Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
Welcome 581 c.
Wow. It may not seem like it, but the universe just changed.
No, this doesn’t mean that there is life elsewhere other than our little rock. Let alone intelligent life. But make no mistake - this is something of a milestone.
Welcome 581 c. Welcome to the history books.
Jim Downey
(Cross posted to CommunionBlog.)
Bookmark/Search this post with:
There are also huge problems
There are also huge problems with the potential for life as we know it to exist, much less evolve, on planets orbiting red dwarfs. These stars can be highly variable in their energy output (at times too cool, at times too hot), don't emit much visible light (making plant life difficult, again as we know it and define plant life), and in order to get the temperatures needed to sustain life as we know it the planet will need to be very close to the star which may preclude persistent rotation and, hence, circulation of elements & result in a hot side and cold side.
I'll have to do some more digging but the Yahoo article says the size is roughly 1.5 times that of earth and then talks about the gravitational effects of this. Do they mean gravitational mass or do we have any indication of the gravitational mass? If the discovery is due to observations of its sun and we have relatively accurate measurements of the star's mass and size, we can infer the planet's mass. If indeed, it is only 1.5 times the gravitational mass of earth then we could be in good shape if the temperature estimates hold.
God that's close!!
"You better start giving me some inner peace before I mop the floor with you." - Homer S.
or
"Pinky, you excel at random." - the Brain
Someone needs to get a
Someone needs to get a spectrograph check and see if any oxygen shows up in the atmosphere. Its a very slim chance, but if it has oxygen, it probably has life of some type.
To be fair, nobody's
To be fair, nobody's actually seen this planet. They have just inferred its existence and position due to gravitational perturbations in its sun's position. It's a long leap from knowing there is a planet in an orbit that would allow liquid water to exist, and actually finding that water. Still, it is exciting news because it is another great step forward in our ability to detect smaller and smaller objects at these huge distances.
Planet 581 c
Yeah, That’s it excites me because people said the same things about atoms before we actually new they existed. I don't take scientists words or guesses lightly. Well except maybe a few with hidden political agendas.