First Habitable Planet Confirmed by French Scientists

[artanis_neravar]

The thing is, either life on the universe follows the parameters we know, and so we can tell how likely a planet is to have life by looking at things that are elemental to Earth life such as water, or it doesn't, and it could be just about anything and we gain nothing of scientific value in trying to guess what it's like. So it's better to assume that life requires things such as liquid life then to imagine the entire planet Mars is covered in dusty silicon beetles.

At any rate, experts can't think of any way life can happen without those parameters, so if they were outside we might not even recognize that as life, Jim.

Even if we assume that life needs an atmosphere, and a liquid to survive that does not mean water, a planet could have H2SO4 as it's liquid with a Methane atmosphere and silicone based life, so we shouldn't dismiss any planet capable of supporting life just because it's not like Earth. And that's not including the possibility that there are an infinite number of elements we haven't discovered outside of our solar system. However I do understand that our priority is finding Earth like planets for possible future human colonies, and that should be our goal.

 

[artanis_neravar]

Dense CO2? Not very habitable after all.:/

Well the earth had at some point in time also a dense carbon dioxide atmosphere, when all the other factors are right, the density of CO2 should be no problem.

The gravitation on the other hand.. imagine everything weighting twice as much. While maybe no problem for short time visitors, in the long run, we would have to face some serious problems like pregnancy issues or back trouble.

Not to mention once we adapt to this new planet we would have a planet twice the size of Earth, capable of supporting twice as many people(assuming the dimensions increase in proportion) that are at least twice as strong as any human on Earth. That might lead to some issues down the line.

 

[spartan231490]

Nice. Shame the gravity and atmosphere are slightly horrible to us, but I'm sure if we somehow end up there we'd be fine somehow.

Also, it's not impossible, due to quantum physics and all that jazz. Bloody science is always changing it's view, though faster than light is always an odd topic to be poking around.

I don't buy that ftl is impossible. 100 years ago, we thought that travel faster than the speed of sound was impossible.

Also, this is kinda cool. I'm curious how old the planet is, it seems like it might be a likely candidate for Extra Terrestrial Life. I wanna know what they look like.

 

[Mirror Cage]

The race is on!
First nation there wins a science victory.
Movemovemove!

 

[internetzealot1]

If this really is habitable, then they'll probably have a vote to decide on a proper name. I trust all of Geekdom to be ready for that day.

 

[ckam]

How interesting. I should mention this in my Astronomy class.

 

[shaderkul]

A distance of 20 light years is quite a big deal. We are not even space-faring yet: we step out for a few moments and run back to mother Earth. But seriously, its an exciting prospect finding a planet that can sustain life. I strongly believe that in less than a century from now, we would have figured out how to cover such distances. We are not as alone as we think, are we?

 

[Jman1236]

A think if humanity or what it evolves into, survives into the far future this planet might be a good place to head to not only when the sun dies but when the stars in the galaxy star going out. Red Dwarfs can live up to 10 trillion years(that's 100 times longer than the entire age of the universe) and will be the last place for civilizations to make a living.

 

[meryatathagres]

We might not be able to get there, but we can send them messages, and to listen to that particular part of space in hopes we catch some of their tv.

 

[shedra]

Nice. Shame the gravity and atmosphere are slightly horrible to us, but I'm sure if we somehow end up there we'd be fine somehow.

Also, it's not impossible, due to quantum physics and all that jazz. Bloody science is always changing it's view, though faster than light is always an odd topic to be poking around.

I don't buy that ftl is impossible. 100 years ago, we thought that travel faster than the speed of sound was impossible.

Also, this is kinda cool. I'm curious how old the planet is, it seems like it might be a likely candidate for Extra Terrestrial Life. I wanna know what they look like.

Sound exists in a physical medium. I.e. the movement of air.
Light is entirely different. Not a form of matter at all. (although it does have visible interactions with matter) moving faster than light requires a totally different set of concepts. Not to mention the hypothesis that the increase in kinetic energy would increase the density and mass of an object.
Still pessimistic on FTL myself.

Don't we find supposedly habitable planets every few months? None of which are even remotely possible to visit. Especially seeing that we haven't even gone to freaking Mars yet. We were supposed to go to Jupiter 10 years ago damnit!

We might not be able to get there, but we can send them messages, and to listen to that particular part of space in hopes we catch some of their tv.

We'd invent an interplanetary means of communications in order to steal their cable?

 

[ArtellTheWanderer]

While this planet means that humanity may be able to relocate when our planet becomes unsuitable for human life, I hope that such conditions arise from natural causes and not human negligence. We need to learn how to manage our own backyard properly before we starting altering conditions on other planets.

 

[spartan231490]

Nice. Shame the gravity and atmosphere are slightly horrible to us, but I'm sure if we somehow end up there we'd be fine somehow.

Also, it's not impossible, due to quantum physics and all that jazz. Bloody science is always changing it's view, though faster than light is always an odd topic to be poking around.

I don't buy that ftl is impossible. 100 years ago, we thought that travel faster than the speed of sound was impossible.

Also, this is kinda cool. I'm curious how old the planet is, it seems like it might be a likely candidate for Extra Terrestrial Life. I wanna know what they look like.

Sound exists in a physical medium. I.e. the movement of air.
Light is entirely different. Not a form of matter at all. (although it does have visible interactions with matter) moving faster than light requires a totally different set of concepts. Not to mention the hypothesis that the increase in kinetic energy would increase the density and mass of an object.
Still pessimistic on FTL myself.

Don't we find supposedly habitable planets every few months? None of which are even remotely possible to visit. Especially seeing that we haven't even gone to freaking Mars yet. We were supposed to go to Jupiter 10 years ago damnit!

We might not be able to get there, but we can send them messages, and to listen to that particular part of space in hopes we catch some of their tv.

We'd invent an interplanetary means of communications in order to steal their cable?

Light is a form of matter. It's a photon, half particle and half wave. I was just pointing out that we have thought many things were "impossible" in our history, they almost never(if ever) are. I think that eventually we will find a way.

 

[deckai]

Not to mention once we adapt to this new planet we would have a planet twice the size of Earth, capable of supporting twice as many people(assuming the dimensions increase in proportion) that are at least twice as strong as any human on Earth. That might lead to some issues down the line.

Well, it always depend on how far down the line we talk about

Also, the population would probably support less than twice as much people, because even if the planet would have enough landmass, the people would probably need much more room for food/supply production, limiting their own population size. If I remember correct, the quotient between our body-mass and our energy consumption isn't linear.

 

[artanis_neravar]

Not to mention once we adapt to this new planet we would have a planet twice the size of Earth, capable of supporting twice as many people(assuming the dimensions increase in proportion) that are at least twice as strong as any human on Earth. That might lead to some issues down the line.

Well, it always depend on how far down the line we talk about

Also, the population would probably support less than twice as much people, because even if the planet would have enough landmass, the people would probably need much more room for food/supply production, limiting their own population size. If I remember correct, the quotient between our body-mass and our energy consumption isn't linear.

Good point, I didn't think of that. Still even if it was the same population, a well built man can break ribs with a punch, imagine someone who can hit twice as hard and what damage they could do.

 

[artanis_neravar]

Sound exists in a physical medium. I.e. the movement of air.
Light is entirely different. Not a form of matter at all. (although it does have visible interactions with matter) moving faster than light requires a totally different set of concepts. Not to mention the hypothesis that the increase in kinetic energy would increase the density and mass of an object.
Still pessimistic on FTL myself.

It's volume that increases, not mass which would also decrease density. On a side note, has anyone noticed that in Star Wars anyone on a ship that enters hyperspace should be dead? Those ships go instantly from faster than light to a relative stand still almost instantly. Everyone on those ships should still be traveling faster than light and splatter on all the walls, the same way someone going 80mph hits a wall and goes through the windshield.

 

[meryatathagres]

We'd invent an interplanetary means of communications in order to steal their cable?

SETI already exists. And while yeah the message to get there will take 20 years, we might catch some signals from there. Problem with SETI has always been that there's so much space. Now they can at least point things to a bit less random target.

 

[Tiger Sora]

Is it the blue one or the green one? I want the blue one. Seems more promising.

 

[zxBARRICADExz]

anyone want to assist me in the creation of a gravity drive?

Nah thanks, last time someone used the term "gravity drive" to describe FTL travel, it opened a gateway to hell. Messy for all invlved.

soooo somebody slipped up.. trial runs can be sloppy.. but i know we can do it