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Top 10 List of Habitable Stars to Guide Search
space.com ^ | 02/21/06 | Ker Than

Posted on 02/21/2006 8:26:19 PM PST by KevinDavis

The search for alien life outside our solar system has been made a little less daunting thanks to a new list drawn up by astronomer Margaret Turnbull that includes the known stars most likely to support habitable stellar systems.

Turnbull, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institute of Washington, listed 10 of what she believes are likely to be habitable stellar systems, or “habstars,” capable of supporting Earth-like planets and life. The list was presented at the recent annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in St. Louis.

Five of the stars on the list are thought of as good candidates for SETI astronomers seeking only to listen for radio signals from intelligent alien civilizations. They will be included in a list of targets for the Allen Telescope Array, a network of 42 linked radio dishes that is expected to go online this spring in California.

The other five are for NASA’s Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF), a planned space telescope that would attempt to directly image Earth-like planets around nearby stars. The TPF mission was scheduled for launch around 2016, but is currently on hold indefinitely, according to NASA’s 2007 budget plan.

(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: artbell; exoplanets; space; xplanets
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1 posted on 02/21/2006 8:26:20 PM PST by KevinDavis
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To: RightWhale; Brett66; xrp; gdc314; anymouse; NonZeroSum; jimkress; discostu; The_Victor; ...

2 posted on 02/21/2006 8:26:46 PM PST by KevinDavis (http://www.cafepress.com/spacefuture)
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To: KevinDavis

I love your graphic!


3 posted on 02/21/2006 8:28:03 PM PST by Howlin ("Quick, he's bleeding! Is there a <strike>doctor</strike> reporter in the house?")
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To: KevinDavis
Top 10 List of Habitable Stars to Guide Search

I dunno, I looked at the various propectuses, and all of those stars look a wee bit hot for my tastes. I'd rather a planet than a star any day.

4 posted on 02/21/2006 8:29:28 PM PST by coloradan (Failing to protect the liberties of your enemies establishes precedents that will reach to yourself.)
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To: Howlin; All

Thanks!! Since it is GW birhtday tomorrow, I figure what the heck...


5 posted on 02/21/2006 8:29:31 PM PST by KevinDavis (http://www.cafepress.com/spacefuture)
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To: KevinDavis

I think you should keep using it!


6 posted on 02/21/2006 8:30:37 PM PST by Howlin ("Quick, he's bleeding! Is there a <strike>doctor</strike> reporter in the house?")
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To: KevinDavis
Life on other planets - oh, please. Is that some sort of silly Earthling joke?

Oops...

7 posted on 02/21/2006 8:31:20 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: KevinDavis

With current technology - I dunno... let's say ion propulsion - how long would it take to do a fly-by of another star system? Basically, just send a probe to take lots of data, then zip around it and coast back to earth? (Or not even come back, just send signals back...)


8 posted on 02/21/2006 8:32:46 PM PST by SteveMcKing
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To: KevinDavis

The Universe is vast. I am pretty sure there is life on other star systems. They likely will resemble life on Earth, not the freakish ones we see in movies.


9 posted on 02/21/2006 8:32:49 PM PST by Ptarmigan (Proud bunny hater and killer)
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To: Howlin; All

It will be back around July 4th...


10 posted on 02/21/2006 8:32:56 PM PST by KevinDavis (http://www.cafepress.com/spacefuture)
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To: SteveMcKing; All

Your right with the current technology it would take a long time. However, with advances I say within the next 50 years, going to other star systems will be more feasible..


11 posted on 02/21/2006 8:34:35 PM PST by KevinDavis (http://www.cafepress.com/spacefuture)
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To: Ptarmigan; All

Heck most planets can be like Western Canada like we see in SG1 and Atlantis...


12 posted on 02/21/2006 8:35:25 PM PST by KevinDavis (http://www.cafepress.com/spacefuture)
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To: KevinDavis

Oops I mis-stated the question.... not "when can we launch", but "how long would such a journey take (to get back interesting data)?"


13 posted on 02/21/2006 8:37:53 PM PST by SteveMcKing
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Astronomer announces shortlist of stellar candidates for habitable worlds
EurekaAlert | 02/18/06 | Earl Lane
Posted on 02/18/2006 4:26:06 PM EST by KevinDavis
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1581281/posts

Looking for other Earths? Here’s a list
msnbc.com | 02/19/06 | Alan Boyle
Posted on 02/19/2006 3:10:25 PM EST by KevinDavis
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1581745/posts

Five Out of Five Researchers Agree: Earth's Solar System Special
SPACE.com | 31 March 2005 | Sara Goudarzi
Posted on 03/31/2005 7:27:51 PM EST by Heartlander
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1375038/posts

Typically, the most sought after characteristic of a planet is its habitability. A habitable planet has liquid water on its surface, explained Margaret Turnbull of the Carnegie Institute of Washington. Thus far, 90% of all detected alien planets have host stars that can flare and sterilize the surface of the planet. Furthermore, planets, which are that close to their host star, would be in a synchronous orbit. This means that only one side of the planet would face the host star and all potential water on that side would evaporate and go to its "dark" side.


14 posted on 02/21/2006 8:38:46 PM PST by SunkenCiv (The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, And all the sweet serenity of books. (Longfellow))
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To: SteveMcKing; All

Well the data will take years and years using traditional methods. I think we have some laser based communication system, it would take half of the time..


15 posted on 02/21/2006 8:39:03 PM PST by KevinDavis (http://www.cafepress.com/spacefuture)
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To: KevinDavis
"Heck most planets can be like Western Canada like we see in SG1 and Atlantis..."

LOL

16 posted on 02/21/2006 8:42:27 PM PST by The Iguana
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To: KevinDavis

Great news. Since Don Brownlee isn't far from here, what about satellite-driven tidal forces, tectonic volcanism, and gas giant vacuum cleaners?

/ Devil's Advocacy

;-)


17 posted on 02/21/2006 8:43:47 PM PST by IslandJeff
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To: SteveMcKing

Our fastest probes might top out, being extremely generous, at 100,000 MPH. 1 light year is around 5.86 trillion miles, so our nearest stellar neighbor of Alpha Centauri would be 4.32 ly away or ~25 trillion miles.

If I calculated correctly, that works out to 1141 years for a one way trip....


18 posted on 02/21/2006 8:49:11 PM PST by Brett66 (Where government advances – and it advances relentlessly – freedom is imperiled -Janice Rogers Brown)
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To: Brett66
Our fastest probes might top out, being extremely generous, at 100,000 MPH.

Do we need to consider relativity? Isn't it travelling into the future at that speed, so back on earth we'd have to wait even longer?

19 posted on 02/21/2006 8:52:23 PM PST by SteveMcKing
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To: Brett66; SteveMcKing; All

That is why we need to develop FTL technology...


20 posted on 02/21/2006 8:54:16 PM PST by KevinDavis (http://www.cafepress.com/spacefuture)
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