4 Planets discovered orbiting Earth like Suns

[Ichingcarpenter]

Discovery of new planets raises hopes of other life in universe


Astronomers have discovered four new planets orbiting two stars similar to Earth's sun, raising hopes that other life may exist in the universe.



However, the stars are 28 and 84 light years away – placing them far beyond the reach of existing spacecraft. The first three planets orbit the star 61 Virginis and can be seen with the naked eye in the constellation of Virgo.



They have the greatest potential for extraterrestrial life with the star being described as "virtually a twin of the Sun" and the planets' masses ranging from 5.3 to 24.9 Earth masses.

Professor Chris Tinney, from the University of New South Wales, said: "These planets are particularly exciting. Neptune in our Solar System has a mass 17 times that of the Earth.

"It looks like there may be many Sun-like stars nearby with planets of that mass or less. "They point the way to even smaller planets that could be rocky and suitable for life."


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/6808239/Discovery-of-new-planets-raises-hopes-of-other-life-in-universe.html

[Chulanowa]

1. Never got why it's always "hopes" for other life

Mathematically it's pretty simple. There is a greater than zero chance for life in the universe - earth is proof that it has happened at least once.

The chance for the probability of life in the universe increasing beyond its current one in however many billion chances is far greater than the probability that we are the only life-bearing planet in the universe.

In other words, if it's happened once, then it's damn near impossible that has happened only once.

[girl gone mad]

5. True, but the Drake equation really puts us into..

low probabilities for intelligent life existing in our time, being at a suitable distance for communication, advanced enough to understand and return our signal, but not so advanced as to be disinterested, etc.

I think when scientists talk about "hopes" for other life in the context of this article, they mean hopes for life that is suitable to communicate with, which will always be a long shot and may be a virtual impossibility, depending on what variables you prefer to use.

[caraher]

10. What you conclude from the Drake Equation varies

There are several parameters in it for which there are no known values, so it's really more a framework for guessing than anything else.

But I mostly just wanted to post this from xkcd:

[patrice]

15. Whoever they are, what do you think their Sexual Orientation is? ; - )

:hi:

[dysfunctional press]

6. but what are the chances that evolution took similar turns on other life-bearing worlds..?

for instance- some of the 'extinction-level-events' that our planet experienced, asteroid/comet impacts, would obviously happen to other worlds as well- but their timing on the evolutionary calendar would probably be much different. perhaps insects rather than primates evolved to be the dominant/intelligent species...or birds...rodents...reptiles...or even classifications/phylum that are completely unfamiliar to us. the possibilities are virtually endless. -i think that some of the 'hope' involves finding answers to people's curiosity on the subject.

[BAKTPRT]

9. Sure...I wouldnt let an insect work on my car..would you?

Got some "links" to that (;

[dysfunctional press]

11. links to what...? i wasn't tossing around unsubstantiated numbers...

like some are wont to do

[Ichingcarpenter]

12. ....

[Chulanowa]

23. Depends on how you define "similar"

Time and time again, earth has produced very similar-looking critters that fill the same ecological niches - Even across different phyla. Just look at how many critters fit the "mole" body plan. I would imagine that on another world, there is some sort of tunnel-digging creature with an oblong body and spade-like forelimbs. However, beyond those general details... I have no idea what it'd be like.

[Posteritatis]

30. It's "hopes" until there's proof

Do I believe there's life out there? Yes. Do I know for certain that there's life out there? No, and neither does anyone else (though the latest on those Martian meteorites is compelling). Do I hope to have my belief confirmed? Absolutely.

[zeemike]

2. According to eastern mystics going back thousands of years.

There are millions of other worlds and the earth is a medium planet that is not particularly hellish or heavenly.
and it seems that science will eventually prove that to be the case.

[DavidDvorkin]

22. And they knew this how?

[zeemike]

27. Well that is a very good question....how did they know it.

And just reading the bhagava gida description of the universe they seemed to know things that we have only recently learned.
Perhaps it was a whole bunch of right guesses, or perhaps they had knowledge from some source that we do not know about.
Or perhaps the civilization of man is much older than we think.

[qazplm]

28. or perhaps

if you make something broad enough and vague enough, you can make it match up to just about anything in this big ole universe.

[DavidDvorkin]

29. That would be my guess.

[zeemike]

33. True enough but is it broad or is that what you have heard.

For instance is this a broad explanation of the nature of matter?
In it's description of what the eternal (god) is it says that one of his attributes is the attraction of the positive and the negative and through this he created this universe.
And I think that there is not a more exact description of our material world than that.
That statement is general only in the fact that it accurately describes the nature of matter.

[FBaggins]

3. There's a title begging for a hyphen. n/t

[eomer]

7. And it should be "Sun-like stars", not "Earth-like Suns". n/t

[Ichingcarpenter]

8. Yeah I noticed that after it was too late to fix

Posted it before my second cup of coffee

[Thor_MN]

31. This one is all on the authors of the article...

"The first three planets orbit the star 61 Virginis and can be seen with the naked eye in the constellation of Virgo."


The planets can be seen with the naked eye?

[Jim Lane]

32. I agree -- that HAS to be a mistake

It was probably of a garbling of "The first three planets orbit the star 61 Virginis and which can be seen with the naked eye in the constellation of Virgo."

As the article notes, these planets are approximately as large as Neptune. Well, Neptune itself isn't visible to the naked eye, and it's right here, astronomically speaking.

[patrice]

16. Hey, that's what made me click on it. Planets orbiting Earth? like Suns? THAT'S news!

Had me thinking there's something about Earth's mass/gravitational field(?) that I don't know, which would be a lot, really, but something outside of what I know about Earth and its Moon, anyway.

[fasttense]

4. Quick, find another planet before we kill off this one. n/t

[BAKTPRT]

13. Great Idea..BUT

Great Idea..but...the amount of research and studies to produce some mechanism to get to a far away "earth like" planet would rob all of our natural resources we have here...imagine all the carbon and C02 that would be produced just trying to find a way to get there...It would mean that there would be a whole nother sector of manufacturing that would have to come alive just to study the possibility not to mention the actual industry that would have to be built to implement such a program...I think it would kill our earth through the back door.Yes it would produce a lot of jobs ,but to what extent do we want that to kill our planet?....We cant take that chance

[MineralMan]

14. Fruit flies like a banana.

Couldn't resist.

[The Backlash Cometh]

17. How long will it take to reach them?

I'm packing now.

[Ichingcarpenter]

20. You'll have to wait for Dr. Zefram Cochrane warp drive

and First Contact

[BadgerKid]

26. For the record, Vulcan is even closer (16 ly) to us. n/t

[pokerfan]

18. Already scheduled to be an early target for TPF

The orbit of an Earth-like planet (with liquid water) around this star would be centered around 0.9 AU -- inside the orbital distance of Earth in the Solar System -- with an orbital period of almost 317 days, or about 87 percent of an Earth year. Astronomers are hoping to use NASA's Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) and the ESA's Darwin planned groups of observatories to search for a rocky inner planet in the so-called "habitable zone" (HZ) around 61 Virginis. As currently planned, the TPF will include two complementary observatory groups: a visible-light coronagraph to launch around 2014; and a "formation-flying" infrared interferometer to launch before 2020, while Darwin will launch a flotilla of three mid-infrared telescopes and a fourth communications hub beginning in 2015.

http://www.solstation.com/stars/61virgin.htm

[Phoonzang]

19. I thought the TPF was de-funded... nt

[pokerfan]

21. planned but not funded as such

Back in 2006, a house subcommittee did vote to provide funding but none has yet materialized (we've got wars to fund, after all). So its present status remains 'deferred indefinitely.'

[Phoonzang]

25. Hopefully if Kepler or another instrument starts finding earth-sized worlds that funding

will materialize. *crosses fingers*

[Hosnon]

24. Good Lord! We have FIVE suns now? nt.