NASA is making a big announcement about an exoplanet Thursday

[DaFace]

Press conference is tomorrow at 11am Central. And a ton of money just got thrown at SETI. Coincidence?

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/...et-annoucement

Nasa may have found the most Earth-like planet to date

The US space agency is holding a press conference tomorrow, 23 July, to reveal the latest discoveries of its exoplanet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope. The scope, launched in 2009, seeks out planets that reside in the habitable zone, known colloquially as the Goldilocks zone. Planets in this location orbit their star at a safe enough distance to potentially host liquid water on their surface. The majority of the planets identified by Kepler have been giant gas planets, akin to Jupiter in our own Solar System, with only eight being less than twice Earth's size and in the Goldilocks zone. It's suspected that the Nasa announcement could confirm the identification of the most Earth-like planet to date.

"Exoplanets, especially small Earth-size worlds, belonged within the realm of science fiction just 21 years ago. Today, and thousands of discoveries later, astronomers are on the cusp of finding something people have dreamed about for thousands of years -- another Earth," a Nasa release teases, before confirming that Kepler's data analysis lead Jon Jenkins and Kepler research scientist Jeff Coughlin would be in attendance.

Kepler has already confirmed more than 1,000 exoplanets and 3,000 planet candidates using something called the transit method. The 0.95m-diameter telescope monitors the brightness of around 100,000 stars, looking for any dimming. That dimming occurs when a planet passes behind its star in orbit. Nasa compares that change in light to "the drop in brightness of a car's headlight when a fruitfly moves in front of it" -- hence, very few have been found to date. If Kepler identifies one instance, that is then repeated at regular intervals, a planet is confirmed. Planet size and temperature is estimated based on the intervals between transits, which in turn lets us know what the chances are it's habitable. The Kepler research team has also worked with crowdsourcing initiative Zooniverse to build Planet Hunters, a platform that allows the public to look for changes in brightness themselves.

Earlier this year Kepler found another eight new planets in the Goldilocks zone, doubling the number of exoplanets found that have a diameter less that double Earth's. "We're now closer than we've ever been for finding a twin for Earth," astronomer Fergal Mullally of the Kepler Science Office said at the time.

The two most Earth-like planets in this new discovery were named Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b, but both were larger than Earth and orbiting red dwarf stars far cooler than our own Sun. Nevertheless, it was calculated that the planets had a 60-70 percent chance of being rocky like Earth. This is one of the key factors planetary scientists seek out since, more often than not, the Earth-like exoplanets Kepler identifies are gaseous. The planets were given a 70 and 97 percent chance of being in the habitable zone, respectively. But like the "Earth-like" planets before them, both receive far more or less light than our own planet -- 40 percent more and two-thirds less respectively.

The fact that Nasa is holding a press conference on the news, rather than it being released to the public via research papers as has often been the case in the past, suggests the mission may have discovered a candidate that even more closely resembles our own planet.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

There are Christian fundamentalists who already call them demons regardless of whatever they end up being (if they end up being, of course...). There are fringe areas in the already fringe UFO field where you can see people spouting stuff like this all the time, stating that any "disclosure" would just be a tool of the antichrist, and any aliens presented to the public are connected with Lucifer.

That's perfect. Perfectly illustrates my point.

It's not like billions of devout religious people worldwide would drop to their knees, crying out in anguish or become God-less thieves, murderers, rapists all of a sudden. They'd find some way to continue believing what they want to believe.

[Rain Man]

It would be interesting to see the collision between aliens and devout religion.

I suspect that religion would survive relatively intact somehow. You look at dinosaurs and fossils, and they directly contraindicate statements in the Bible. I don't know a lot about this, so others may have a more informed opinion, but it seems to me like it changed the way a lot of reasonable and religious people interpreted the Bible, and they now read it more as an allegorical or metaphorical document than an actual "word of god" that is literal. Those folks would probably do the same in the case of aliens.

There's a second group of people who are Bible literalists. I don't know how they fit dinosaurs into that worldview because it's a pretty direct conflict, but I figure they'll fit aliens in the same way. For this group, the alien scenario has already happened, and their religious beliefs survived intact.

[RustShack]

So what was the announcement?

What if we go to this other world and they are so far behind in technology, and we are the aliens?

To we take it over and move them all to Oklahoma?

[RobBlake]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

It would be interesting to see the collision between aliens and devout religion.

I suspect that religion would survive relatively intact somehow. You look at dinosaurs and fossils, and they directly contraindicate statements in the Bible. I don't know a lot about this, so others may have a more informed opinion, but it seems to me like it changed the way a lot of reasonable and religious people interpreted the Bible, and they now read it more as an allegorical or metaphorical document than an actual "word of god" that is literal. Those folks would probably do the same in the case of aliens.

There's a second group of people who are Bible literalists. I don't know how they fit dinosaurs into that worldview because it's a pretty direct conflict, but I figure they'll fit aliens in the same way. For this group, the alien scenario has already happened, and their religious beliefs survived intact.

the Bible account in the first chapter of Genesis simply states the general order of creation. It allows for possibly thousands of millions of years for the formation of the earth and many millenniums in six creative eras, or “days,” to prepare the earth for human habitation.
Some dinosaurs (and pterosaurs) may indeed have been created in the fifth era listed in Genesis, when the Bible says that God made “flying creatures” and “great sea monsters.” Perhaps other types of dinosaurs were created in the sixth epoch. The vast array of dinosaurs with their huge appetites would have been appropriate considering the abundant vegetation that evidently existed in their time.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by RobBlake

incorrect

I'm pretty sure that dinosaurs are real. Or is this about something else?

[eDave]

Originally Posted by ThaVirus

That's perfect. Perfectly illustrates my point.

It's not like billions of devout religious people worldwide would drop to their knees, crying out in anguish or become God-less thieves, murderers, rapists all of a sudden. They'd find some way to continue believing what they want to believe.

Aliens can't melt steel beams.

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

There are Christian fundamentalists who already call them demons regardless of whatever they end up being (if they end up being, of course...). There are fringe areas in the already fringe UFO field where you can see people spouting stuff like this all the time, stating that any "disclosure" would just be a tool of the antichrist, and any aliens presented to the public are connected with Lucifer.

I can't WAIT to be the Aztecs!

[beach tribe]

NASA estimates 1 billion ‘Earths’ in our galaxy alone

There are a billion Earths in this galaxy, roughly speaking. Not a million. A billion. We’re talking 1 billion rocky planets that are approximately the size of the Earth and are orbiting familiar-looking yellow-sunshine stars in the orbital “habitable zone” where water could be liquid at the surface.

That’s a billion planets where human beings, or their genetically modified descendants, as well as their dogs and cats and tomato plants and crepe myrtle trees and ladybugs and earthworms and whatnot, could plausibly live.

The estimate comes from NASA scientist Natalie Batalha. Let’s go through some background information to see how she got to that number.

As Rachel Feltman reported Thursday, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has discovered a bunch of new planets, including one, Kepler 452b, that scientists described as the most Earth-like planet ever found outside our solar system. It’s something like 60 percent bigger in radius than the Earth (the exact size is hard to measure because it’s 1,400 light years away and cannot be directly imaged). But it’s probably rocky, and it's in the habitable zone of its parent star, which is like our own sun, a G-type “yellow dwarf” star. The parent star is 6 billion years old, roughly (everything’s “roughly,” unfortunately).

A few important reminders about our cousin Kepler 452b:

No one has seen it. Only Kepler has detected it — it’s too far away and dim to be detected with other instruments so far. So there’s a lot we don’t know about it. We don’t know for sure whether it’s rocky. We don’t know whether it has an atmosphere or water at the surface or anything like that. We’ve seen only the dimming of the starlight from the host star. The pattern of that dimming gives us a good measure of its orbital period (385 days) and, less precisely, its size. We’re not even sure of the exact size of the host star. These objects are very far away.


There is a video and more information at the site:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/s...r-galaxy-alone

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by Sweet Daddy Williams

I can't WAIT to be the Aztecs!

If that's the way it's gonna be Id rather be Cortés

[cmh6476]

Originally Posted by ottawa_chiefs_fan

So would there be two Adam and Eve's then?

or maybe adam and steve

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by Hog Farmer

Well, it sure looks like it. **** , supposed to be here in December, just when we finally have a good if not great team.

http://www.nibiruupdate.com/

Planet X is tugging at Uranus. Sorry. I couldn't read any more after that.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by RobBlake

the Bible account in the first chapter of Genesis simply states the general order of creation. It allows for possibly thousands of millions of years for the formation of the earth and many millenniums in six creative eras, or “days,” to prepare the earth for human habitation.
Some dinosaurs (and pterosaurs) may indeed have been created in the fifth era listed in Genesis, when the Bible says that God made “flying creatures” and “great sea monsters.” Perhaps other types of dinosaurs were created in the sixth epoch. The vast array of dinosaurs with their huge appetites would have been appropriate considering the abundant vegetation that evidently existed in their time.

Suppose we are existing right now on the 7th day.

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by KINGPIN CHIEFS FAN

Maybe if we left right now on a spaceship, by the time we get to our destination the Chiefs will have another Superbowl trophy.

We could probably get there and watch the year 1405 of the five year plan finally pay off with the 673rd QB we traded for from San Francisco.

[Dave Lane]

Originally Posted by RobBlake

the Bible account in the first chapter of Genesis simply states the general order of creation. It allows for possibly thousands of millions of years for the formation of the earth and many millenniums in six creative eras, or “days,” to prepare the earth for human habitation.
Some dinosaurs (and pterosaurs) may indeed have been created in the fifth era listed in Genesis, when the Bible says that God made “flying creatures” and “great sea monsters.” Perhaps other types of dinosaurs were created in the sixth epoch. The vast array of dinosaurs with their huge appetites would have been appropriate considering the abundant vegetation that evidently existed in their time.

You do know there are two versions in your infallible book right?

[MagicHef]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Quote from website:

First you have to understand that we might be part of a binary solar system. NASA just found a binary solar system last year. It would explain the earth’s wobble which is still unexplained today. Would it be too far off to believe that a planet can share both solar systems?


I may not be the most attentive guy in the world, but I'm certain that I would have noticed a second sun by now.

I've always been told not to look at the sun. Now I'm wondering why.