Okay, folks. Those of you who are not familiar with NASA's modus operandi for recklessly hyping planets that are the Earth-equivalent of the Garden of Eden, filled with nubile mermaids desperate to mate with their two-legged male counterparts, fountains that spew Dom Perignon, magical creatures that attend to your every need and more, please arrive at Cape Canaveral at your earliest convenience to reserve your seat on the next flight out to Planet Enchanta. Now seeing that the newly discovered planet is a mere 40 light years away and we can only travel at a fraction of what is necessary to get you all there in ten thousand years, please makes sure to bring plenty of provisions, food, water, diapers, etc..
Do you know how they detect exoplanets? By the momentary darkening of a star that scientists have determined is a planet in orbit that blocks the star's light as it circles around it. The huge distances of these exoplanets and the limitations of telescopes prevent discerning even the slightest planetary feature and certainly no way, NO WAY to tell what's on the surface. Have they detected water on this planet? Absolutely not. It's just that it could have water.
So even at the speed of light a round trip to any planet moderately distant, say 20 light years from Earth (the closest star is four light years away) it would take 40 years just for a round trip at 186,272 miles per second.
So, please NASA, stop f**king with our minds and get some Muslims into space NOW.
Oh, we need a warp drive, but this is still very fascinating. Apparently, the planet is much closer to a much cooler star, 500 light years away, still practically next door.
I’m just thankful there isn’t all the bu!!$4!+ about “may host alien life”...yet.
Is it next to LV-426?
Habitable huh? Baloney.
Let’s see... they found an anomaly that they have decided is a planet, because they excluded other possibilities. This hint at what could possibly be a planet is 500 light years away. Currently the USA is incapable of putting a person into near Earth orbit.
I like science, I loved when we had a space program. But, I’m trying to figure out how this has any meaning.
However, man was not made for the earth, but the earth was made for man. Christian beliefs polarize politically as well as spiritually. Those who believe in creation have a faith-based belief that God created a robust earth well able to sustain a population that fills the earth (most of the earth is uninhabited). The atheistic environmentalists in contrast are guided by a fear-based belief in the doctrine of limited "sustainability" of earth, the basis for Agenda 21.
So Krypton didn't blow up after all.
It goes from “Habitable” in the headline to “Possibly Habitable” in the article.
Not a good way to gain my confidence.
I’m sick of ‘scientists’ claiming discoveries that aren’t discoveries.
I wonder if there’s intelligent life there. I mean people who are not Marxists, Liberals, Socialists or RINOs.
Well, I am not waiting around for the warp drive...I am catching a ride on the next comet trail coming thru town. /s
“Earth-equivalent of the Garden of Eden, filled with nubile mermaids desperate to mate with their two-legged male counterparts, fountains that spew Dom Perignon, magical creatures that attend to your every need and more,”
I think we’ve found your dream planet.
space.com adds hype to NASA’s hype. space.com always includes an artist’s concept, that is amusing but useless.
I understand how NASA finds exoplanets (there are other methods, but you’ve explained the most common), and the method is loaded with the potential for errors.
I also understand that “habitable” only means that the surface temperature of the potential exoplanet has the potential to have liquid water. Both Venus and Mars are in that zone as well, and they meet the criteria of “earth-sized” as well.
This exercise will simply narrow the stars that should be examined as better technology becomes available.
IMO, NASA could have spent the money better. But they need to make headlines.
That planet could possibly support lifeforms beyond single-cell organisms. But how far beyond single-cell organisms?
Enlarge the picture and you can see clouds, sea, and land just like earth. I wonder if that’s where UFOs come from. If so, I always wandered what kind of society and government they would have if there was intelligent life on another planet..
there are way too many qualifiers to this. it’s not fact. it’s masturbatory speculation. so many “could’s” I find it hard when this passes for genuine science news of actual discoveries.
could, may, might, maybe, potentially, imagine, possibly, - this is all what makes up these bombshell “science” stories today.
I haven’t seen any NASA pontifications of mermaids, champagne or gardens of Edens. Lots of ifs and maybes though. Slight correction, I think this exoplanet is 490 light years away, but thats nit picking. We’ll never get their wether its 40 or 490, except for the hopes of true believers in space folding, warp drives or artificial wormholes.
While SETI can listen, if it’s an older system, we’ll probably not hear anything IF intelligent life developed, but if we use Earth as an example, I doubt there will be intelligent life. I expect however some nice single celled creatures or maybe a slim mold ( not Bill Clinton ) or some rudimentary scrub plant life ( Not Joe Biden ).
The push will be for a new big and shiny space telescope array, which I don’t have a problem with. Go for it and look, can’t hurt.
As far as Muslims in space, can’t happen. Some Imam put out a Fatwa saying no to space travel....we’re stuck with them till we can leave the planet ourselves via space folding, warp drive or artificial wormholes.
Live long and prosper.