New "Earth-Like" Planet Found. Scientists say it's habitable.

[Bioture]

another planet? pffttt.

make detroit habitable again first.

[Saturn V]

Is it habitable for us humans though? If the mass of that planet is 5 times the mass of earth, wouldn't we all be crushed over there since we'd be 5 times heavier (correct me if I'm wrong)?

I think the gravity is 2.2 (5 divided by 1.5^2).

[Edify]

120 trillion miles away

GG no re

[Jeenyuss]

some stuff saying that the thread title is incorrect

thank you

[geekbot]

No one else read the title and didn't get past how to pronounce "habitable"?

habitable...habitable...habitable...inhabitable?

[deathking]

20.5 light years away. That means even if we can establish that the planet is highly habitable, we can't determine whether theres life on it.

heck, even radio signals are gonna take a good 40-50 years back and fro, and thats only possible if there's Intelligent life. The scientific experiments being done is proly just analyzing the elements/compounds of the planet and the such. Kinda disappointing in a way, knowing theres a possiblity and not being able to confirm anything.

the planet pic being an illustration is kind of a downer, too.

[Squeezer]

By the time they step foot on that planet I'll be long dead anyways.

[cowPope]

By the time they step foot on that planet I'll be long dead anyways.

step foot on it huh? that sounds cool but i think scientists even 1000 years from now will be smart enough to not plan on that happening.

[PolluX]

We do not have to ‘see’ a planet to be able to understand that it is there.

Yes eph, I understand that. But as Sarien said, the only thing they know is that the planet is in the 'habitable zone'. What I tried to say is that if the scientist said it was habitable they have to know about atmosphere, water, carbon, etc... Those things are unable to be detected by merely a gravitational pull on a star (correct me if I am wrong...), the only options to detect these things is to sent a craft or to see it with our own eyes.

So they assume the planet is earhtlike, but we don't understand the fine mechanics of this universe yet (there are a lot of things science can't explain, yet, with Einstein Theories). So maybe it's something else we didn't thought about (not likely but there is that chance). So as long they don't give me hard proof, and just assume, I will be sceptical.


good talk--good talk

[Noah]

It's not certain truths Poll, but it's what our scientists who specialises on this field is guessing after using gear costing more than I'll earn in a lifetime.

When it comes to this stuff, I'll take their word for it untill someone with a bigger telescope and a greater number with scientists at his back says otherwise.

Sure, it's cool to talk about astrology at a hobby basis, but we don't hold a candle to the pros with the best gear behind them.

I love news like this, you just have to not take them as absolute truths.

[PolluX]

I am more interested in the things they find in our solarsystem. The moons of Jupiter for example. But it's true, I know shit compared to these science guys (I would own them in a wbduel tho, hmmm... maybe)

[Kolar]

Yes eph, I understand that. But as Sarien said, the only thing they know is that the planet is in the 'habitable zone'. What I tried to say is that if the scientist said it was habitable they have to know about atmosphere, water, carbon, etc...

It's earth like in that it's not a 'Hot Jupiter' (a massive gas giant) and it's not a frozen block of ice. I think the media see the word habitable and just runs with it. I'm sure CNN, ABC, MSNBC ect... their science/technology contributors are more then happy to dump some fuel on that fire. They know it's 0-40C normally, it likely has an atmosphere and they can predict its mass. I don't know how they can study the composition of the planet's atmosphere but the two methods of detecting planets right now probably can't tell us that. Inference can tell you a lot about astronomical phenomenon and without new technology and the proper tools to study these planets directly we can only work with what we have.

[Saturn V]

Sure, it's cool to talk about astrology at a hobby basis, but we don't hold a candle to the pros with the best gear behind them.

Astronomy != Astrology

Not by a long shot. One is complete bullshit, the other isn't.

[Ewan]

Bring on Darwin

[PolluX]

wow that thing sounds wicked cool.