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A Habitable Exoplanet - for real this time

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Re: A Habitable Exoplanet - for real this time

#2

Post by hugh3 »

Borderline habitable, anyway. Rocky planet, two Earth masses, looks promising, but so close to its (small, dim) star that it's probably tidally locked, meaning the same side will always point towards its sun. This means that the vast majority of its surface will either be too hot or too cold for life.

But a certain ring will have constant perfect weather!

Re: A Habitable Exoplanet - for real this time

#3

Post by aaronbrethorst »

hugh3 wrote: post #2

Borderline habitable, anyway. Rocky planet, two Earth masses, looks promising, but so close to its (small, dim) star that it's probably tidally locked, meaning the same side will always point towards its sun. This means that the vast majority of its surface will either be too hot or too cold for life. But a certain ring will have constant perfect weather!

FTA:

"That means the planet has...a band of eternal sunrise or sunset where water — and perhaps life — could subsist comfortably."

Re: A Habitable Exoplanet - for real this time

#6

Post by patio11 »

anigbrowl wrote: post #4

20 lightyears is a long way, but not that long. What we're 'seeing' via our instruments was taking place around 1990.

So if we had pointed Voyager at it back in the 1970s, we would only have 19.997 lightyears left to travel!

Space is big. We are slow. Everything cool about scifi is fiction. None of this will change in our lifetimes.

Re: A Habitable Exoplanet - for real this time

#7

Post by kqr2 »

tocomment wrote: post #5

Would gravity there be three Gs? I don't think we could handle that. The atmosphere might be too thick for us too. May it has a nice moon?

According to http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100929/sc_afp/usastronomyplane... , surface gravity might only be slightly higher than earth's.

Re: A Habitable Exoplanet - for real this time

#8

Post by tocomment »

kqr2 wrote: post #7
tocomment wrote: post #5

Would gravity there be three Gs? I don't think we could handle that. The atmosphere might be too thick for us too. May it has a nice moon?

According to http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100929/sc_afp/usastronomyplane... , surface gravity might only be slightly higher than earth's.

How is that possible?

Re: A Habitable Exoplanet - for real this time

#9

Post by phreeza »

patio11 wrote: post #6
anigbrowl wrote: post #4

20 lightyears is a long way, but not that long. What we're 'seeing' via our instruments was taking place around 1990.

So if we had pointed Voyager at it back in the 1970s, we would only have 19.997 lightyears left to travel! Space is big. We are slow. Everything cool about scifi is fiction. None of this will change in our lifetimes.

What about something along the lines of Project Deadalus?

Re: A Habitable Exoplanet - for real this time

#10

Post by cryptoz »

tocomment wrote: post #8
kqr2 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100929/sc_afp/usastronomyplane... , surface gravity might only be slightly higher than earth's.

How is that possible?

Density of a planet's interior is not uniform, and gravity tapers exponentially with distance. So, a planet with a dense core and a less-dense middle area could easily have less gravitational force than you might expect since the surface is so far away from the dense core.
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