Ozfactor Posted August 15, 2016 #1 Share Posted August 15, 2016 (edited) http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space/astronomers-have-discovered-what-they-believe-to-be-the-closest-habitable-planet-to-earth/news-story/f1656656d42fff8d5cdbe2a63df36470 SINCE its launch in 2009, NASA’s planet finding Kepler Spacecraft has discovered more than 4000 exoplanet candidates. Of these, there have been 216 Earth-like located within the Goldilocks Zone — the region around a star in which the surface temperature of an orbiting planet might support water. The problem is that while most of these Earth-like planets are habitable, they are located thousands of light years away, which means they are out of our reach. However, using a reflecting telescope at the European Southern Observatory (ESO), astronomers have recently discovered exoplanet orbiting Proxima Centauri — a red dwarf, a small low-mass star about 4.25 light-years from the Sun Edited August 26, 2016 by Daughter of the Nine Moons Merged similar threads /edit title 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nnicolette Posted August 16, 2016 #2 Share Posted August 16, 2016 (edited) Sign me up for a ticket, I'm tired of you earthlings. Edited August 16, 2016 by Nnicolette 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Greenman Posted August 16, 2016 #3 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Just cause it is in the habitable zone, doesn't mean it can support life. Even if, it does have life doesn't mean it would be habitable for us. Might be a long trip for nothing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundew Posted August 16, 2016 #4 Share Posted August 16, 2016 Centauri Prime. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbarosso Posted August 16, 2016 #5 Share Posted August 16, 2016 it wouldnt be for nothing. information on the subject alone makes it worth it. like does this world have water and air and so on. isnt knowing that worth something. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeastieRunner Posted August 16, 2016 #6 Share Posted August 16, 2016 1 minute ago, pbarosso said: it wouldnt be for nothing. information on the subject alone makes it worth it. like does this world have water and air and so on. isnt knowing that worth something. What do you do when you get there, find out you can't live there, and can't get back? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbarosso Posted August 16, 2016 #7 Share Posted August 16, 2016 no one said we'd send humans. i am sure a probe wouldnt care. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoFish Posted August 16, 2016 #8 Share Posted August 16, 2016 I think we should develop an auto-evolving microbe that could terraform the entire planet. Send a couple of dozen gallons of them to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWoo7 Posted August 16, 2016 #9 Share Posted August 16, 2016 2 minutes ago, XenoFish said: I think we should develop an auto-evolving microbe that could terraform the entire planet. Send a couple of dozen gallons of them to it. God now wouldn't that be cool .. ?... send them some golf clubs, beer and wine too , check in in a few years see how they're coming along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoFish Posted August 17, 2016 #10 Share Posted August 17, 2016 3 minutes ago, MWoo7 said: God now wouldn't that be cool .. ?... send them some golf clubs, beer and wine too , check in in a few years see how they're coming along. I think it would end up being an algae covered planet until something evolved to eat the algae, then something evolved to eat the algae eater and so on. Hell, when or even if we made it. There could be a whole ecosystem thriving by the time we got there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawken Posted August 17, 2016 #11 Share Posted August 17, 2016 That's just in our back yard. Now if we had the tech to get there a lot quicker. Warp speed Scotty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHaYap Posted August 17, 2016 #12 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Aye aye Capt'n ~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyclopes500 Posted August 17, 2016 #13 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Proxima centari, the small red star, is only 10% the mass of the sun, and in volume probably only a bit bigger than Jupiter. It's gravity pull is lower and the flares the thing would generate would be gigantic and the radiation levels indescribable. If there is a planet there its probably had its atmosphere blown into space by stellar winds. Wikipedia says the star is over 4 billion years old so I would imagine so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fred_mc Posted August 17, 2016 #14 Share Posted August 17, 2016 4 hours ago, cyclopes500 said: Proxima centari, the small red star, is only 10% the mass of the sun, and in volume probably only a bit bigger than Jupiter. It's gravity pull is lower and the flares the thing would generate would be gigantic and the radiation levels indescribable. If there is a planet there its probably had its atmosphere blown into space by stellar winds. Wikipedia says the star is over 4 billion years old so I would imagine so. Yes, the habitable zone would be very close to the star. The flares from the star would be deadly, and blow away the atmosphere. Based on what I've read about similar stars before, I think the planet would also be tidally locked, i.e. always show the same side towards the star, which would also make it difficult, or perhaps impossible for life to develop. Not sure about the size of the planet but most planets I've seen called "earth-like" before are much bigger than earth, typcially twice as big, which of course makes the gravitational force much higher. I'm finding the word "earth-like" to be such a mis-used word, most planets called "earth-like" are not very earth-like at all when you read closer about them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeastieRunner Posted August 17, 2016 #15 Share Posted August 17, 2016 20 hours ago, pbarosso said: no one said we'd send humans. i am sure a probe wouldnt care. Good call. I didn't think of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted August 17, 2016 #16 Share Posted August 17, 2016 20 hours ago, pbarosso said: no one said we'd send humans. Actually they did, Nnicolette wanted to sign up for a ticket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExpandMyMind Posted August 17, 2016 #17 Share Posted August 17, 2016 Stay away. Those humanoids are all doomed. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FlyingAngel Posted August 17, 2016 #18 Share Posted August 17, 2016 21 hours ago, BeastieRunner said: What do you do when you get there, find out you can't live there, and can't get back? Surviving and destroying : eat, sleep, poop. Repeat ! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robofox5000 Posted August 18, 2016 #19 Share Posted August 18, 2016 sweep the knee. -_- 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nnicolette Posted August 18, 2016 #20 Share Posted August 18, 2016 21 hours ago, Waspie_Dwarf said: Actually they did, Nnicolette wanted to sign up for a ticket. I was hoping they were going off more than zone because there have already been many found in that area. Plus i was hoping that these experts are as aware as all of us that there are many more factors than location involved in habitability. If there is oxygen and water, even temperatures and a decent magnetic field then with the state of politics it sounds wonderful. I kinda have faith that the observers stating that it is the closest habitable planet, is eatthlike and also in a place to hold water means more than that it is just in the goldilockszone. They picked this out of the 216 planets listed in that zone so it will definitely be exciting to maybe live to see the results ofthis probe. On a sidenote ceres missing craters? It should be obvious which bodies have a protective enough magnetic field and active geological processes. You see shooting stars but it should be clear from the terrain where the atmosphere is thin enough that the ground is being pelted and where it isnt. I have faith that the people observing these things fora living can tell the difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorvir Posted August 18, 2016 #21 Share Posted August 18, 2016 On 8/16/2016 at 2:14 PM, Nnicolette said: Sign me up for a ticket, I'm tired of you earthlings. Well, I was going to express some desire to go, but I think I'll stay now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorvir Posted August 18, 2016 #22 Share Posted August 18, 2016 (edited) On 8/16/2016 at 6:35 PM, Sundew said: Centauri Prime. Hope all the shadows are gone now. Edited August 18, 2016 by Thorvir Hrothgaard 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nnicolette Posted August 19, 2016 #23 Share Posted August 19, 2016 18 hours ago, Thorvir Hrothgaard said: Well, I was going to express some desire to go, but I think I'll stay now. Yup i hate you too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barkinghorse Posted August 21, 2016 #24 Share Posted August 21, 2016 4.5 years after the probe arrived, we would get a message telling us so. 4.5 years after that, the probe would receive new orders from Earth. 4.5 years after that we would know if it followed those orders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grey Area Posted August 24, 2016 #25 Share Posted August 24, 2016 Quote The ESO also confirmed that the planet is terrestrial in nature (i.e. rocky), similar in size and mass to Earth, and orbits its star with an orbital period of 11 hours. But best of all are the indications that surface temperatures and conditions are likely suitable for the existence of liquid water. Source: Universe Today This is very exciting, let's hope project starshot gives it some consideration 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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