Scientists Find Earth-Like Planet

[ZacFields]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/04/2 ... index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/04/25/habitable.planet.ap/index.html)

This has been a very important discovery that has instantly been featured on news stations all over the world. European scientists have discovered a planet who's temperatures are very similar to earth. They estimate the average temperature there is between 32 and 104 degrees fahrenheit. This is an almost exact clone of earth's temperatures.

They also think that this planet could have water like earth does. If this is the case, it is very likely that this planet has life that could be very similar to that of life on earth.

I think this is a neat discussion to have. What do you think life would be like on this planet?

The gravity is 1.6 times that on earth. So you would imagine that the large animals would be even larger. I wonder if they would look like the animals here on earth?

I'm interested to see what findings pop up in years to come.

Zac

[TbTalon94]

The "life-forms" might not necessarily be bigger. They would probably be stronger and faster then us when being in each other's environments. I'm very interested in other forms of life outside of earth. I strongly believe there is something out there. Not necessarily Extra-Terrestrial beings, or other humans or whatever. Just a life-form of any kind. Might not even be carbon based.

Makes everyone think.

[ZacFields]

Could you even imagine being lucky enough to be on a manned-trip to this planet for the first time?

For some reason I envision a planet like earth but with much much more water and much less land. So most of what you would be looking for would be in the water.

What if the lifeforms there are much like the life-forms on earth? Like fish and whales, dolphins, sharks etc... but they just are shaped way differently. Maybe bigger. Maybe there are insects on the planet... like flies that are the size of large birds.

The story kinda depresses me though, as it is extremely unlikely that there would ever be a manned trip to the planet in my lifetime so I may never know what exactly is there. Not to mention we currrently do not have technology that could propel something at the speed of light. But even if we did, it would take 20 years to get there. In other words, if they sent me there when I was born, I would have just gotten there a little over a year ago.

Zac

[Talon92Fox]

I'd jump at the opportunity to go to another planet thats similar to Earth, or any planet for that matter. They're also saying that it has an atmosphere. I think this type of stuff is amazing to think about, like what Zac said, thinking of how life would be on a different planet, but same characteristics basically. I knew they would find something like this eventually, I didn't think they would this soon though. I'll be looking forward to seeing the updates on it.

[DustinsDuster]

In other words, if they sent me there when I was born, I would have just gotten there a little over a year ago.

Zac

that means you never wouldve taken over CR:u, and that would suck. honestly, i hope we never get there. its bad enough we destroyed this planet, but if the planet is that much similar to ours, it would only be a matter of time before we colonized it, claimed it ours, or maybe even start mining the the planet for its fuels and other resources.

i really hate to say it, but it seems to me it's just become our nature over time....

[ZacFields]

LoL @ Dustin.

Here are some interesting thoughts to ponder:

1. Imagine landing on this planet in the first manned mission there and getting out of your ship. The FIRST human to ever step foot on a planet that theoretically should look just like ours, but (theoretically again) completely untainted. Imagine seeing a bird or some other flying animal unbeknown to you flying overhead.

2. What if it became possible for anyone to travel to this location? And lets say an asteroid was on direct collision course with earth and the only solution would be for every nation to build as many spaceships as possible and launch everyone on earth over to this new planet before the asteroid hits.

3. They say this planet may not "rotate" like earth. So it's always daylight on one side and always dark on one side. If you had your choice, which side would you live on? And what do you think people would do to adapt to it always being dark?

4. Since this planet is orbiting a red dwarf star, there are a couple things about it that would be very different from earth's sun. First, the planet is MUCH closer to it's star than earth is to the sun. Thus, if you were there and you looked up to the sky, the star would be HUGE in the sky. It would probably look 5-10 times larger than our sun.

5. Also, since it's orbiting a red dwarf star, the light on the planet would be a lot dimmer than light on earth, and would probably have a reddish tint. It would be similar to what it looks like at sunset all the time.

6. What if there were people there that look very similar to people on earth? What would that suggest about where humans really truly came from?

Just some fun thoughts for you to ponder.

Zac

[DustinsDuster]

2. What if it became possible for anyone to travel to this location? And lets say an asteroid was on direct collision course with earth and the only solution would be for every nation to build as many spaceships as possible and launch everyone on earth over to this new planet before the asteroid hits.


kindof what i was talking about; "our planet was fucked, so we decided to come to yours". if there were intellegent life forms there, i have no doubt we could be polite and get along with them, but then again, Christopher Columbus was polite when he met the "Indians" too...

[Scott]

Theres only one thing Im thinking about now, 1.6 times the gravity!! thats awesome, MORE TRACTION!!!! but Dustin why do you think using the planets resources and stuff would be bad, I mean obviously our planet isnt going to last forever and when this one gets used up everyone is either gonna die or go somewhere else, I would vote on going somewhere else.. and since when did you turn into a tree hugger?? I mean you drive an old carburated duster, if you cared that much should you be driving an electric car or something

[ZacFields]

^ Yeah. What "ruins" this planet is cars that we drive, factories that we work in to afford to buy the cars. I prefer life the way it is now rather than caveman life.

Colonization is a prime example of "survival of the fittest." We know how to take care of our own and keep the species alive better than any form of live we've ever encountered. I don't see a problem with that. Plus I took a class recently called "environmental sciences." The amount of progress we've made toward being more "environment friendly" is honestly staggering. I always hear people complaining about how we're ruining the world and stuff like that.... but everything I learned in that class told me that we're rapidly ruining the world *less and less* everyday. Technological advances with things like vehicles, factories, etc have made that all possible. Things are much better now than they were before.

Zac

[Scott]

I heard once that a single cow and how much it shit and farts all the time pollutes more than a "average driven car" does.. I dont know where I heard this but I thought it was kinda funny, but damn the amount of smell that cows put out I really dont doubt that at all..

[DustinsDuster]

i will not deny i have conflicting views, but i just dont like the idea of invasion like that, thats how it seems to me. seems very similar to "Independance day" in my mind...

[Phantez]

The "life-forms" might not necessarily be bigger. They would probably be stronger and faster then us when being in each other's environments.

If we ever meet any life forms there, we better hope they're friendly lol

[DustinsDuster]

[quote="TbTalon94";p="125395":e0e28]The "life-forms" might not necessarily be bigger. They would probably be stronger and faster then us when being in each other's environments.

If we ever meet any life forms there, we better hope they're friendly lol[/quote:e0e28]

i have a feeling you wont have to worry about it ever....

[ZacFields]

If it were possible for us to travel at the speed of light, and that remains to be seen, it wouldn't actually take 20 years to get there.

Due to einstein's theory of reletivity, someone traveling near the speed of light toward that planet, it would take about 9 years for them to get there. It would be 20 years earth-time, but the astronauts inside would only age 9 years.

Sounds really trippy because we currently don't travel at the speed of light, nor do we have anything that can travel that fast but light and radio signals.

Wanna hear something neat, though? Theoretically if they sent a 20 year old astronaut to this newly discovered planet, and that 20 year old astronaut had a 1 year old baby. The astronaut would travel there and back, and when he got back his child would be 40 years old (20 earth years to get there and 20 earth years to get back), and the astronaut (the child's father) would be 38 years old, because the entire trip (there and back) would have only aged him 18 years. Due to the theory of relativity.

Thus, when the astronaut came home, his child would be two years older than he.

Zac

[DustinsDuster]

all i have to say is, ignorance is bliss...

[ZacFields]

Man if I were smarter I'd have been an astronomer, or a physicist. That's where the good shit is. I'm pretty excited for the day we create something that can travel at the speed of light.

Zac

[DustinsDuster]

Man if I were smarter I'd have been an astronomer, or a physicist. That's where the good shit is. I'm pretty excited for the day we create something that can travel at the speed of light.

Zac

i am skeptical if we will ever see that in our lifetimes. just because of the way they viewed the future to be like back in the 50's, and its nothing like that. i always loved the begining of the original Transformers movie, when it says "the year is 2005; humans have already colonized Mars and several of its moons..."

i giggle every time i hear it.

[ZacFields]

I think people always want to think that the world will be "futuristic" in 20 years from now. But the problem is that governments of the world are more concerned about putting money in places to keep people safe, keep people fed, and other projects. Not enough spending goes into funding projects such as space travel and experimental vehicles.

I think we very well could have colonized the moon by now. Mars.... not too sure about. I hear it gets to like negative 300 degrees on that planet sometimes. Just a little chilly for me. But I do think that if we were putting money in different places, we could be a lot further technologically than we are.

It is still funny to see what people though the year 2000 would be like 20 or 30 years ago. I see it in movies all the time and I always crack up. "Nah, i'm just sitting here on my couch in my underwear. And my car still rolls on the ground rather than hovers."

Zac