First Habitable Zone Planet Found Outside our Solar System!!!!

fenderbender · 09-30-2010, 09:29 PM

We have just discovered the first planet, orbiting another star, that is in the habitable zone...meaning it is in the right spot in relation to its sun for liquid water and a life supporting atmosphere to be present...!!!!

FUCKING CRAZY!

Quote:

A team of astronomers that includes the University of Hawaiʻi’ at Manoa’s Nader Haghighipour has announced the discovery of a planet that could have liquid water on its surface.

The planet, which is probably 30 percent larger than Earth, was discovered using one of the telescopes of the W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea. It orbits a relatively small star, Gliese 581, that is 20 light-years from Earth in the constellation Libra.

“By determining the orbit of this planet, we can deduce that its surface temperature is similar to that of Earth,” said Haghighipour. This means that at least some of any water on the surface of the planet and in its atmosphere will be in liquid form rather than ice or vapor. The discovery of liquid water in space is an important step in the search for extraterrestrial life.

The team estimates that the new planet, called Gliese 581g, has a mass three to four times that of Earth, and orbits its star in just under 37 Earth days. Its mass indicates that it is probably a rocky planet with enough gravity to hold on to its atmosphere. It is one of six known planets orbiting the star.

To discover the planet, the team looked for the tiny changes in the star’s velocity that arise from the gravitational tugs of its planets. They used 238 separate observations of Gliese 581 taken over a period of 11 years.

Haghighipour said that the team is keeping tabs on many nearby stars using the Keck Observatory. “As we collect more and more data about how these stars are moving, we expect to find many more planets with potentially Earth-like conditions,” he said. He noted that to learn more about the conditions on these planets would take even bigger telescopes, such at the Thirty Meter Telescope planned for Mauna Kea.

The team that made the discovery is led by Steven Vogt of the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) and Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Other team members include UCSC associate research scientist Eugenio Rivera, and Gregory Henry and Michael Williamson of Tennessee State University.

This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the NASA Astrobiology Institute.

Quote:

It is significantly different, however, because the central sun is an M dwarf, a star with only 1 percent of the power that comes off Earth's sun. All the planets in the system are closer to their sun than the Earth is to its sun.

Quote:

the newly discovered planet is locked in relation to its sun the way the moon is locked in relation to Earth - with only one side bathed in sunlight. But the researchers said the extremes of dark cold and bright heat are reduced along a band that circles the planet where the dark and light meet, creating a wide range of promising environmental niches.

Those areas are large enough, Butler said, for heat-loving creatures to live on the sun-facing region of the band and polar bears on the cold-facing side. He also said that because the planet does not rotate on an axis, the view from these areas would be of perpetual sunrise or sunset.

washingtonpost.com

Newly discovered planet may have water on its surface | Science Blog

Ok this is fucking nuts... So We discovered a planet, that in theory has about the same chances that Intelligent life has already came into existence As Earth had/has.

ALSO whether it does or does not have life on it already, it is extremely close to our sun, only 20 light-years (really close in the universe)...also having a sun which will outlast our sun by eons...

DARE I SAY THE NEXT HOME OF HUMAN BEINGS? (or w.e we evolve into by then

)

CRAZYYY SHITTT lol this is easily one of the most important discoveries humans have ever made and could easily be our future...

DISCUSS

:e ek:

yo. · 09-30-2010, 09:34 PM

Quote:

The discovery of liquid water in space is an important step in the search for extraterrestrial life.

Good post

but I gotta disagree with that quote.
I actually think that''s what's holding us back.
Didn't we find microscopic life forms on mars in no water and very, very low levels of oxygen? Yes.

Life derives off what is available, not water.

BUT not meaning to be negative bro, awesome post! I'm glad to be the first to thank you!

addition:

Quote:

hey used 238 separate observations of Gliese 581 taken over a period of 11 years.

ELEVEN years?? And they just now release this shit? I mean, I know they had to be sure, but damn! Everyone's been looking and doubting, when these folks had the key to reviving hope for alien existence!

fenderbender · 09-30-2010, 10:03 PM

Na they they just started the search for planets in that area 11 years ago, it took that long to note the change or "wobbles" of the star. Those slight wobbles tell the gravitational pull of the planet on that star.

We actually just sent out this new sattalight very recently that is taking pictures of HUGE portions of the sky at a time, each time it takes a picture, we get better and better resolution, Thus making this process muchhhhhh easier. We no longer have to pick one area of the sky to look at.

ALLTHOUGH the original way is how this planet was found, which is fucking crazy lucky and awesome. Scientists were predicting we would find a planet like this sometime in 2011 but THIS SOON is nuts and amazing.

also.. on the water topic... Yes there could be different types of life without the need for water, but liquid water makes the chances of life, especially intelligent life, increase DRAMATICALLY. This also leaves the option that these organisms could be Earth like.

In other cases where they wouldnt need water or w.e, The organisms could be so different you could not possibly imagine even what they are like.

GOD I LOVE BEING A SPACE NERD

John F. Kerry · 09-30-2010, 10:35 PM

wow thats pretty sick. 20 light years away... so assuming we get spaceships that go fast... there is at least some possibility that we could go to this planet (and maybe even return) in a lifetime...

...i sense a new space race... (yea right, probably in a thousand years)

John F. Kerry · 09-30-2010, 10:38 PM

the thing yo is saying about water is pretty interesting, i dont really know enough about it to say for sure, but im pretty sure that up until a few years ago scientists never had found water outside earth... then in the last decade we found it on both the moon and mars.... which is pretty amazing, but like he said, once we found it we realized that its probably more common than we thought and not necesarily indicative of life...

still even if it isnt indicative of life, its still indicative of water that we could use on a mission there to break into h and o to power the rockets and to grow food and make air.... so its pretty important regardless.

SmokeaJoint · 09-30-2010, 10:46 PM

Theres also water on Jupiter's moon, Europa. That bad boy is covered in ice, then liquid water underneath. There is actually a good possibility that there is life there, but we haven't even scratched the surface.

yo. · 09-30-2010, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenderbender

Na they they just started the search for planets in that area 11 years ago, it took that long to note the change or "wobbles" of the star. Those slight wobbles tell the gravitational pull of the planet on that star.

oh!

Quote:

Originally Posted by fenderbender

We actually just sent out this new sattalight very recently that is taking pictures of HUGE portions of the sky at a time, each time it takes a picture, we get better and better resolution, Thus making this process muchhhhhh easier. We no longer have to pick one area of the sky to look at.

ALLTHOUGH the original way is how this planet was found, which is fucking crazy lucky and awesome. Scientists were predicting we would find a planet like this sometime in 2011 but THIS SOON is nuts and amazing.

nuts and amazing? O.o
i'd say we're way behind schedule (like always)....(which kinda negates the whole behind schedule thing....)

Quote:

also.. on the water topic... Yes there could be different types of life without the need for water, but liquid water makes the chances of life, especially intelligent life, increase DRAMATICALLY. This also leaves the option that these organisms could be Earth like.
In other cases where they wouldnt need water or w.e, The organisms could be so different you could not possibly imagine even what they are like.

what's in bold is what I was saying is holding us back.
How do we know a certain element = intelligence? just cause we depend on it?

But on the note of them being more Earth like due to water dependency, that is definitely the ideal route at alien communications, in this regard:

Quote:

Originally Posted by John F. Kerry

still even if it isnt indicative of life, its still indicative of water that we could use on a mission there to break into h and o to power the rockets and to grow food and make air.... so its pretty important regardless.

and that us two species could share resources....

pshh nvm, I forgot we're homosapiens.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmokeaJoint

Theres also water on Jupiter's moon, Titan. That bad boy is covered in ice, then liquid water underneath. There is actually a good possibility that there is life there, but we haven't even scratched the surface.

I could be totally mistaken, but I'm fairly sure they do research the hell outta Titan, it's just like the 11 year study to discover Gliese

SmokeaJoint · 09-30-2010, 11:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yo.

I could be totally mistaken, but I'm fairly sure they do research the hell outta Titan, it's just like the 11 year study to discover Gliese

No, you are correct. I'm saying our knowledge has barely scratched the surface. We haven't gotten through the ice layer yet to my knowledge, but we are definitely looking at it.

SmokeaJoint · 09-30-2010, 11:05 PM

Also, the reason they equate water with life is, its the substance that allows amino acids and all the interactions we biologically associate with life. They call it "The Universal Solvent".

yo. · 09-30-2010, 11:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmokeaJoint

Also, the reason they equate water with life is, its the substance that allows amino acids and all the interactions we biologically associate with life. They call it "The Universal Solvent".

That's the part I'm stressin, if we haven't even scratched the surface of Saturn's moon,
how are we so sure that we know what is responsible for a freak event we call intelligent life?

I bet our table of elements is probably only one fifths of what exists.

Bearsy · 09-30-2010, 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yo.

Didn't we find microscopic life forms on mars in no water and very, very low levels of oxygen? Yes.

Lol, no.

fenderbender · 09-30-2010, 11:21 PM

lol i like what you are saying yo.. and totally agree with you. You are right and i should reword what i said.

lets say life similar to our own...

Intelligent life could be so much more then we could possibly even fathom.

now that you got me thinking, LOL at us thinking we are intelligent life. There is No doubt in my mind that we are the equivalent to a single celled organism in the grand scheme of "life".... toke on that one for a bit why dont ya lol.

SmokeaJoint · 09-30-2010, 11:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yo.

That's the part I'm stressin, if we haven't even scratched the surface of Saturn's moon,
how are we so sure that we know what is responsible for a freak event we call intelligent life?

I bet our table of elements is probably only one fifths of what exists.

True man, we sure do have a large hubris. Thinking we are the only way it could be, thats close minded. As far as the elements thing, we have gotten pretty much all the naturally occurring elements down since we have spectrographic telescopes that break down the composition of what we point 'em at into their elements. We haven't noticed anything off the wall yet to my admittedly limited knowledge. However, there are synthetic elements that I can totally accept we have no knowledge of, not to mention sub-atomic particles.

fenderbender · 09-30-2010, 11:29 PM

Also, there is not water on titan, which is not a moon of jupiter by the way, but Saturn's largest moon. Titan is the only of planet/moon besides in the solar system with liquid on the surface i believe, but it is not water but Hydrocarbon.

Europa is the moon of Jupiter you are thinking of Smokeajoint. And yes it is an ice planet, with liquid water underneath miles of the ice. This water is actually warm as well. The immense gravitational pull of Jupiter squishes and stretches the moon warming it up from the inside out.

And yes there is a great chance there is life on Europa. Of what form? one can only guess.. at the very least basic life i would say. But who is to say there isnt inteligent life under miles of ice. A water world where that is all they know... they couldnt survive outside the ice even if they could make it out so that is their world.

Think mermaids lol... crazy but definitely possible...

SmokeaJoint · 09-30-2010, 11:31 PM

Good call! IDK why I was stuck on Titan lol. Europa it is.(Did u see the same Science Channel program or something?) As far as the life form, my brain generates a vision of pre-historic looking giants with huge teeth, but that is most definately pure speculation!

Grieves · 09-30-2010, 11:33 PM

No wonder 'The Universe' didn't air tonight....They are prolly going feature this on the next ep...

Štulic · 09-30-2010, 11:33 PM

It's hardly big news let alone a ground-breaking discovery. I mean anyone with half a brain would assume that there are billions if not trillions of planets in the universe, chances are 99.99% that at least some of these have perfect habitable conditions.

10 light years sounds not really that far away, but it's 10 years worth of travel for light particles, not people. We will never be able to travel such distances at anywhere near the speed of light.
We have mass and we just cannot be infinitely heavy, or have no mass for that matter.

Theoretically we could communicate with potential intelligent life on that planet via radio or light signals, but waiting 20 years for an answer after we send a message could prove to be very inefficient.

Grieves · 09-30-2010, 11:35 PM

Seeing and theorizing are two very distinct and differing methods of evaluating existence, this is big news...

Štulic · 10-01-2010, 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grieves

Seeing and theorizing are two very distinct and differing methods of evaluating existence, this is big news...

After you understand the method they use to figure out stuff they claim, you will know that this is nothing else but a theory. There is no way for us (yet) to see the actual planet or to take any precise measurements of what's really on it's surface. All they can do is collect data and calculate predictions. No certain proof can be presented with this method.

fenderbender · 10-01-2010, 01:38 AM

lol stulic you are not only a buzz kill but super fucking lame.

This is a HUGE discovery, wtf are you talking about. Sure one would assume that their are other habitable planets out there... BUT WE FOUND ONE!!! We are THAT much closer to PROVING we are not alone in this universe. Not only that, but we found an earth like planet man... Not just a planet that could harbor life, But a planet that could possibly one day harbor US!

also, I believe we are not too far from being able to travel at near light speeds. We can already make particles travel right up to that point. Im sure within a few lifetimes at the most we will discover a new form of energy that will allow us to do this. Most likely by accident. Even if we cant reach that near speed of light mark, we have other options.

Say there is a nuclear fallout, or an imminent astroid impact in the near future. If we are able to put people into a cryogenic type sleep(def possible) ... This planet could be our last ditch effort to save our species. Sure we might not get there for hundreds of years lol, but we could easily preserve our genes, and spread them at the very least. And that my friend is what life is all about no?

so yes this is a huge discovery... we have just found a place that could help us preserve Earth Life, even if the earth is destroyed. First time in history for that , thats for sure.

09-30-2010, 11:33 PM	#16 (permalink)
Grieves The Worst Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Interstate 8 Posts: 12,084 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 2,569 Thanked 3,114 Times in 1,709 Posts	No wonder 'The Universe' didn't air tonight....They are prolly going feature this on the next ep... __________________ "And no matter what they said dollar is not your friend and it's the feelings that are hard to know are the feelings that all come slow No matter what they said dollar is not your friend and these feelings that so hard to know are the feelings that wont let go No don't let go, till you find a home World Unite and I'll love you forever"

09-30-2010, 11:35 PM	#18 (permalink)
Grieves The Worst Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Interstate 8 Posts: 12,084 Blog Entries: 1 Thanks: 2,569 Thanked 3,114 Times in 1,709 Posts	Seeing and theorizing are two very distinct and differing methods of evaluating existence, this is big news... __________________ "And no matter what they said dollar is not your friend and it's the feelings that are hard to know are the feelings that all come slow No matter what they said dollar is not your friend and these feelings that so hard to know are the feelings that wont let go No don't let go, till you find a home World Unite and I'll love you forever"

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