Super-Earth 40 light years away 'is rich in water with a thick, steamy atmosphere', confirm Japanese

Mail Online ^ | UPDATED: 05:55 EST, 5 September 2013 | Ellie Zolfagharifard

[apillar]

...10,000 light years...

Did I miss something? According to the article, the planet is 40 light years away...

But according to the text in the story, the planet is located "at the center of the Milky Way" which is 10,000 light years away (I think something was lost in translation...)

[SampleMan]

Nice connection, not many folks know that.

[StevieRay20]

I am by no means an expert, but we just started discovering exoplanets about 15 years ago. I dont think we could notice any planets 10,000 light years away.

[Sequoyah101]

Think it would be big enough for oblabla’s ego? Maybe his head?

[Resolute Conservative]

Is it close to LV 426?

[MrB]

I'm looking, but I don't see it...

[G Larry]

egg drop soup!

[null and void]

I knew I could depend on a FReeper to get it.

FReepers are awesome!

[bunkerhill7]

Skinny? Underweight?
Want to be strong and get that girl?
Gain Weight fast!
Take a Russia Teletransport Agency trip to Super Earth!
If you weigh 150 pounds now,
you will gain 900 pounds!.
Only 3 million rubles per one way seat.
Buy now coz we have no way to bring you back
coz you will be too heavy for return lift-off.
[USA as no space program as it is assisting Moslem nations to build their own ICBM`s for peaceful space exploration.]

All RTA rockets will be blessed personally by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill.

[Buckeye McFrog]

At that mass the gravity would crush us like a beer can.
And the surface temp is 230 degrees Centigrade.

[mikrofon]

Good catch…

(Not to be confused with a mobile, car-mounted telescope ;)

[EEGator]

[Farmer Dean]

Sounds like the Clinton White House.
Does the carpet have strange stains too?

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Send some Kudzu.

[DannyTN]

... the planet is 40 light years away... ... the planet is located "at the center of the Milky Way" which is 10,000 light years away (I think something was lost in translation...)

Possibilities include:

• The center of the milkyway has gone through a wormhole and is closing it's distance to us being now only 40 light years away.
• the planet appears in front of the center of the milkyway from our perspective.
• the planet is made of entirely of quantum linked particles and is both 40 light years away and 10,000 light years away simultaneously.

[DannyTN]

... the planet is 40 light years away... ... the planet is located "at the center of the Milky Way" which is 10,000 light years away (I think something was lost in translation...)

Possibilities include:

• The center of the milkyway has gone through a wormhole and is closing it's distance to us being now only 40 light years away.
• the planet appears in front of the center of the milkyway from our perspective.
• the planet is made of entirely of quantum linked particles and is both 40 light years away and 10,000 light years away simultaneously.

[ozzymandus]

Any Godzilla sightings yet?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Whether or not a boat floats depends on it’s density compared to the density of water. Buoyancy is the same. Actually surface gravity would only be about about 3% higher than on earth. ( 7/(2.6)^2). You would hardly notice the difference. Animals might be slightly smaller to reduce the stress on bones.

[eclecticEel]

Actually, it’s 40% as dense as Earth; gravity on the surface would only be 4% higher than what we’re used to.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

According to wikipedia the right ascension and declination of the Milky Way Center and GJ 1214 b are:

MW 266.4168333 -29.007805560
GJ 1214 b 258.828925 4.963802778

(Expressed in degrees), giving them an angular separtion of 34.75 degrees, fairly well separated. Wikipedia also gives the distance from the sun to GJ 1214 b as 42 light years. I think it’s safe to conclude the story is weakly written.