Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 light years from Earth

Post by _lbaq » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 6:52 PM UTC

noobermin wrote: post #121

chrisabrams wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was essentially thinking the same thing. I wonder if an elevator could be built between all of them?

One of the callers (a biologist, so not a crackpot) on TV suggested that given how close the planets were, he wondered if it were possible for there to be cross contamination between the planets given how close they are to each other. He referred to them being part of the same "ecosystem." I'm not sure how feasible that is as a non-astrobiologist, but it is an interesting idea.

Post by MrZongle2 » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 6:53 PM UTC

actsasbuffoon wrote: post #114

e0m wrote: post #33

To get a spacecraft there it would take: Accelerating at 1g the 1st half, and decelerating at 1g the 2nd half, the traveler would experience 7.3 years of time. For observers it would take 41.8 years at a max speed of 0.998c If you had a near perfect hydrogen -> helium fusion engine, it'd take about 6 million tons of fuel (about the mass of the Pyramids of Egypt or 2,000 Saturn V rockets)

It would take 37 days at warp 6 (assuming we're using the new warp factors established in The Next Generation). I have no idea how much dilithium crystal would be required though.

Post by SamBam » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 6:54 PM UTC

noobermin wrote: post #88

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> are there...hazards simply due to the proximity of a dim star Tidal locking [1]. Similar to how our moon shines at us ass first all the time, the planets around TRAPIST-1 would be expected to have one face locked to their star. Instead of an equatorial belt bookended with loops of temperate zones, as we have on Earth, we should expect, climatically, an "equatorial" face and a "polar" face separated by a tropic-to-t…

Of course, #askNasa didn't win me a question, but could any astrobiologists comment on this question: Tidal locking means the planets would always have a side facing the star, leading to very different thermodynamics in terms of climate and weather on the planet, not to mention radiation. Doesn't that very much hurt the chances for life on those planets?

Post by aaronblohowiak » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 6:54 PM UTC

dexwiz wrote: post #62

jdormit wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We don't have any spacecraft that can go that fast, do we?

No, but we probably could with enough fuel. The bigger issue is space dust. Hitting it at relativistic speeds would be like flying into a cosmic shotgun for the entire journey.

Post by ahh » Wed, Feb 22, 2017, 6:54 PM UTC

ohitsdom wrote: post #79

e0m wrote: post #33

To get a spacecraft there it would take: Accelerating at 1g the 1st half, and decelerating at 1g the 2nd half, the traveler would experience 7.3 years of time. For observers it would take 41.8 years at a max speed of 0.998c If you had a near perfect hydrogen -> helium fusion engine, it'd take about 6 million tons of fuel (about the mass of the Pyramids of Egypt or 2,000 Saturn V rockets)

Upvote for doing the math, but we're going to have to ditch traditional chemical rockets for this kind of trip. Fortunately, we're making progress on alternatives. https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/02/nasas-longshot-bet-o...