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Could 'Goldilocks' planet be just right for life?
Associated Press ^ | Wed Sep 29, 7:19 pm ET | By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein, Ap Science Writer

Posted on 09/29/2010 7:43:30 PM PDT by Redcitizen

WASHINGTON – Astronomers say they have for the first time spotted a planet beyond our own in what is sometimes called the Goldilocks zone for life: Not too hot, not too cold. Juuuust right.

Not too far from its star, not too close. So it could contain liquid water. The planet itself is neither too big nor too small for the proper surface, gravity and atmosphere.

It's just right. Just like Earth.

"This really is the first Goldilocks planet," said co-discoverer R. Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: astronomy; gliese581; gliese581g; goldilocks; goldilocksplanet; goldilockszone; planet; space; xplanets
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To: plinyelder

And .. We’ll debate ya’ll .. Anytime and Anywhere!


41 posted on 09/29/2010 8:21:14 PM PDT by plinyelder ("I've noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born." -- Ronald Reagan)
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To: FlingWingFlyer
"I wonder what the odds are of the “primordial soup” accidently happening twice."

Maybe you should ask ol' unck Joe or any other dawinist about the chances of it happening twice. Or what the mathematical chances of it happening once.

42 posted on 09/29/2010 8:23:41 PM PDT by guitarplayer1953 (Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to GOD! Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Redcitizen

Finally, an alternative to Gitmo.


43 posted on 09/29/2010 8:24:01 PM PDT by Rembrandt (.. AND the donkey you rode in on.)
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To: freedumb2003

Interesting that you went with the original rather than the modern.


44 posted on 09/29/2010 8:24:01 PM PDT by SoldierDad (Proud Papa of two new Army Brats! Congrats to my Soldier son and his wife.)
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To: plinyelder
"And .. We’ll debate ya’ll .. Anytime and Anywhere!"

(Me and The_Reader_David, that is!)

45 posted on 09/29/2010 8:24:08 PM PDT by plinyelder ("I've noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born." -- Ronald Reagan)
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To: American Constitutionalist
So if we travel at the speed of light, it would take 20 years to get there...

Well, if you were on the ship, and it was really traveling at the speed of light, take comfort that the journey would be instant as far you were concerned.

46 posted on 09/29/2010 8:24:12 PM PDT by eclecticEel (Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: 7/4/1776 - 3/21/2010)
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To: guitarplayer1953

:)


47 posted on 09/29/2010 8:26:14 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Josef Stalin - The Father of "Progressive Values"!)
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To: KevinDavis; annie laurie; garbageseeker; Knitting A Conundrum; Viking2002; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...
Another one on Gliese 581 g. Thanks Redcitizen.
 
X-Planets
· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic · subscribe ·
Google news searches: exoplanet · exosolar · extrasolar ·

48 posted on 09/29/2010 8:26:49 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Democratic Underground... matters are worse, as their latest fund drive has come up short...)
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To: Redcitizen
Alright, who has that prototype FTL drive in their garage?


"FTL...GO!"
49 posted on 09/29/2010 8:28:50 PM PDT by RandallFlagg (Let this chant follow BHO everywhere he goes: "You lie. You lie. You lie.")
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To: Shortwave

I have trouble with this, too. If a planet is tidally locked, it would get searing hot at the point that has the most direct sun, and freezing cold on the back. Although atmospheric winds would moderate this somewhat, I can’t see a situation where life would take hold without any sort of day-night cycle or where the sun never moves in the sky.


50 posted on 09/29/2010 8:29:27 PM PDT by RockinRight (if the choice is between Crazy and Commie, I choose Crazy.)
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To: SunkenCiv

Again, we should name it. Planet Reagan sounds good...


51 posted on 09/29/2010 8:29:28 PM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four fried chickens and a coke)
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To: Redcitizen
FROM THE ARTICLE:

"It is about three times the mass of Earth, slightly larger in width and much closer to its star — 14 million miles away versus 93 million. It's so close to its version of the sun that it orbits every 37 days. And it doesn't rotate much, so one side is almost always bright, the other dark.

Temperatures can be as hot as 160 degrees or as frigid as 25 degrees below zero, but in between — in the land of constant sunrise — it would be "shirt-sleeve weather,"

--------------------

I think these 'scientists' are going with some pretty 'low' standards for 'earth-like'. Calling it a GOLDILOCKS planet is stretching it a bit.

It may have life forms on it's surface. It just depends. All stars are lifegivers (and takers) but, not all seeds produce. A planet too close to it's Sun, gets sterilized.

52 posted on 09/29/2010 8:32:11 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (lame and ill-informed post)
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To: FlingWingFlyer
I wonder what the odds are of the “primordial soup” accidently happening twice.

The whole Universe is a primordial soup in an infinite pot.

53 posted on 09/29/2010 8:34:02 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (lame and ill-informed post)
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To: Windflier

Except the premordial soup theory is just speculation without any evidence to support it. Basically the chance of it occuring is about the same as if a tornado went through a junkyard and created a 747. This is because the basic building block of life, DNA, is as complex as a supercomputer. Therefore its virtually impossible that some premordial soup created life even once, let alone several times.

There certainly may be life on other planets, but they were created just like all life, by Intelligent Design.


54 posted on 09/29/2010 8:36:16 PM PDT by HerrBlucher (Defund, repeal, investigate, impeach, convict, jail, celebrate.)
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To: SoldierDad

>>Interesting that you went with the original rather than the modern.<<

Oh heck yeah! I can still hum both versions of the theme music — the first with the whistle and trumpets, the second with the french horn.

I did some work with June Lockhart and she even talked about setting me up with her daughter Annie (never happened, dang it — that was when Anne was in Battlestar Galactica and too busy to date).

June gave us great stories about LIS, and she loves to tell anyone who will listen that they almost all walked off the set when Irwin Allen (a known cheapskate) had them battling vegetable people.


55 posted on 09/29/2010 8:37:43 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (The TOTUS-Reader: omnipotence at home, impotence abroad (Weekly Standard))
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To: xjcsa; Redcitizen
"It's pretty hard to stop life once you give it the right conditions," Vogt said.

Right. Because we've seen it happen so many times.

Have you ever tried to kill poison ivy?

56 posted on 09/29/2010 8:38:47 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (lame and ill-informed post)
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To: RandallFlagg

You rock!!


57 posted on 09/29/2010 8:39:55 PM PDT by Redcitizen
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To: ryan71
Countless parameters have to be “just right” to sustain complex life.

True. But there may be an infinite combination of countless parameters that produce life forms from the energy of the main star. They may all be 'extremely' different from the life forms of another 'GOLDILOCKS' planet.

As we see on Earth, there is no end to the variety of life forms produced by the Sun. So many that we discover new ones daily, and ... we've been at it a long time.

58 posted on 09/29/2010 8:44:44 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (lame and ill-informed post)
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To: Talisker
But a little known fact is that nothing in relativity theory forbids going faster than the speed of light.

The only thing faster than the speed of light, is the speed of dark.

I can cite proof, if anyone wishes.

59 posted on 09/29/2010 8:47:11 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 (lame and ill-informed post)
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To: UCANSEE2
Have you ever tried to kill poison ivy?

Touché

60 posted on 09/29/2010 8:47:28 PM PDT by xjcsa (Ridiculing the ridiculous since the day I was born.)
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