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re: So what is NASA announcing Wednesday?
Posted on 2/22/17 at 7:28 pm to Commander Data
Posted on 2/22/17 at 7:28 pm to Commander Data
quote:
This was a pretty big discovery in the amount of habitable planets or possible habitable planets. I suspect that there are innumerable amounts of similar systems throughout the galaxy.
I agree. It's another indication of how common earth-sized exoplanets are in the galaxy. The rough estimate of 33 billion may have to be revised upward if Trappist-1 is representative of brown dwarf systems.
quote:
This is a great time to be alive.
Indeed it is. For those of us who are interested in science, that is. We are in a golden age of technology and most people seem indifferent to the blizzard of advances we're seeing daily. That troubles me.
Hopefully it's just a blip on the chart for human evolution but there seems to be a strong current of anti-intellectualism, especially in the U.S. I'd hate to see anti-science laws enacted that might slow down the inevitable development of artificial intelligence.
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I suspect that there are innumerable amounts of similar systems throughout the galaxy.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, we may be disappointed with what the James Webb Space Telescope finds in the Trappist-1 system. If the star is a typical brown dwarf, it's youth was quite turbulent. That it's calm now is encouraging but damage to the atmospheres of the system's exoplanets may have been done long ago.
All of the exoplanets are rocky and earth-sized so their gravities are comparable to that of our world. Hopefully that means that Trappist-1 didn't desiccate any of the world's that had lots of water. The amount of water on some of the exoplanets there may be significant. There's only speculation at the moment but if the system formed in a manner similar to that of our solar system, there was plenty of water ice included.
Therefore, considering that Trappist-1 is only barely bigger than Jupiter, it may not have blown away all, or even most of the large oceans on the exoplanets. In fact, many of the scientists involved with investigating the system are saying that all of the seven exoplanets in the system could have liquid water. That's amazing.
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Posted on 2/23/17 at 3:45 am to Kentucker
The only disappointment so far is that I saw last night where most of the planets are tidally locked. Still a huge discovery.
Posted on 2/23/17 at 7:33 am to BloodSweat&Beers
No one finds it amazing at how a civilization that existed thousands of years ago seemed to know more about our solar system than we thought. How is that.
Posted on 2/23/17 at 9:48 am to Commander Data
quote:
The only disappointment so far is that I saw last night where most of the planets are tidally locked. Still a huge discovery.
While tidal locking seems to be typical of planets that rotate close to their stars, it isn't yet conclusive that all of Trappist-1's worlds are locked. Of the three exoplanets in Trappist-1's habitable zone, T-1g is the furthest out and may not be locked in its orbit. That's a reasonable assessment given the Trappist-1 system's age and T-1g's size, which is 13% bigger than earth.
In our own system, Mercury and Venus are locked in their orbits about the sun. Venus rotates just once per orbit and Mercury rotates three times for every two times it goes around our star, a 3:2 resonance. Even closer to home, the Moon is tidally locked to the earth.
We're lucky to be 93 million miles from the sun. Our rotational speed is slowing down, of course, but that's largely because of the effect of the Moon.
Yes, the discoveries related to Trappist-1 are huge. Seven earth-sized planets alone makes the system notable, but that three of the exoplanets are within the habitable zone compels us to study them intensely.
This post was edited on 2/23/17 at 2:36 pm
Posted on 2/23/17 at 2:09 pm to cas4t
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Probably a habitable exoplanet 300 light years away
I'd like to take this time to say "I got really close"
Posted on 2/23/17 at 2:34 pm to cas4t
At least you were thinking along the right line. Posted on 2/23/17 at 6:36 pm to Kentucker
Will we detect intelligent life in our lifetimes? I doubt it but I am holding out hope. It's pretty selfish and naive to believe that our earth was the only place that life evolved on. Even if you believe in intelligent design the same applies. Why build a universe so big you can't comprehend it or barely describe it with mathematics if you were only going to create life on our tiny pebble? I don't know when we will confirm it but it's there.
Posted on 2/23/17 at 7:56 pm to Commander Data
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Will we detect intelligent life in our lifetimes? I doubt it but I am holding out hope.
I'm a devout reductionist and I'm currently studying life from a biochemical standpoint. In this regard, life is an enabler of metabolism. A much more efficient enabler than nonliving processes, in fact.
A quick conclusion from this viewpoint is that life is ubiquitous wherever it can act as an efficient catalyst for metabolizing complex molecules to simpler ones. Also from this viewpoint, life is nothing more than a chemical process that will occur naturally wherever possible.
Therefore, I think it's definite that we will discover extraterrestrial life very soon. If we look for it from the above viewpoint, that is.
Of course, we know that life has gotten far more complex than just a catalyst for natural metabolism on our planet. How and why can't be answered just yet but it's logical to think that it's for a similar natural reason.
While simple life may occur everywhere possible, very complex or intelligent life may require a much more exclusive environment. Much, much more. In fact there's no reason to think intelligent species are common. We could very well be the only sentient beings.
Posted on 2/24/17 at 12:31 pm to Kentucker
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40 light years from earth,
Is that pretty close? In terms of the universe, solar systems, light years and space?
I really like these topics but admit I am just a casual reader on these topics and only know enough to be dangerous. LOL
Posted on 2/24/17 at 2:52 pm to spacewrangler
Well, don't feel alone in being awed by space! It's far bigger than we can even imagine. That's why we use relative terms such as light years. While none of us can perceive 6 trillion miles, which is the distance light travels in a year, at least it's a basic measure of space on which we can build concepts of distance.
That said, yes, Trappist-1 one is very close to us relatively speaking. It's so close that we'll be able to analyze the atmospheres of its planets with the James Webb Space Telescope that launches next year.
Of course, although it takes light only about 40 years to reach us, we would need about 825,000 years to travel the same distance with our current technology. We're still primitive beings regarding space travel.
That said, yes, Trappist-1 one is very close to us relatively speaking. It's so close that we'll be able to analyze the atmospheres of its planets with the James Webb Space Telescope that launches next year.
Of course, although it takes light only about 40 years to reach us, we would need about 825,000 years to travel the same distance with our current technology. We're still primitive beings regarding space travel.
Posted on 2/24/17 at 3:29 pm to Kentucker
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Therefore, I think it's definite that we will discover extraterrestrial life very soon.
We will discover it within ten years for sure. Maybe by accident, but it's very close.
Posted on 2/24/17 at 10:45 pm to StrawsDrawnAtRandom
Yes, very soon. With so many scientists now interested in finding ET life it may be just a matter of months. As Com. Data said, it's an exciting time to be alive.
Posted on 2/25/17 at 9:46 am to Commander Data
They want to address the Kyrie Irving comments
Posted on 2/26/17 at 11:00 pm to Commander Data
They found a planet that can contain life and NASA in cooperation with the EU will start deporting all Muslims there.
The catch is: the planet cannot really support life. But they won't know that until it's too late
The catch is: the planet cannot really support life. But they won't know that until it's too late
Posted on 2/26/17 at 11:26 pm to Kentucker
Isn't the Tunguska meteor the one that created the Nazi zombies?
Posted on 2/27/17 at 1:45 pm to deltaland
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They found a planet that can contain life and NASA in cooperation with the EU will start deporting all Muslims there.
That would be great. I feel kind of guilty about it but I would support this.
Posted on 3/6/17 at 12:47 am to Commander Data
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Doesn't work that way. Can't work that way.
They have had unannounced launces in tbe past...to say it was just a satellite.
Posted on 3/6/17 at 2:17 am to deltaland
If the next one lands on college station will they be butt zombies?
Also, if this dwarf is throwing off tons radiation and life still managed to form that would be pretty crazy. Could really shake things up biologically. I'm thinking rock hard skin, stunted growth, and beady eyes. Let's be real here.
Also, if this dwarf is throwing off tons radiation and life still managed to form that would be pretty crazy. Could really shake things up biologically. I'm thinking rock hard skin, stunted growth, and beady eyes. Let's be real here.
This post was edited on 3/6/17 at 3:35 am
Posted on 3/6/17 at 12:06 pm to hogNsinceReagan
quote:
If the next one lands on college station will they be butt zombies?
More like dick vampires
Posted on 3/9/17 at 6:23 pm to Kentucker
If they do find intelligent life, how long you think before they tell the public...if they even say something at all.
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