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Seven Earth-sized Planets Orbit an Alien Star Only 40 Light-years Away

Goshin said:
There's some pretty incredible narrow mindedness in this thread.


Hey... private industry doesn't do a lot of pure science research. Not without a profit somewhere on the horizon.




But one thing about pure science research... from time to time there are unexpected benefits to be reaped here on Earth from it. Knowledge is power.
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Correct. There have been a lot of things that have culminated or were enhanced from the space race that would not have happened if not for funding from the government. Computers come to mind for one thing…

There are things that can never be funded privately as there just isn't the funding that is available from the public option.
 
fmw said:
I'm not sure why. At current technology levels it would take about 300,000 years to make the journey. Better hope they figure out time warps before anybody takes off.
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Quantum mechanics is another option. Two molecules separated by time and space seen to have a link...
 
fmw said:
No but an airplane doesn't fly in the face of physics as we know it.
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But it was considered impossible at one time. Even going faster than 20 mph on ground was thought to probably cause brain damage.

And then there was the doofus that said at the turn of the 20th century that everything that could be invented had been invented. Derp!
 
EnigmaO01 said:
But it was considered impossible at one time. Even going faster than 20 mph on ground was thought to probably cause brain damage.

And then there was the doofus that said at the turn of the 20th century that everything that could be invented had been invented. Derp!
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Planes were thought to be impossible for engineering reasons, not physics reasons.

Everyone already knew heavier than air things could fly. They were called birds. Everyone knew objects could move faster than sound. They were called bullets. People just didn't think it was possible to build a device that could safely allow a human to do these things.

Interstellar travel presents a different kind of barrier. It's not "we don't know how to build a thing for this." It's "the laws of physics seem to literally dictate this is impossible." As best as we can tell, it is impossible for an object to travel faster than light. No amount of force can accelerate an object with positive mass to the speed of light, much less past it.

Hypothetical "warp drive" concepts are mostly just playing with math. The correct value in the correct equation seems to come up with a bent-space thingy that would allow "warp speed." Problem: it depends on the presence of matter with a negative mass. You plug negative numbers into the equations, you end up with warp speed... but there's not currently any reason to suspect "negative mass" is a concept that holds any meaning, like negative speed or negative sound.

The invention quote is fake.
 
Deuce said:
Planes were thought to be impossible for engineering reasons, not physics reasons.

Everyone already knew heavier than air things could fly. They were called birds. Everyone knew objects could move faster than sound. They were called bullets. People just didn't think it was possible to build a device that could safely allow a human to do these things.

Interstellar travel presents a different kind of barrier. It's not "we don't know how to build a thing for this." It's "the laws of physics seem to literally dictate this is impossible." As best as we can tell, it is impossible for an object to travel faster than light. No amount of force can accelerate an object with positive mass to the speed of light, much less past it.

Hypothetical "warp drive" concepts are mostly just playing with math. The correct value in the correct equation seems to come up with a bent-space thingy that would allow "warp speed." Problem: it depends on the presence of matter with a negative mass. You plug negative numbers into the equations, you end up with warp speed... but there's not currently any reason to suspect "negative mass" is a concept that holds any meaning, like negative speed or negative sound.

The invention quote is fake.
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And if we simply accept that and stop looking for a loophole, there will DEFINITELY never be any sort of "warp drive" or similar method. Self-defeating negativism.
 
Goshin said:
And if we simply accept that and stop looking for a loophole, there will DEFINITELY never be any sort of "warp drive" or similar method. Self-defeating negativism.
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Nothing is defeated because it's not like physics research is just going to stop.
 
EnigmaO01 said:
But it was considered impossible at one time. Even going faster than 20 mph on ground was thought to probably cause brain damage.

And then there was the doofus that said at the turn of the 20th century that everything that could be invented had been invented. Derp!
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Who knows? Perhaps Einstein was wrong.
 
EnigmaO01 said:
Quantum mechanics is another option. Two molecules separated by time and space seen to have a link...
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I see. How would you propose a system that would allow us to visit a star 40 light years away.
 
Goshin said:
And if we simply accept that and stop looking for a loophole, there will DEFINITELY never be any sort of "warp drive" or similar method. Self-defeating negativism.
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The people in my novel are going there without warp drives or non-centrifugal artificial gravity. They're propelled by a type of wormhole to lox and h2. They have a unit that slows the exhaust otherwise you get waves of rain at point two light. The ships are built of material from another type of wormhole. 0.2 light is 200 years to TRAPPIST-1.

They can open wormholes, but can't find the warp drive or gravity fields, so they send off the rotating star ships.

Funny if you get there and there is civilization.

How would we be if someone just pulled into the solar system with rotating vessels?.

Would we be nice, to some insectoidal race? Talk about racism, well, we got the genes, we'll just tell them to pack up their wormholes and spend a few more generations going back home. "Well, we saw the nice atmosphere in our telescopes."

sanman said:
NASA has announced a major discovery - at a distance of 40 Light-years from us, there are 7 Earth-sized planets orbiting the same star.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/seven-earth-sized-planets-orbit-180100909.html









By the Lords of Kobol! Could it be the Great Colonies?
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Does anyone know what it means by, "Earth sized." Is Earth bigger than the biggest of these or what?
 
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Exquisitor said:
The people in my novel are going there without warp drives or non-centrifugal artificial gravity. They're propelled by a type of wormhole to lox and h2. They have a unit that slows the exhaust otherwise you get waves of rain at point two light. The ships are built of material from another type of wormhole. 0.2 light is 200 years to TRAPPIST-1.

They can open wormholes, but can't find the warp drive or gravity fields, so they send off the rotating star ships.

Funny if you get there and there is civilization.

How would we be if someone just pulled into the solar system with rotating vessels?.

Would we be nice, to some insectoidal race? Talk about racism, well, we got the genes, we'll just tell them to pack up their wormholes and spend a few more generations going back home. "Well, we saw the nice atmosphere in our telescopes."



Does anyone know what it means by, "Earth sized." Is Earth bigger than the biggest of these or what?
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See Space.com for stats. Has orbital radius and period, approx diameter and mass. Gravity = mass / radius squared
 
Goshin said:
And if we simply accept that and stop looking for a loophole, there will DEFINITELY never be any sort of "warp drive" or similar method. Self-defeating negativism.
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We can always hope and look. It doesn't mean it is indeed possible though.
 
Deuce said:
Planes were thought to be impossible for engineering reasons, not physics reasons.

Everyone already knew heavier than air things could fly. They were called birds. Everyone knew objects could move faster than sound. They were called bullets. People just didn't think it was possible to build a device that could safely allow a human to do these things.

Interstellar travel presents a different kind of barrier. It's not "we don't know how to build a thing for this." It's "the laws of physics seem to literally dictate this is impossible." As best as we can tell, it is impossible for an object to travel faster than light. No amount of force can accelerate an object with positive mass to the speed of light, much less past it.

Hypothetical "warp drive" concepts are mostly just playing with math. The correct value in the correct equation seems to come up with a bent-space thingy that would allow "warp speed." Problem: it depends on the presence of matter with a negative mass. You plug negative numbers into the equations, you end up with warp speed... but there's not currently any reason to suspect "negative mass" is a concept that holds any meaning, like negative speed or negative sound.

The invention quote is fake.
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There are the Laws of Physics as we can immediately perceive them under ambient conditions, and there are the Laws of Physics and how they behave under non-standard non-ambient conditions. We are learning to push the envelope with physics, by creating extrema conditions which cause standard laws to give way.

Look at the recent experiments involving Squeezed Light - we are able to squeeze photons to change their probability distribution, we are able to reduce the amount of Quantum Noise in space itself, lowering its background energy.

We are learning how to probe the structure of spacetime itself:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170118132244.htm

Look, if you can do that, then you may be able to find some features to exploit.
 
RAMOSS said:
We can always hope and look. It doesn't mean it is indeed possible though.
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It might be extremely difficult, and yeah it might not be possible.


What I object to is the attitude of "well our current understanding is that its impossible so you might as well forget about it."


A lot of things that are now routine were once considered impossible.


If we simply accept existing physics dogma as absolute and don't even try to find a loophole, then we might never find one even if it exists. It's that mentality that I have an issue with.
 
Goshin said:
It might be extremely difficult, and yeah it might not be possible.


What I object to is the attitude of "well our current understanding is that its impossible so you might as well forget about it."


A lot of things that are now routine were once considered impossible.


If we simply accept existing physics dogma as absolute and don't even try to find a loophole, then we might never find one even if it exists. It's that mentality that I have an issue with.
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I think is 'we should have enough crazy people that try the impossible, just because, well, we might be wrong'.
 
tosca1 said:
If ever that's possible.......who do you think will get off this planet?
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tons of people who will want to if its proven moderately safe and survivable. curiosity and exploration is kind of what we do as humans.


look at all the signups for Mars one... and who the hell even knows if they are truly serious or if its a scam or not.
 
fmw said:
No but an airplane doesn't fly in the face of physics as we know it.
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neither does Warp drive or the warping of spacetime, or generation ships combined with advances in longevity, or possibly even suspended animation. We DO NOT know every single thing about physics yet and if it proves out that NONE of this is possible, then fine, we can all make our little squeak of nothing and be gone from the face of galactic history without anyone knowing.. but until we DO rule out every possibility keeping us trapped on this blue ball, how can you be such a cynic? lets at least try.

in fact, lets ramp it up and KICK ASS trying!

... because otherwise, we are past Humanity's golden age... it will never get better for ourselves or this planet, with all of us sitting here. you really have to understand what you are risking, by NOT making the attempt.
 
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Hypothetical said:
tons of people who will want to if its proven moderately safe and survivable. curiosity and exploration is kind of what we do as humans.


look at all the signups for Mars one... and who the hell even knows if they are truly serious or if its a scam or not.
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Only those who can afford to pay for the flight I suppose? Or, by lottery? Movie "Deep Impact" comes to mind.
 
tosca1 said:
Only those who can afford to pay for the flight I suppose? Or, by lottery? Movie "Deep Impact" comes to mind.
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are those the kind of people you think would want to colonize mars and beyond? why would there be a need for a lottery? if we are really going to move beyond this planet then we will need a LOT of people willing to go and start something new... there may be a shortage of people willing to do that eventually, even though I think a lot will want to go.

there are a lot of scenarios I can see working... if you can't afford it outright (assuming that there is a cost associated by that time) then perhaps you can work for the government (or whoever oversees the project) once there until your debt is paid. I'm sure you will have lots and lots of robots and computers by that time to help, so its not like it will be back breaking labor, plus you would get to be a explorer with a new home and new start.

if we can also use science to increase our longevity and healthiness to a great degree (which eventually I think we will) then you will have time to enjoy the fruits of all that for a good long time.

but that begins now... we need to start taking the steps for that future now.
 
fmw said:
I see. How would you propose a system that would allow us to visit a star 40 light years away.
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I'd post the equations but you wouldn't understand them. :mrgreen:
 
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