Recently I read an article about a planet that might be hospitable to life. It is an Earth-like planet that seems likely to have water and a temperature that supports life. It is in another solar system though--too far away to travel to in a lifetime. This article made me think of Pale Blue Dot. I love thinking about life elsewhere! Besides, we might need another planet to call home. I look forward to hearing more about this new planet. I can't remember where I read the article, but if anyone has a link to it, feel free to post it. Also, if you hear anything more about it, post it here too.
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Another habitable planet?
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Another habitable planet? |
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Posts: 1052 05/02/07 15:23:37 Moderator |
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riverc0il |
Re: Another habitable planet? | #1 | ||
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Posts: 447 05/02/07 20:25:56 Witty&Wise |
I recall reading about this story. I first noticed on the front page of the USA Today in nice big headlines in a side column section, seemed like pretty big news. At least until you noted that the planet in question is hundreds of light years away. Light years. Think about that for a second! While these explorations of far away systems are scientifically valid and interesting, I don't put much (any) weight on the thought of the human race getting off this rock before we burn it out.
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Frank 013 |
Re: Another habitable planet? | #2 | ||
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Indisputable BookTalk Master
Posts: 1457 05/02/07 20:34:58 Moderator |
I saw that article on yahoo news. It is extremely exciting (especially for us sci-fi geeks) and may be an example of just how commonplace habitable planets may be; it is only 21 light years away, which is incredibly close in galactic terms.
For 2 planets to be in the habitable zone in two different solar systems so close together seemed very unlikely not very long ago. But for the record it might not actually be habitable, there is no evidence of water as yet and its gravity is 1.6 that of Earths, Just walking on the surface would be a workout for most people. This new planet is also in orbit of a red dwarf star and we don't really know all of the effects that that might have on humans yet. Aside from that, the temperature looks promising and the gravity is sufficient to house a thick enough atmosphere to sustain life as we understand it. Its discovery is a giant step to understanding our galaxy and this new planet defiantly demands more study. At the very least it looks to be a good prospect for teraforming (assuming that we ever achieve that capability). Later |
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Frank 013 |
Re: Another habitable planet? | #3 | ||
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Indisputable BookTalk Master
Posts: 1457 05/08/07 13:10:11 Moderator |
I just want to make a quick correction on the distance of this newly discovered planet.
Quote: abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=sci_tech&id=5241780 Later Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well
preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting..."Holy Crap...what a ride!" |
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Chris OConnor |
Re: Another habitable planet? | #4 | ||
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Indisputable BookTalk Master
Posts: 9504 05/15/07 23:52:57 BookTalk Owner |
This is indeed exciting news. My biggest cosmological fantasy is that we'll figure out a way to terraform Mars. Our destiny lies with Mars.
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- Member Introductions & Journals
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- Science, Nature & Technology
- General Discussion & Miscellaneous Topics
- Book Suggestions, Polls, & Reviews
- Additional Book Discussions
- Godless in America: Conversations With an Atheist - by George A. Ricker
- Interventions - by Noam Chomsky
- Religious Expression and the American Constitution - by Franklyn S. Haiman
- Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future - by Bill McKibben
- The God Delusion - by Richard Dawkins
- The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal - by Jared Diamond
- The Woman in the Dunes - by Abe Kobo
- Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction - by Eugenie Scott
- The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals - by Michael Pollan
- I, Claudius: From the Autobiography of Tiberius Claudius, Born 10 B.C., Murdered and Deified A.D. 54 - by Robert Graves
- Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon - by Daniel Dennett
- A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East - by David Fromkin
- The Time Traveler's Wife - by Audrey Niffenegger
- The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason - by Sam Harris
- Ender's Game - by Orson Scott Card
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - by Mark Haddon
- Value & Virtue in a Godless Universe - by Erik J. Wielenberg
- The March: A Novel - by E.L. Doctorow
- The Ethical Brain - by Michael Gazzaniga
- Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism - by Susan Jacoby
- Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed - by Jared Diamond
- The Battle for God - by Karen Armstrong
- The Future of Life - by Edward O. Wilson
- What is Good? The Search for the Best Way to Live - by A.C. Grayling
- Civilization and It's Enemies: The Next Stage of History - by Lee Harris
- Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space - by Carl Sagan
- How We Believe: Science, Skepticism, and the Search for God - by Michael Shermer
- Looking For Spinoza: Joy, Sorrow, and the Feeling Brain - by Antonio Damasio
- Lies (And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them): A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right - by Al Franken
- The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature - by Matt Ridley
- The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature - by Stephen Pinker
- Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder - by Richard Dawkins
- Atheism: A Reader - edited by S. T. Joshi
- Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century - by Howard Bloom
- The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History - by Howard Bloom
- Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies - by Jared Diamond
- Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark - by Carl Sagan
- Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West - by Dee Alexander Brown
- Future Shock - by Alvin Toffler
