Tech | October 03, 2009 | 25 comments

Finding a second Earth could happen anytime now

source: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/10/-nasaharvard-teams-say-finding-a-second-earth-c...

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NASA/Harvard Team: Finding a second Earth could Happen anytime now.

"It could happen almost any time now. We now have the technological capability to identify Earth-like planets around the smallest stars." David Latham -Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

To date, Planet hunters have spotted more than 300 planets beyond our solar system, but the vast majority are hot, Jupiter-sized planets that would dwarf the Earth and are almost certainly lifeless.

A few weeks ago, the first rocky planet was found outside solar system, but the surface temperature is far too hot to sustain life. The planet, called CoRoT-7b, is the first planet beyond our solar system with a proven density similar to Earth's, astronomers say. Most known exoplanets are large gas giants like Jupiter.

The tiny planet was discovered orbiting a star slightly smaller and cooler than our sun, about 500 light-years away. As the planet passed in front of its star, it eclipsed a small portion of the star's light, causing a dip in brightness.

Astronomers may be on the brink of discovering a second Earth-like planet, a find that would add fresh impetus to the search for extraterrestrial life. Astronomers from six major centers, including NASA, Harvard and the University of Colorado, agreed at a conference last year that advances in technology suggest scientists are on the verge of being able to detect the presence of small, rocky planets, much like our own, around distant stars for the first time. The planets are considered the most likely habitats for extraterrestrial life.

Finding a rocky planet with an Earth-like density brings us one step closer to discovering another planet similar to our own. A twin-Earth beyond the solar system could provide the best chance of finding life elsewhere in the universe.

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25 comments // Finding a second Earth could happen anytime now

  • 1forestraven
    • 0
      1forestraven  

    • this is a very interesting thing.. it's not like some kind of safe-haven or something u nitwits. you giving implications of inhabiting another planet when you can't afford to live anymore?..pathetic.

    • 2 years ago
  • noxidereus
    • 0
      noxidereus  

    • I highly doubt we'd find a planet that would perfectly support human life exactly as we find it. Likely it would have undergo some process of terraformation (we'd have to nudge things, like the Oxygen concentration in the atmosphere, etc). It seems that since Earth is the most Earth-like planet by definition. If we can't overcome a problem like climate change, we'll never be able to live on another planet. There is no avoiding the fact that we have to address climate change / global warming here at home first.

    • 2 years ago
  • Vo_Cung
  • J_Jammer
  • Hunnter
    • 0
      Hunnter  

    • Silly people, we already have the Stargate.
      Why do you think they made that episode about a TV show being based on Stargate? So they can cover it up by making anyone else suggest it look silly!

    • 2 years ago
  • bgoode22
  • superfinet
  • bonemachine
  • eta
    • 0
      eta  

    • i think we should cut funding for all space research. except the one on the largest, most important scale: the one involving our metaphysical well-being.

    • 2 years ago
  • boywhocould
    • 0
      boywhocould  

    • well relocation does pose and interesting solution to climate issues. . the earth has had high carbon in the past and found an equilibrium on its own, possibly removal of the problem child is what the doctor ordered. . .

      Now if only we had FTL to get there (assuming the myriad of conspiracy theories out there regarding super tech isnt true and we have it . . .its just not public)

    • 2 years ago
  • Mudboy16
  • Manatee_man
  • capolia
    • 0
      capolia  

    • someone much wiser than me once said "we can't be so ignorant to think we are the only living creatures in this whole universe!"

      I'm excited bout seeing twin Earth!

    • 2 years ago
  • jonbrooks
    • 0
      jonbrooks  

    • I've long been of the theory that we should stop wasting our resources trying to stop global warming and put all our energy into relocating to another planet.

    • 2 years ago
  • Hunnter
    • 0
      Hunnter  
    • jonbrooks:

      See there is a problem in this, we'd need to get there.

      So far, all attempts of artificial ecosystems have failed in numerous ways.
      So far, we have no clue how to unfreeze people from cryostasis, if their brains haven't been damaged beyond repair in the first place.

      One thing we COULD do is create a ship that could self-grow a human civilization, ie, a seeding ship.
      We send it with as much human knowledge as possible with this to whatever planets.
      And if we do manage such a thing, the first thing we should do afterwards is make a manufacturing line to build these things and send as many of them out in to the galaxy as possible. (to planets we could live on of course)
      This is actually probably one of the easiest ones we could do right at this very moment.
      An artificial womb could be created right now if we put our greatest minds to it, we know all the processes that happen, we just need to link it all up.
      And to be on the safe side, at least 3 should be sent across different routes.

    • 2 years ago
  • jonbrooks
  • Hunnter
    • 0
      Hunnter  
    • jonbrooks:

      Indeed.
      Similar stories have been done along those lines before, but the aspect of seeding wasn't literal.

      I actually partially got the idea from Stargate, the episode with the alien race who died off and all that remained was this huge seeding ship with the history of their entire planet aboard, all life and knowledge.
      In it the ship was Terraforming a planet to be sulfur based if i remember correct.

      Terraforming is just too much, but it might be something we'd need to attempt at some point in the future if we survive that long.
      The best way to go about terraforming is not from within the planet, but outside of it.
      Pulling the planet closer / further can dramatically change a planets climate.

      But since our space tech is still based on Earth, we have a long way to go.
      If we could capture Apophis on 2029 (or 2038 on the spin back), we could use that as materials for a spaceport.
      I'd love to see that day, hope it doesn't hit us instead...

    • 2 years ago
  • lordsbassman
  • idealist
  • Jazzhimself
    • 0
      Jazzhimself  

    • There is more than just one earth I believe. Almost identical in many ways, same sun, same moon, same inhabitable climate, same rotation time, same gravitational pull.

    • 2 years ago
  • Darevalo
  • Progresshiv
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