A Disturbingly Weird Exoplanet System : Othor Games

» Fri May 13, 2011 8:12 pm

http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/02/kepler-new-planets.html?rss=1

» Sat May 28, 2011 8:07 pm

It's not uncommon to find a gas giant orbiting really close to it's sun but to see so many around one star certainly is cool

» Sat May 28, 2011 1:57 pm

Question. What effects will the cutting of NASA's budget and all that jazz have on all these telescopes and such we got floating out there? Was it just the shuttle missions that got scrapped, or is everything NASA being severely downsized?

» Sat May 28, 2011 5:43 pm

Question. What effects will the cutting of NASA's budget and all that jazz have on all these telescopes and such we got floating out there? Was it just the shuttle missions that got scrapped, or is everything NASA being severely downsized?

I don't know what is happening, but worst case, they'll probably sell 'em or something. Though the chances of them trying to sell stuff that doesn't need maintenance is low, unless they hit really dire straights.

» Sat May 28, 2011 8:14 pm

I don't know what is happening, but worst case, they'll probably sell 'em or something. Though the chances of them trying to sell stuff that doesn't need maintenance is low, unless they hit really dire straights.

I dunno bout everyone else, but this whole business with NASA getting cut just leaves a bad taste in mouth. Without progressing further into a forbidden realm, I will leave it at that. A bad taste in my mouth.

» Sat May 28, 2011 7:26 am

I think my local news has there facts a little mixed up. I thought I heard that they had found thousands more exoplanets than expected in galaxies or something, and the chances of one containing some form of life were high. :shrug:

My local news sounds a bit like a troll, lol...

» Sat May 28, 2011 7:31 am

There's more interesting news in the Kepler data released today: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/feb/HQ_11-030_Kepler_Update.html

NASA's Kepler mission has discovered its first Earth-size planet candidates and its first candidates in the habitable zone, a region where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface. Five of the potential planets are near Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of smaller, cooler stars than our sun.

Of the 54 new planet candidates found in the habitable zone, five are near Earth-sized. The remaining 49 habitable zone candidates range from super-Earth size -- up to twice the size of Earth -- to larger than Jupiter.

54! That's a heck of a lot of planets in the habitable zone. Of course the bigger ones are likely to be inhabitable gaseous giants, but I bet you some of them are livable, or at least have habitable moons (Yavin, anyone?).

I'm looking forward to earing more about Kepler's amazing discoveries!

» Sat May 28, 2011 7:01 pm

Not all life forms have to be carbon based. Some could learn to adapt on gaseous planets:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothetical_types_of_biochemistry