'Super Earth' Discovered at Nearby Star

Space.com ^ | 8/25/04 | Robert Roy Britt

[hattend]

It's a super-Mercury, instead of a super Earth.

I was going to say essentially the same thing.

[SamAdams76]

My personal belief is that there are countless Earth-like planet out there in the universe with a great many of them containing intelligent life.

However, I also believe that we will never make contact with any of them (nor they with us) on account of the light barrier. I do not believe the light barrier will be conquered by any form of intelligent life and the many thousands of light-years to get from place to place at sub-light speeds will make intergalactic travel impractical because all living things have a finite life span.

[Old Professer]

I wasn't looking, I spend a bit of time on weather sites; an old habit from my days as a meteorological research assistant.

[7.62 x 51mm]

Just what I was thinking.

[hattend]

So something BIG is happening with Mars? and they are not giving us the whole story?

You have no idea ;-)

[BulletBobCo]

So a year is every ten days. Elections there occur every forty days. Mass 14 times that here.....Ted Kennedy would weigh..............

[Focault's Pendulum]

Intersting find. I imagine the "cool" side might have a chance to develop life if there's no rotation.

Actually it would have to happen on its vertical equatorial line. Sort of like Larry Niven's Ringworld off it's diet.

[RightWhale]

There may be a conference in Italy in about a month where an announcement of some kind may be made.

Or not.

[Bogey78O]

I imagine it would depend upon it's atmosphere. If it had a nice solid atmosphere convection could help it considering the tremenous temperaures on the sun side.

But then again we know that there are certain organisms that thrive in extreme temperatures.

[norton]

Yeesss...
It's unexpected.
But why is it not an "oddball" such as the "trio of roughly Earth-sized planets [that] was found in 2002 to orbit a dense stellar corpse..."?
Also have to agree that it is more a super-Mercury than an earth, I thought one basic qualification for being like earth was the ability to support evolving organic life forms...like earth.

Rocks seem common to the internal planets of a system, not just "earth".

[Bogey78O]

I'm just saying that because of the likelihood that any Earth type would be invisible to our instruments. We'd have to get a lot closer. Invariably we'd find somehting if we explored every system up close.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Very likely. Especially as detection gets better. It's still hard to see the small (Earth-sized) ones.

[shield]

bmp

[maro]

Isn't it Superman's home world?

[Joe Hadenuf]

Agree, see 52....

[RightWhale]

This one is the smallest found so far. 14 times the size of earth, diameter, I guess. Only 50 lightyears away, we could just pop over there. In a few years the planet finder telescope will be launched and we will probably be buried in data. Thousands of small rocky planets and maybe some have water and oxygen. Could be.

[Frapster]

which is why I moved back to Indiana! hehe

[Focault's Pendulum]

But then again we know that there are certain organisms that thrive in extreme temperatures.

I have been admonished by the Mods not to respond to straight lines.

It usually results in me violating about a hundred copywright laws......getting me banned...or breaking the internet.

So somebody else take a turn.

[Doc On The Bay]

"SIGH!"

At the "Turn of the Century," the "Greatest Physicists of the Time" Predicted that "All Great Physical Principles Had been Discovered."

Then Came "Atomic Theory & Radium, ETC.!"

We can NEVER BELIEVE that we "KNOW" the Farthest Extent of "Human Knowlege!"

Considering our Discoveries of "Life" in EXTREME Conditions, we can NEVER "Rule out" the Possibility of "Life," ANYWHERE!!

We ARE--as a Species--COMPELLED to Find Other Life; The MERE POSSIBILITY of "Life" Elsewhere is a "Siren Song" that we MUST Follow!!

Doc

[KevinDavis]

It is only a matter time when we a Earth like planet.