Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Planetary Discovery around Ultracool Star (Earth-sized planet found 13,000 ly away!)
Centauri Dreams ^ | 4/28/17 | Paul Gilster

Posted on 04/28/2017 11:11:16 PM PDT by LibWhacker

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last
Wow, I've heard of gravitational lensing, but never microlensing. This is only the third planet they've ever discovered with the technique (in 10 years or so of trying!). So it's not too embarrassing that I've never heard of it. If you're similarly in the dark, here's a cool little layman's intro. I particularly liked their discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of microlensing. Enjoy!

Illustrates how the introduction of a planet can complicate ordinary gravitational lensing.

1 posted on 04/28/2017 11:11:17 PM PDT by LibWhacker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

Voyager is traveling at eleven miles per second. How long would t take to get there.


2 posted on 04/28/2017 11:21:05 PM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

13,000LY may as well be 13 billion Ly away given our current technology


3 posted on 04/28/2017 11:21:37 PM PDT by GraceG ("It's better to have all the Right Enemies, that it is to have all the Wrong Friends.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

So far away has to be cold as, well cold.


4 posted on 04/28/2017 11:24:37 PM PDT by Beowulf9
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

Voyager was of course not designed to travel to other stars. But, given time, it could. In this case a mere 220 million years. It’s battery is already dying, however.


5 posted on 04/28/2017 11:37:38 PM PDT by Telepathic Intruder
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: BenLurkin

(13000 x 6000000000000) / (11 x 3600 x 24 x 365) = 225 million years. But no one is talking about going there yet, thank goodness!


6 posted on 04/29/2017 12:09:45 AM PDT by LibWhacker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

It is strange that with all the possible planets that could support intelligent life, that not one has been found that has generated that type of electromagnetic transmission we call radio.


7 posted on 04/29/2017 1:20:57 AM PDT by jonrick46 (The Left has a mental illness: A totalitarian psyche.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jonrick46

Life-bearing planets may be exceedingly rare and we just haven’t seen one yet. Thus, no radio signals. Also, radio signals used for terrestrial communication aren’t powerful enough to be easily detected that far out in interstellar space.


8 posted on 04/29/2017 1:38:21 AM PDT by LibWhacker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

And another 250 million years for a to get back here.


9 posted on 04/29/2017 4:02:14 AM PDT by MNDude (God is not a Republican, but Satan is certainly a Democratt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

We keep looking in the radiation bands for communication methods. Because the speed of light is finite these don’t seem to be the most efficient for light year distance communications. A extra terrestrial species with the ability to communicate outside of their own space could be communicating in an entirely different manner. Maybe they’ve untangled the nature of ‘dark matter’ or have mastered interdimensional access.

My point is that the galaxy could be densely populated and we wouldn’t know it because we’re only considering that life will communicate on the EM radiation band. But the universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it’s much more strange than we have the capacity to imagine.


10 posted on 04/29/2017 4:14:41 AM PDT by Samurai_Jack (War is cruelty, there is no use trying to reform it; the crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

Mamma always said, with microlensing, you never know what you’re going to come up with.

11 posted on 04/29/2017 4:35:15 AM PDT by Flick Lives
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jonrick46
It is strange that with all the possible planets that could support intelligent life, that not one has been found that has generated that type of electromagnetic transmission we call radio.

Several factors work against detecting extraterrestrial radio transmissions.

One is it requires a tool-building species. There may be many alien species with high intelligence on other planets, but if they're not tool-builders, we'll never detect them. Think of a species like whales. Apparently quite intelligent. They even have music. But with those little flippers they have it makes it difficult to build anything.

Another factor is radio transmissions simply are not powerful enough and they get scattered and absorbed over interstellar distances.

The third factor is the narrow time-band where a civilization may actually use radio transmission. On Earth, we've been using radio transmission for about a century, a tiny fraction of time on a cosmic scale. Other alien races may have ascended, declined, and extinguished themselves millions of years before.

It is rather cool to speculate on however small the chance, of picking up the alien equivalent of "I Love Lucy" from some alien world.

12 posted on 04/29/2017 4:49:55 AM PDT by Flick Lives
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Samurai_Jack

Yep, it’s like looking for smoke signals... Ain’t gonna find any.


13 posted on 04/29/2017 4:53:21 AM PDT by LibWhacker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Flick Lives
I love this graphic:


14 posted on 04/29/2017 5:00:45 AM PDT by LibWhacker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

Cool graphic. And this is just our own galaxy. One among 100 billion!


15 posted on 04/29/2017 5:29:38 AM PDT by Flick Lives
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

I wish there was a planet that would accept liberals, like Soros, Al Gore, Michael Moore and Leonardo DiCaprio. But then, if they do have INTELLIGENT LIFE, they would be CONSERVATIVE!!!


16 posted on 04/29/2017 5:57:54 AM PDT by Deplorable American1776 (Proud to be a DeplorableAmerican with a Deplorable Family...even the dog is DEPLORABLE :-))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

Only 13000 light years away. They write like it’s doable.


17 posted on 04/29/2017 8:18:20 AM PDT by lurk (TEat)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

You forgot to factor in leap years. Shaves a whole lot of time off that trip!


18 posted on 04/29/2017 9:17:16 AM PDT by Moltke (Reasoning with a liberal is like watering a rock in the hope to grow a building)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker

If that little spot is us, who took that photo????


19 posted on 04/29/2017 9:20:49 AM PDT by Moltke (Reasoning with a liberal is like watering a rock in the hope to grow a building)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: LibWhacker
How "ultracool" is it?


20 posted on 04/29/2017 9:28:44 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-24 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson