New planet discovered to be first in habitable zone

Christian Science Monitor ^ | Dec 6, 2011 | By SETH BORENSTEIN,

[Red Badger]

New planet discovery excites scientists: the discovery of a new planet 600 light years away with roughly the right temperature for plant and animal habitation is causing a buzz in the science community. Though much larger than Earth, scientists haven't ruled out the possibility of life being discovered.

A newly discovered planet is eerily similar to Earth and is sitting outside Earth's solar system in what seems to be the ideal place for life, except for one hitch. It is a bit too big.

The planet is smack in the middle of what astronomers call the Goldilocks zone, that hard to find place that is not too hot, not too cold, where water, which is essential for life, does not freeze or boil. And it has a shopping mall-like surface temperature of near 72 degrees, scientists say.

The planet's confirmation was announced Monday by NASA along with other discoveries by its Kepler telescope, which was launched on a planet-hunting mission in 2009.

That is the first planet confirmed in the habitable zone for Kepler, which already had found Earth-like rockyplanets elsewhere. Twice before astronomers have announced a planet found in that zone, but neither has been as promising.

"This is a phenomenal discovery in the course of human history," Geoff Marcy of University of California, Berkeley, one of the pioneers of planet-hunting outside Earth's solar system, said in an email. "This discovery shows that we Homo sapiens are straining our reach into the universe to find planets that remind us of home. We are almost there."

[Red Badger]

A diagram comparing our own solar system to Kepler-22, a star system containing the first 'habitable zone' planet discovered by NASA's Kepler mission. Kepler-22b, the most Earth-like planet ever discovered is circling a star 600 light years away, a key finding in an ongoing quest to learn if life exists beyond Earth, scientists said on Monday. Kepler-22b joins a list of more than 500 planets found to orbit stars beyond our solar system. It is the smallest and the best positioned to have liquid water on its surface - among the ingredients necessary for life on Earth.

Photo Illustration/Ames/JPL-Caltech/NASA/Reuters

[Sacajaweau]

Okay all you seniors....Florida is out....This is where they’re shipping you!!

[George from New England]

They don’t know what’s there NOW !

All they know is what WAS there in the earth year 1411. Columbus hadn’t even sailed to America yet.

[ShadowAce]

While I find discoveries like this to be quite interesting, I find the expense to be stupid and a huge waste.

We'll never get there.

[frithguild]

We are almost there

Are we there yet? I have to go to the bathroom!

[OldNavyVet]

This is a phenomenal discovery in the course of human history,

It's also a significant discovery supporting Darwin's theory of evolution.

[Jack Hydrazine]

We’ll get there but it’s going to take a while before the technology is developed.

[DownInFlames]

One small problem. This planet is 620 light years away. It will take generation in space travel and a new generation of spacecraft to achieve star travel.

[MHGinTN]

Only to someone desperate to find such a ‘support’.

[ShadowAce]

No, it’s not. It doesn’t support nor disprove anything regarding evolution.

[Thorliveshere]

I don’t know about that. With discovering particles (neutrinos, I think?) “appearing” and “reappearing,” teleportation just may be a reality in a few decades.

[MrB]

Cart before the horse...
Assume that life on earth is an accident,
and therefore it MUST have happened elsewhere as well.

Just curious, though, how exactly, in your mind, does “finding a planet in the habitable zone around a distant star” support the idea that all life on THIS planet has a single common ancestry?

[COBOL2Java]

One small problem. This planet is 620 light years away. It will take generation in space travel and a new generation of spacecraft to achieve star travel.

Not to mention whether they'll be interested in meeting us!

[OldNavyVet]

It doesn’t support nor disprove anything regarding evolution.

Darwin's "Origin" has two chapters covering Geloogy.

Chapter IX "On the Imperfection of the Geological Record."

Chapter X "On the Geological Succession of Organic Beings."

[ShadowAce]

That post doesn't tell me anything regarding how this discovery supposedly supports evolution.

And no--I am not going to go read it. If you want to make a point, make it--don't go pointing to texts I am not familiar with, nor intend to read.

[Mich Patriot]

It sounds like a LOVELY place for all the libs to start setting up and working on their ‘utopia’. They won’t drill, allow motorized vehicles of any kind, no incandescent bulbs, and on and on. I personally vow NOT to interfere with my conservative principles. It will be THEIR PLANET to manage as they see fit. They can even allow illegal immigration from other nearby planets, if they so choose.

We conservatives will stay here on the ‘polluted’ Earth with our nasty cars, nuclear plants, oil rigs, industry, farms, jobs, guns, the American Flag, and PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.

[OldNavyVet]

... support the idea that all life on THIS planet has a single common ancestry?

Regarding This planet ...

From "Darwin's Ghost" by Steve Jones, page 284.

"About a thousand genes are shared by every organism, however simple or complicated."

[NavyCanDo]

“One small problem. This planet is 620 light years away.”

Just our luck. This planet is probably full of Amazonian women, or maybe the place where those green skin Orion Slave Girls live, and we'll never even get there in many generations even if we leave now. Oh well, my wife wouldn't let me keep one anyway.

[OldNavyVet]

That post doesn't tell me anything regarding how this discovery supposedly supports evolution.

Evolution is a subject covering everything that exists. The Earth ... the entire universe ... everything ... is evolving.

[RobbyS]

How so? Darwin's theory assumes pre-existing life and the morphing of simple forms into more complex forms in a gradual process. Spontaneous generation is a theory that long preceded Darwin, but so far the maxim, "life comes from life." has yet to be disproved. The Roddenberry notion of a galaxy swarming with humanoid life forms remains a fantasy as does the idea of a Starship Enterprise. I am reminded of a 17th century play by Cyrano about the balloonist who sail to the moon. That was before the scientist Pascal went beyond the speculators, carried a barometer up the mountain and showed that as he ascended, the air became attenuated as the pressure dropped.