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NASA finds planets aplenty


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WASHINGTON – NASA's planet-hunting telescope is finding whole new worlds of possibilities in the search for alien life. An early report from a cosmic census indicates that relatively small planets and stable multi-planet systems are far more plentiful than previous searches showed.

NASA released new data Wednesday from its Kepler telescope on more than 1,000 possible new planets outside our solar system — more than doubling the count of what astronomers call exoplanets.They haven't been confirmed as planets yet, but some astronomers estimate that 90 percent of what Kepler has found will eventually be verified.

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I cant wait until the Busses start to Leave for the Tours ! I`ll bring the B.B.Q ! :rolleyes:

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Take all the time you need...it's never going to happen.

We are quite alone.

Your confusion lays in the fact you believe probability MUST dictate that there is more life in a vast Universe.But you can keep throwing red socks into a bag but your only ever going to draw red socks from it.

If nothing is there...wishfull thinking won't suffice

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Take all the time you need...it's never going to happen.

We are quite alone.

Your confusion lays in the fact you believe probability MUST dictate that there is more life in a vast Universe.But you can keep throwing red socks into a bag but your only ever going to draw red socks from it.

If nothing is there...wishfull thinking won't suffice

What makes you think we are alone?

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@ philbo

whilst I respect your opinion I think you'll be proved wrong within our lifetime and at the speed things are moving along currently probably well within a decade.

Primitive life will be abundant in the universe of that I have no doubt. Advanced biological life is going to be far rarer.

We now have the tools to prove your belief to be wrong and it's already happening with Extrasolar planets being discovered daily. It is now imminent that an extrasolar planet will scientifically proven to be in a 'goldilocks zone' making it pretty much inevitable that they will be biologically alive. Evidence of microbial life on either mars or on one of the satellites of our gas giants will quickly follow.

It will change everything but we are ready, I for one cannot wait to be one of those to say 'I told you so'.

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Its not confusion, its common sense. I know the Bible says one thing, and thats fine, but Im going with the scientists and good old fassioned common sense on this one.

Edited by Evilution13
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I think there is a very high probability that life (carbon based organic life forms that needs liquid water to exist) does exist on other planets than Earth.

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It is now imminent that an extrasolar planet will scientifically proven to be in a 'goldilocks zone' making it pretty much inevitable that they will be biologically alive.

Inevitable?

It took almost a billion years worth of chances for life to get started on our planet. What makes it so inevitable?

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Inevitable?

It took almost a billion years worth of chances for life to get started on our planet. What makes it so inevitable?

Well for a start the Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old and as the universe is 10 billion years older than that you can multiply your 'billion years' by 14 for a start.

Edited by WelshRed
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And what makes you think that other planets haven't had a one billion year head start on life before we did?

So what if they did?

Well for a start the Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old and as the universe is 10 billion years older than that you can multiply your 'billion years' comment by a factor of 14 for a start.

Not good at math. How does it become a factor of 14?

More to the point, if life on Earth was so difficult to come by that it took a billion years for the right set of circumstances to come together, how does 1 in a billion translate to "inevitable?"

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Take all the time you need...it's never going to happen.

We are quite alone.

And you know this how exactly?

The Universe is big...really, really big, bigger than big actually. Hell, the Universe is vast. And, in all of that vastness there's no other life, anywhere? Now, perhaps we'll never be able to travel to where there's other life, so in one respect that would make us "alone". However, the odds of there being no other life anywhere is pretty low since the building blocks for life exist elsewhere in the cosmos.

See Space.com article here.

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Awesome reply. You are quite the debater.

Thank you. I have been at this for a while. Since you are new here, here's a tip: Try and make sure any reply you make either requests more information, opens a new line of inquiry, or addresses a given point. Replies that do not contribute any new information or fail to address a counter are generally worthless, and replies that do nothing more than address the person rather than the argument rapidly lower your credibility (and tend to quickly degenerate to ad homs).

See if you can fill out your reply. Obviously, I do not seem to believe that mere age is sufficient to guarantee the development of life on a planet, Goldilocks or otherwise. If you contend that age is most definitely indicative of the inevitability of life, explain why. Support your claim.

Edited by aquatus1
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@ aquatus1

I have added you to my 'I told you so' mailing list. I'll be in touch.

You do realize that the discovery of life will not, in and of itself, necessarily support your claim of inevitability, right?

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...More to the point, if life on Earth was so difficult to come by that it took a billion years for the right set of circumstances to come together, how does 1 in a billion translate to "inevitable?"

Well, the Universe is estimated to be apx. 13.5 to 14 billion years old. The number of stars in the visible Universe is now estimated to be 300 sextillion, or 3 trillion times 100 billion. That gives us, dare I say, considerable opportunity and time for life to have arisen elsewhere.

However, the bottom line is that nobody really knows for sure either way. We can pull up odds all we want, but that only gets us back to square one...nobody really knows for sure.

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I asked a question; isn't that requesting information? That sort of makes your whole "newbie tip" speech void. Nice try at trying to belittle me, though. Have a gold star for your effort.

I did not see aquatus as attempting to "belittle" you at all. Debate involves a rather specific mind set...aquatus was simply pointing that out.

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I asked a question; isn't that requesting information?

"Awesome reply. You are quite the debater." is not a question

That sort of makes your whole "newbie tip" speech void. Nice try at trying to belittle me, though. Have a gold star for your effort.

There is no need to be sore, Pulsar. You simply tried to use sarcasm on someone much better at it than yourself and lost. Simply learn from it and move on. This is a discussion forum; if you aren't having a fun debate, then really, what's the point?

The support of my claim lies within everything you see today. Life has happened here on Earth, so what makes you think life hasn't evolved elsewhere? Like someone has just mentioned, the universe is huge. So huge that the human mind can't comprehend its size. It'd be common sense to believe that life exists outside our solar system. Of the many billions of galaxies out there, there has to be some miniscule chance of a solar system just like ours. It's just a matter of time and technology before we find one. Whether the planet(s) within a solar system have microbial life, or, like I said earlier, a far more advanced life form (if they've had a billion year head-start), exist, is something we'll just have to wait and see.

I agree with almost everything you said. In fact, I agree with everything except for that very first line. I do not believe that the existence of life on Earth in any way indicates that given the same circumstances, life is inevitable anywhere else.

Edited by aquatus1
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Well, the Universe is estimated to be apx. 13.5 to 14 billion years old. The number of stars in the visible Universe is now estimated to be 300 sextillion, or 3 trillion times 100 billion. That gives us, dare I say, considerable opportunity and time for life to have arisen elsewhere.

However, the bottom line is that nobody really knows for sure either way. We can pull up odds all we want, but that only gets us back to square one...nobody really knows for sure.

Ahh, therein the rub! That is right on the nose there! Indeed, we have so little knowledge on the matter...it is amazing how easy it is too forget that, with the immense size of the universe, with the unimaginable vastness and sheer awesomeness that we simply cannot imagine it with any sort of justice...we forget how utterly little we know, even of our own insignificant little speck of a planet, even of the life we deal with daily here on Earth...

We forget that even to claim that life exists outside of the universe is a guess, and not even a best guess at that. To claim that life is inevitable is downright arrogant. One must not be so close-minded as to rule out the very distinct possibility that we may well be the first ones here.

After all, someone had to be first...why not us?

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After all, someone had to be first...why not us?

Indeed, we could be a bit of an abberation, a cosmic 'Oops' that resulted in this thing called life. Or, we could be just one of many planets with complex eco-systems. There might also be plentiful life, but we might be the only sentient/intelligent life to have developed. Right now all possibilities are on the table.

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Don't try and give yourself credit for something you're clearly not good at.

:rolleyes:

Very well, I admit that I haven't any talent at sarcasm at all, and that you have clearly shown yourself to be the master of the subtle art of wordplay and good sportsmanship here. I bow to your superior abilities, and pass on any credit I may have gleaned to you.

Moving on...

Can you support that claim?

Well, I would say that our utter lack of knowledge regarding exactly what circumstances lead to the rise of life on Earth certainly would indicate that claiming inevitability is somewhat premature. After all, we only have a handful of theories regarding our own planet, and even those rely on certain assumptions which any scientist in the field of abiogenesis will admit we simply do not have full knowledge off.

As I mentioned in my reply to Lilly, we are still so new at all this, we still know so little, that to make such a bold claim that, based on an incomplete understanding of our planet, we can claim that the rest of the universe shall follow suit (given proper circumstances, of course), is simply wishful thinking at best, arrogance at worst.

The most logical course of action is cautious optimism, with acceptance that we may well be wrong.

I still like the idea that we are the first ones. Imagine it! We have the entire universe to play in!

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...I still like the idea that we are the first ones. Imagine it! We have the entire universe to play in!

Yeah, but nobody else to play with. :cry:

I personally hope there's someone else, just so they aren't hostile. :unsure2: Hostile would not be good.

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Inevitable?

It took almost a billion years worth of chances for life to get started on our planet. What makes it so inevitable?

I believe in God, and just looking at the earth and all its life makes me think the universe is crawling with life.

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And given the sheer vastness of the Universe, the chances of the Earth being the only planet to be supporting life must be infantesimal. No, theres life out there all right. I'll say it's everywhere.

Edited by Evilution13
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