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First atmosphere found on Earth-like planet in habitable zone of distant star

bbc.com

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Re: First atmosphere found on Earth-like planet in habitable zone of distant star

#111

Post by ant6n »

randomImmigrant wrote: post #44
Nicholas_C wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was skeptical about that as well so I googled it and: >Helium cannot support life because it is a chemically inert noble gas. It does not form the complex, stable molecular structures (like carbon chains) required for biology. Unlike oxygen, it cannot be used by living organisms for cellular respiration to generate energy, making it an asphyxiant. However, maybe we are projecting our current understanding of biolog…

Note: terrestrial chemistry is no different from chemistry that can occur anywhere, given the right molecules and conditions, and even then it’s a matter of degree. Nitrogen being replaced by helium would actually be fine but for the niggling issue that we need nitrates. There are no heliates (?) to compensate. The name doesn’t even make sense… helium is the sole gas to have an ium end like metals- chemically it’s th…

Why would it be necessary for life to depend on breathing atmosphere? The atmosphere could just help in keeping the temperature even and provide some nice pressure, maybe that’s favorable over vacuum.

Re: First atmosphere found on Earth-like planet in habitable zone of distant star

#112

Post by NoGravitas »

exitb wrote: post #89
wongarsu wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With variations on nuclear propulsion we could plausibly get to up to around 12% the speed of light. At least that's the number quoted for Project Daedalus [1], which is using nuclear fusion for the first stage and nuclear-powered ion engines for the second stage. With the cruder but more realistically achievable right now Project Orion design (riding the shockwaves of nuclear bombs) you could still get to ~3% the sp…

> But even at 0.12c, we are looking at 400 years to get there. And we'd be zooming by at 12% the speed of light. If we want to slow down a bit that'd add hundreds of billions to the cost. That’s the really hard part. If it’s almost science fiction to accelerate to 0.12c, it’s certainly much more difficult to slow down. At that speed we’d travel and pass this small system in mere minutes.

You just turn around halfway and use your main drive to decelerate. Yes, that does double the travel time, but it's the only way to do it. The hard part is then finding ways to get to a faster speed at turnaround time.

Re: First atmosphere found on Earth-like planet in habitable zone of distant star

#113

Post by detritus »

forgotaccount3 wrote: post #100
detritus wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference there being that at the end of your day, having spent it masoning, you could leave the cathedral and go back to your family and have a walk in the fields and drink and be merry with people loved and new. The project wasn't the entiriety of your existence, it was merely the means to pay for it. Unless we have generational ships the size of small countries, I'm not sure the human brain - unaided and non-…

Knowing the variety of lives lived on earth as we speak, I'm fairly certain the first space born generation would adapt to it. Provided the Earthlings that were sent along don't let their incarceration induced insanity infect the youngin's.

Maybe I'm over-thinking things. It seems like a lot of people's existences essentially revolve around a pocket-sized glowing rectangle.

Future AI and a database of all of humanity's experience before launch might be enough to keep the generational populace amused and distracted for the entiriety of their meagre, trapped existence... .

Re: First atmosphere found on Earth-like planet in habitable zone of distant star

#114

Post by tuwtuwtuwtuw »

panagathon wrote: post #108
tuwtuwtuwtuw wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, let's ignore current issues and instead focus on remote stars.

Scientists and engineers with an interest in such things would have an easier time working on it, if the broader economic and civic context they work in wasn't being messed with by demagogues. They shouldn't be drafted to resolve the rise of petty tyrants. It's a waste of their time.

[flagged]

Re: First atmosphere found on Earth-like planet in habitable zone of distant star

#115

Post by adamredwoods »

The_Blade wrote: post #84
conductr wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment encapsulates how poorly we humans are at accepting unknowns. For me, that explains a lot of our belief systems. The fact we can’t just take the unknown but instead have to fill in the blanks with what ifs. and create a narrative like we know anything about the unknown thing. It helps us feel like we understand it more. That’s literally how religions and a lot of other things get created, it’s a pattern,…

[flagged]

Abdication syndrome.

Re: First atmosphere found on Earth-like planet in habitable zone of distant star

#116

Post by petilon »

singpolyma3 wrote: post #11

> The gas detected in the atmosphere is helium, which would not be able to support life Nonsense. You mean not able to support terrestrial life.

They didn't say oxygen is not present. 78% of earth's atmosphere is nitrogen and we are doing fine.

Re: First atmosphere found on Earth-like planet in habitable zone of distant star

#117

Post by dantillberg »

mekdoonggi wrote: post #19

We should build a solar lens telescope. By the time we're ready to use it, we'll have a bunch of candidates to point it at.

An even more ridiculous dream of mine: I hope that aliens build a similarly amazing telescope, point it at Earth, and share the images with us, so that we can _see_ our Earth in the distant past.

Re: First atmosphere found on Earth-like planet in habitable zone of distant star

#118

Post by JorgeGT »

Something1234 wrote: post #92
PxldLtd wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a project that's going well from NASA for this. Still a moonshot but they've progressed through the early stages well so far. https://www.nasa.gov/general/direct-multipixel-imaging-and-s...

What would a 25km resolution of earth look like

This is the Earth last Wednesday at 0.25º resolution (roughly 28 km per pixel at the equator): https://neo.gsfc.nasa.gov/servlet/RenderData?si=2050444&cs=r...

Re: First atmosphere found on Earth-like planet in habitable zone of distant star

#119

Post by somenameforme »

dTal wrote: post #87
mekdoonggi wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to AI, an equivalent would be roughly when Google maps shows you 10mi/20km reference scale. Turning off the labels, aliens would probably assume that the world is naturally full of green stuff that is dealing with some strange grey infestation.

Even on that scale, major roads and agricultural grids are clearly visible. The mark of abstract intelligence is unmistakeable.

This reminds of me canali : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_canals#Interpretation_...

Re: First atmosphere found on Earth-like planet in habitable zone of distant star

#120

Post by escapecharacter »

mikepurvis wrote: post #107
Something1234 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What would a 25km resolution of earth look like

Earth is 12700 km in diameter, so such an image would be 688 pixels across. Basically you won't be reading license plates but you'd see enough to identify evidence of very large scale construction, and with multiple images over time I bet you could draw even more conclusions.

We could make a license plate big enough that aliens could see it and know we are sophisticated.
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