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Scientists discover Earth-like, water-rich planet: study

American said:
Did the scientists say whether they saw any signs of global warming protests going on?
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That's not the topic. Please stick to the topic. Thank you.
 
danarhea said:
Close, but no cigar, but this discovery does lend credence to the belief that life exists elsewhere.
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Really, there's no reason there cannot be life there.
"LIfe as we know it", maybe not -- but that doesnt mean anything.
 
Hatuey said:
We could **** with them and send them back with really random earth objects. I say we send them back with Furbies.
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I would send them back with a Furbie, a garden gnome, and a copy of The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection from the Living Dead.

They can then make three competing religions off their interpreted meanings of the products.
 
If they are 42 light years away, that means they are now receiving TV signals from 1967....

danarhea said:
Since this planet is more than two and a half time the size of the earth, it's mass is therefore more than 6 times that of earth. Therefore, the boiling point of water is going to be much, much higher there, probably more than 500 degrees Fahrenheit. So you can have liquid water that no carbon-based lifeform could ever live in.
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I'm not sure if you're joking but that's not how it works. Boiling point is a physical property that does not change with location.
 
Dav said:
I'm not sure if you're joking but that's not how it works. Boiling point is a physical property that does not change with location.
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I think what it is, is that the larger, more massive planet has a much thicker and "heavier" atmosphere. Which changes vapor pressures and that indeed does raise a boiling point. Boiling points are subject to location, or rather to air pressure. Water boils at different temperatures at sea level than it does in Denver.
 
Dav said:
If they are 42 light years away, that means they are now receiving TV signals from 1967....



I'm not sure if you're joking but that's not how it works. Boiling point is a physical property that does not change with location.
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You are dead wrong there. The boiling point of water is 100 degrees C at 1000 millibars of atmospheric pressure, and it is zero degrees C at 0 millibars of atmospheric pressure. Increase the atmospheric pressure above 1000 millibars, then the boiling point goes correspondingly up. On a planet with more than 6 times the mass of earth, sea level pressure is going to be much, much higher than the sea level pressure on earth, hence the much, much higher boiling point.
 
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Nevermind, Wikipedia says I'm wrong.
 
Gigantic. Crushing gravity. Searing heat. Earth-like.

Please select the term that does not fit the pattern.
 
Given the size of the universe, there is no way complex life forms do not exist elsewhere.
 
danarhea said:
Since this planet is more than two and a half time the size of the earth, it's mass is therefore more than 6 times that of earth. Therefore, the boiling point of water is going to be much, much higher there, probably more than 500 degrees Fahrenheit. So you can have liquid water that no carbon-based lifeform could ever live in.
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Declarations concerning the impossibility of life are usually proven wrong, given enough time. Just because we can't possibly imagine how carbon-based lifeforms could develop at such relatively high pressures doesn't mean they can't form. And who says life must be carbon based? Speculations of life always remind me of this little gem:

xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe

Oftencold said:
Gigantic. Crushing gravity. Searing heat. Earth-like.

Please select the term that does not fit the pattern.
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Each statement is relative, so I find a clear pattern.
 
Oftencold said:
Gigantic. Crushing gravity. Searing heat. Earth-like.

Please select the term that does not fit the pattern.
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The fact that it is more earth-like than any previously found outside the solar system, and more earth-like than most planets in the solar system.
 
Ethereal said:
Given the size of the universe, there is no way complex life forms do not exist elsewhere.
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Without knowing every variable, you can't possibly make such a statement. Speculations on life are exactly that, speculations and nothing more. Until life is actually discovered, the search is not falsifiable and therefore cannot be considered a science.
 
idk said:
Without knowing every variable, you can't possibly make such a statement. Speculations on life are exactly that, speculations and nothing more. Until life is actually discovered, the search is not falsifiable and therefore cannot be considered a science.
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Actually, I CAN make such a statement:

Given the size of the universe, there is no way complex life forms do not exist elsewhere.

See?

Of course, I understand that my statement does not constitute proof of anything, but it is still logical, and mathematically very plausible.
 
Dav said:
If they are 42 light years away, that means they are now receiving TV signals from 1967....
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Don't bother with earth. It's nothing but sex crazed dope smoking hippies...
 
EpicDude86 said:
If we could only find a way to create a space barge that could sustain life, then a couple (hundred) generations down the line, someone will get there. :lol:
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You're thinking space travel will be simply point A to point B and that time, space, and gravity are constant everywhere. Not necessarily so.
 
Ethereal said:
Given the size of the universe, there is no way complex life forms do not exist elsewhere.
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Huh?

This is like saying that nothing can be unique, even individuals. We have no way at all of predicting the likelihood. And one expects that the occurrence of super-complex forms such as ourselves would be far less likley.

The fact is that organic life could quite easily be a phenomenon completely limited to this planet. Myself, I doubt there is anything remotely like us anywhere else in Eä
 
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Ethereal said:
Actually, I CAN make such a statement:

Given the size of the universe, there is no way complex life forms do not exist elsewhere.

See?

Of course, I understand that my statement does not constitute proof of anything, but it is still logical, and mathematically very plausible.
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Wow. Proved me wrong, look how you just typed that right up, when I though it was physically impossible!

Anyway, I can play that game, too. The statement is illogical as it deals in an absolute (the certainty of ET) based on an unknown (the size of the universe). However, the observable universe is finite and becoming more and more 'known.' This is how [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Drake"]Drake[/ame] came up with his [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation"]equation[/ame]. The most pessimistic figures entered into that equation produce a very lonely result, and the equation excludes all unknown variables.

Again, the search for life is not a science, it is only speculation with a massive budget.
 
Considering that a planet with water and possibly extremophile life, my dreams of living the cantina scene in Star Wars is one step closer to fruition
 
hazlnut said:
It says 'life as we know it'. Life has a way of adapting. And how can a planet that hot be covered in water?

My question is, how do we get there?
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Obama/Pelosi/Gore will undoubtedly find a way.
 
Oftencold said:
Huh?

This is like saying that nothing can unique, even individuals. We have no way at all of predicting the likelihood. And one expects that the occurrence of super-complex forms such as ourselves would be far less likley.

The fact is that organic life could quite easily be a phenomenon completely limited to this planet. Myself, I doubt there is anything remotely like us anywhere else in Eä
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So you don't think much of the Drake Equation?
 
EnigmaO01 said:
You're thinking space travel will be simply point A to point B and that time, space, and gravity are constant everywhere. Not necessarily so.
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All we really need is a well placed hole in the bend of space, to pit it simply...
 
Oftencold said:
Huh?

This is like saying that nothing can unique, even individuals. We have no way at all of predicting the likelihood. And one expects that the occurrence of super-complex forms such as ourselves would be far less likley.

The fact is that organic life could quite easily be a phenomenon completely limited to this planet. Myself, I doubt there is anything remotely like us anywhere else in Eä
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Our ignorance of the true nature of the universe is the problem. Life very well may be very, very common. On the other hand, there is a good chance that we are alone OR that the age of the universe prevents any two living civilizations from contacting each other.
 
DrunkenAsparagus said:
Considering that a planet with water and possibly extremophile life, my dreams of living the cantina scene in Star Wars is one step closer to fruition
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I can save you the price of passage on a starship. Just visit Copenhagen this week to enjoy a Star Wars Cantina experience.
 
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