly Woozie, having to rely on gravity to detect a planet certainly has its draw backs. This is why I am so excited about Kepler, we dont have to worry about finding all these super Earths and these massive gas giants that are 100x Jupiters mass that orbit their star as close as Mercury does in out system.

With Kepler out there we can find habitable zones and planets many times smaller than those as well as some that lie outside the reach of its parents star's tug.

[Cephius]

I posted this on my FB page the other day, it's funny how arrogant we are to assume that for all this time we had this privileged right to exist and that the idea of life and other habitable planets was sooo far fetched that the only logical answer for our species and every other species out there was due to magic. We are finding out new things about the Universe in leaps and bounds with each passing day, I personally find it hard to not spam my FB page or the LHC thread every single day with all the new Cosmological finding that come to light every day.

Whoever said it was magic! Unless you're referring to God and our divine right to exist blah blah blah.

I would think there's a habitable planet out there that contains some sort of life on it, but unfortunately the likelyhood of them A) being close enough for us to observe B) technologically/biologically advanced enough to communicate or travel is incredibly small

That's why I want to live in the future! Galactic civilizations would be so cool

[Woozie]

Exactly Woozie, having to rely on gravity to detect a planet certainly has its draw backs. This is why I am so excited about Kepler, we dont have to worry about finding all these super Earths and these massive gas giants that are 100x Jupiters mass that orbit their star as close as Mercury does in out system.

With Kepler out there we can find habitable zones and planets many times smaller than those as well as some that lie outside the reach of its parents star's tug.

Kepler is one of the most awesome projects NASA every launched. It's probably the only thing we've ever done that can realistically detect Earths.

Edit: No wait, bombing the moon was more awesome because we bombed the freakin moon and that just sounds awesome (even though there were no actual bombs afaik).

[Takedown3]

future ftw

[tyven]

i hope there is a planet with blue people and i can go hunt them with a mech

[Acturus]

Funny this was just posted today. There was a 1 hour show on Discovery last night about this exact thing and how the scientists discovered the wobble. They interviewed them etc. etc.

If it makes you feel better, scientists this smart probably can't find their keys either.

[Mizango]

Whoever said it was magic! Unless you're referring to God and our divine right to exist blah blah blah.

I would think there's a habitable planet out there that contains some sort of life on it, but unfortunately the likelyhood of them A) being close enough for us to observe B) technologically/biologically advanced enough to communicate or travel is incredibly small

That's why I want to live in the future! Galactic civilizations would be so cool

I'd love to go to the future too QQ We could always get rich and fund Dr. Ronald Mallett's time travel research, that brother's got SKILLZ.

As far as the other civilization thing goes you are 100% correct. Being close enough to observe and see them would be a huge issue and hurdle to overcome. Communication would be a MAJOR hurdle that would be lul worthy at best.

Here is a chart that shows where in space some of history's most famous radio/television broadcasts are located:

Spoiler: show

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y15...o/alientv2.jpg

Communication would be a pain to say the least considering we would be dead by time any message would get back to us.

[Mizango]

Kepler is one of the most awesome projects NASA every launched. It's probably the only thing we've ever done that can realistically detect Earths.

Edit: No wait, bombing the moon was more awesome because we bombed the freakin moon and that just sounds awesome (even though there were no actual bombs afaik).

lol

If it makes you feel better, scientists this smart probably can't find their keys either.

^

[Woozie]

Here is a chart that shows where in space some of history's most famous radio/television broadcasts are located:

Spoiler: show

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y15...o/alientv2.jpg

Communication would be a pain to say the least considering we would be dead by time any message would get back to us.

Actually, our TV shows never reach any star other than the sun. It turns out, our signals decay within a light year or two.

I'm trying to find a better source for this, but so far this is the best I can find

By now, little evidence is left of mankind. Even our radio and television signals that were beamed into space, and once thought to traverse for hundreds of light years, will have faded to unrecognizable static at close to two light years and not even reach our closest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Af...tion_timetable

[Mizango]

Life after people is interesting indeed. Yeah but hypothetical communication scenarios are fun, imagine if Betelgeuse had civilizations.

[Woozie]

Life after people is interesting indeed. Yeah but hypothetical communication scenarios are fun, imagine if Betelgeuse had civilizations.

Yeah, it would be awesome to be able to just turn on the TV and watch Alien Sports and music videos, and maybe their own jack bauer. I think we'd learn more about them and their culture by watching their entertainment shows than by hearing a message they sent directly for Earth for the sake of communication.

It's kind of like with us, they'll learn more about us watching our entertainment shows than by talking to us. Because if we send a message through space to them, it's going to be "We come in peace. We are a welcoming successful society who would like to blah blah blah". We'd only tell them the good stuff, and not the weird,the bad, or the ugly. But if they look at our movies and soap operas and sitcoms, etc, they'd get an idea of how we really live based on the type of stuff we like to do. That's assuming they recognize what's fiction and whats not. I would hope they wouldn't watch the transformers movie or star wars or something and think it's anything but fiction lol

Also

But if aliens can watch our television, there might be a problem. Astronomer Carl Sagan, in his book Contact, suggested the first high-powered television broadcast the aliens would have picked up would be Hitler's broadcasts at the Nuremburg rallies.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7544915.stm