NASA announces discovery of Earth-like planet with earth similarity index 0.98 • Hacker News Board

Re: NASA announces discovery of Earth-like planet with earth similarity index 0.98

#91

Post by anew » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 2:29 PM UTC

EA wrote: post #21

qntty wrote: post #13

Here are some other planets we've found with comparable similarity. Note that earth-like similarity does not imply that it is habitable. http://phl.upr.edu/projects/habitable-exoplanets-catalog/dat...

A few zones some think need to overlap and be dialed-in to come close to offering a habitable place: water habitable zone ultraviolet habitable zone photosynthetic habitable zone ozone habitable zone planetary rotation rate habitable zone planetary obliquity habitable zone tidal habitable zone astrosphere habitable zone

I'd put magnetosphere in that list

Re: NASA announces discovery of Earth-like planet with earth similarity index 0.98

#92

Post by hughes » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 2:30 PM UTC

bberrry wrote: post #62

Would be awesome if it had a confirmed oxygen rich atmosphere.

It would, but the Earth Similarity Index doesn't consider the atmosphere.

Re: NASA announces discovery of Earth-like planet with earth similarity index 0.98

#93

Post by danielweber » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 2:32 PM UTC

danielweber wrote: post #83

wrboyce wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those who also dislike timezone-juggling: http://time.is/1200_23_July_2015_in_EDT?http://www.nasa.gov/...

People think they are being more precise by saying "EST," but, quick, are we in daylight savings time now, or out of it? It turns out we are, and I don't meant to suggest that GP didn't know this. But what if we weren't in daylight savings time, and GP said "EST"? Would we have to change an hour? I highly recommend just saying "Eastern Time."

Crap, I was wrong. "S" doesn't stand for "Savings," it stands for "Standard." We really are in EDT.

All the more reason to never specify it! :)

Re: NASA announces discovery of Earth-like planet with earth similarity index 0.98

#94

Post by myth_buster » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 2:38 PM UTC

d-equivalence wrote: post #63

motoboi wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate on what is so weird on that molecule?

It is weird because it is present in many "mundane" plants and in the human organism, allegedly released at the time of death. It lasts 10 minutes which is strange for a psychedelic substance, which after the experience you can go back as Terrence said "answering phonecalls". Apparently the human body knows perfectly well how to metabolize it completely without any taxing effects. From my personal experience in psych…

Ah, the white light at the end, the flow of knowledge, being close to the all-knowing and other statements as described by those who had near-death-experiences. This seems logical and is quite fascinating. Thanks for describing it in detail.

Re: NASA announces discovery of Earth-like planet with earth similarity index 0.98

#95

Post by 3327 » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 2:38 PM UTC

I can leak some more info:

its 1400 light years away in habitable zone and the sun is 8% different than ours (don't quote me on the 8% but its very close in size)

Re: NASA announces discovery of Earth-like planet with earth similarity index 0.98

#96

Post by adam12 » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 2:39 PM UTC

d-equivalence wrote: post #63

motoboi wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate on what is so weird on that molecule?

It is weird because it is present in many "mundane" plants and in the human organism, allegedly released at the time of death. It lasts 10 minutes which is strange for a psychedelic substance, which after the experience you can go back as Terrence said "answering phonecalls". Apparently the human body knows perfectly well how to metabolize it completely without any taxing effects. From my personal experience in psych…

I don't think I'd be able to handle an experience like that. Especially if it feels real and not dream-like.

Re: NASA announces discovery of Earth-like planet with earth similarity index 0.98

#97

Post by frostirosti » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 2:40 PM UTC

It's 1075 light years away. If there's life there and they looked at us, they'd see vikings colonizing northern France and they'd see the Maya civilization collapse.

Re: NASA announces discovery of Earth-like planet with earth similarity index 0.98

#98

Post by V-2 » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 2:40 PM UTC

This similarity index only measures radius, density, escape velocity and surface temperature, so it doesn't mean nearly as much as one would think upon reading the headline

Re: NASA announces discovery of Earth-like planet with earth similarity index 0.98

#99

Post by logfromblammo » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 2:43 PM UTC

bberrry wrote: post #62

Would be awesome if it had a confirmed oxygen rich atmosphere.

Such would be a strong indicator that something is continually generating gaseous oxygen. Otherwise, the O2 usually ends up oxidizing anything it can touch, and gets bound up in minerals, or as oxygen-containing gases.

Awesome for potential terraforming would be an atmosphere containing gaseous NO2, H2O, CO2, NH3, and SO2. That would be oxygen-rich, but not as molecular O2, which is almost as good as putting up an "OCCUPIED" sign on the planet.

Unless, of course, you're actually looking for alien life. In that case, any atmosphere with F2, Cl2, O3, O2, NO, CO, H2, or N2 is nearly a dead giveaway. Those don't persist for long in that form on a geological time scale, so if you detect them, something must be continually generating them.

Re: NASA announces discovery of Earth-like planet with earth similarity index 0.98

#100

Post by xamdam » Thu, Jul 23, 2015, 2:43 PM UTC

ELI5: until we flew next to Pluto this month all we had is blurry 16-pixel images. How can we get such precise data on something millions of times further?