Nearest Sol-Like Star May Host Habitable Planet

[survivor686]

Excellent. All we need now is for NASA to finish that warp drive and thus will begin our glorious expansion.

Seriously if I was NASA I'd be singing these news from the mountain tops when it comes time for funding.

 

[WiseBass]

The error margin is 2.0 Earth-masses, so it could actually be anywhere from 2.29 to 6.29 times the mass of Earth - or even higher, since these are lower limits.

Assuming that they're there and not just issues with the signal, it's pretty good news*. Hopefully it's closer to the bottom of that range (2-4 times Earth mass), because then I'd feel more confident that it's a rocky planet and not a failed-gas-giant-core turned water-planet. I don't think Kepler can find its radius, so our best bet is to try and direct-image it from Earth with planet-side telescopes (which used to be virtually impossible, but adaptive optics is good news).

One thing has me a little concerned - Steve Vogt. He was involved in that Gliese 581g debacle, where the team kept on insisting that the planet was there despite repeated independent verifications that showed that it was a mistake.

* Especially since it would be a potentially earth-like planet around a sun-like star, and not a "MEarth" (a potentially habitable planet around a red dwarf).

 

[bananafishtoday]

More importantly, the star has five planets. Now that we know Tau Ceti V is a real thing, someone needs to get to work building Shodan.

According to the law of gravity, the attractive force between two bodies is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance. If density was a factor then 1kg of feathers would fall slower than 1kg of iron.

The relevant distance is the distance to the center. You can treat symmetrical spheres as if all their mass is concentrated at the center (shell theorem, proved by Newton.) Planets are close enough to this shape for most purposes. So larger planets of the same mass will have weaker gravity on the surface because you're further away from the center.

 

[Frezzato]

This just in: A planet within the hospitable zone of a planetary system has been discovered, just 12 light years away. We've already received radio transmissions and by the Horns of Gloxnar, they sure do love their pornography.

 

[Icehearted]

If Star Trek and Mass Effect have shown us anything it's that the only important part of seeking out new life on strange new worlds is whether or not we can mate with them.