Astronomers say we could be just 10 years away from finding alien life

[ding]

We are getting so close..

Astronomers say we could be just 10 years away from finding alien life


On May 2, an international team of astronomers announced that they had discovered three Earth-sized exoplanets, all orbiting the same star (TRAPPIST-1) just 40 light-years from us.

The scientists determined that all three planets are potentially habitable based on their size and temperature.

Now, the same team has discovered that the two innermost planets are rocky and have compact atmospheres, making them less like the hostile planet of Jupiter and more like the rocky planets of Earth, Venus, and Mars. This makes the prospect of life lurking in these faraway worlds even stronger. The researchers published their results today in Nature.

The findings were made just two days after the team announced that it had found the planetary system.

A promising place to detect alien life
Systems like this are promising places to detect alien life, Michaël Gillon, lead author of the paper presenting the discovery, said in an ESO press release .

The host star is an ultracool dwarf star — a type of cool, red star. Most of the time these stars are too small and faint to be detected by optical telescopes, and this star is no exception.

"Why are we trying to detect Earth-like planets around the smallest and coolest stars in the solar neighborhood? The reason is simple: systems around these tiny stars are the only places where we can detect life on an Earth-sized exoplanet with our current technology,” Gillon said.

Because of their closeness to the star, the two innermost planets are likely tidally locked, with one side always facing the star and the other always facing away.

Although the sides facing the star would be too hot to host any lifeforms and the sides facing away would be too cold and dark, the planets might contain "sweet spots." If the planets have atmospheres or even possibly oceans, heat from the star might be more evenly distributed, creating regions that just might be suitable for life.

I told someone else I believe every star eventually produces life. Every star has planets and moons surrounding them. Maybe not now, maybe not 3 billion years ago and maybe 3 billion years from now a planet will fall in their sun's sweet spot and life on that planet will exist until the conditions are no longer right just like earth.

There might be life in our solar system. Europa for one. And Mars may have once had life. We just don't know

That was me that you told that to and you still have not produced the requirements for intelligent life to exist that supports your position that intelligent life will exist in every solar system at one point in time.

 

[Divine Wind]

it is a big place

the yellow dot is how far radio has traveled the last hundred years

Excellent point. Also note that the location fairly represents our own within our galaxy. We're among the relatively newer stars on the outer arm.

When I was a kid I didn't have a problem with or understand just how far away other stars are. I realized that when I woke up to lost in space. This guy from another planet seemed to know about earthlings.

Most people don't even realize how big our own solar system is much less the distance to a star outside the Solar System.

A great way to learn about the scale is visiting one of the "Voyage" solar system models around the USA. IIRC, on the 10 billionth:1 scale, 2000' long model of our Solar System, then Alpha Centauri would be about 2300 miles away - the distance between Corpus Christi, TX and Seattle.

Voyage

Community Network | Voyage

Voyage: A Scale Model Solar System for Your Community | Facebook

 

[Wyatt earp]

I think the majority of us would like to find out that we are not alone before we die.

Amazing people will believe in alien life but not God who says he is always with you.

What are you afraid of?

Don't bother I already know.

Afraid of losing more of my money to scammers.
Planets are detected by gravitational methods, there is no optics that will ever be able to determine if a planet has life. Ever.
So what are you afraid of about God?

There are radio waves which can and do reach us. I suspect an alien form of life has listened to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin, and determined their is no intelligent live on Earth.

I think you meant life but what do I know

 

[miketx]

An exoplanet is a planet that orbits outside of it's solar system, and most of them compare in size to Jupiter. I would not put much hope in a planet like that having life as we know it, or even other life that is alien.

For a planet to support life as we know it (Or even other life) it has to be in what some call the "Goldilocks zone". Not too hot and not too cold. Also scientists sometimes refer to this zone as the "liquid water zone". Water being a requirement for life on Earth anyway. So far in our solar system the Earth is the only planet known to have liquid water naturally occurring.

This report was premature.

 

[Divine Wind]

There are radio waves which can and do reach us. I suspect an alien form of life has listened to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin, and determined their is no intelligent live on Earth.

Are you claiming those "radio waves" reaching us have an intelligent origin?

 

[miketx]

I think the majority of us would like to find out that we are not alone before we die.

Amazing people will believe in alien life but not God who says he is always with you.

What are you afraid of?

Don't bother I already know.

Afraid of losing more of my money to scammers.
Planets are detected by gravitational methods, there is no optics that will ever be able to determine if a planet has life. Ever.
So what are you afraid of about God?

There are radio waves which can and do reach us. I suspect an alien form of life has listened to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin, and determined their is no intelligent live on Earth.

Well, sorry, but you have made an astronomical blunder here. Those radio waves travel at the speed of light and would take a very long time to get somewhere they could be heard, let alone understood.

 

[SixFoot]

it is a big place

the yellow dot is how far radio has traveled the last hundred years

Excellent point. Also note that the location fairly represents our own within our galaxy. We're among the relatively newer stars on the outer arm.

When I was a kid I didn't have a problem with or understand just how far away other stars are. I realized that when I woke up to lost in space. This guy from another planet seemed to know about earthlings.

Most people don't even realize how big our own solar system is much less the distance to a star outside the Solar System.

A great way to learn about the scale is visiting one of the "Voyage" solar system models around the USA. IIRC, on the 10 billionth:1 scale, 2000' long model of our Solar System, then Alpha Centauri would be about 2300 miles away - the distance between Corpus Christi, TX and Seattle.

Voyage

Community Network | Voyage

Voyage: A Scale Model Solar System for Your Community | Facebook

My favorite scale is envisioning Star Trek's warp factors and the distance to our nearest neighboring galaxy, Andromeda.

Warp factor

Warp 9.975 will take you a distance of 2,922 light years, per year (or 8 light years per day).

Andromeda Galaxy - Wikipedia

Andromeda is 2,537,000 light years away.

2.537 million light years, divided by 8 light years traversed per day.

That would take a mere 317,125 days, or ~868 years to reach Andromeda on the U.S.S. Enterprise, with Captain Picard taking us there at Warp 9.975 (at 2,922 times the speed of light).

We're gonna need better dilithium crystals!

 

[miketx]

What I read is the warp speed scale is exponential, in that warp 1 is 8 times the speed of light, and warp 2 is 8 times 8 times the speed of light and so on.

 

[sealybobo]

it is a big place

the yellow dot is how far radio has traveled the last hundred years

Excellent point. Also note that the location fairly represents our own within our galaxy. We're among the relatively newer stars on the outer arm.

When I was a kid I didn't have a problem with or understand just how far away other stars are. I realized that when I woke up to lost in space. This guy from another planet seemed to know about earthlings.

Most people don't even realize how big our own solar system is much less the distance to a star outside the Solar System.

A great way to learn about the scale is visiting one of the "Voyage" solar system models around the USA. IIRC, on the 10 billionth:1 scale, 2000' long model of our Solar System, then Alpha Centauri would be about 2300 miles away - the distance between Corpus Christi, TX and Seattle.

Voyage

Community Network | Voyage

Voyage: A Scale Model Solar System for Your Community | Facebook

The two cosmos series are good too

 

[Weatherman2020]

it is a big place

the yellow dot is how far radio has traveled the last hundred years

Excellent point. Also note that the location fairly represents our own within our galaxy. We're among the relatively newer stars on the outer arm.

When I was a kid I didn't have a problem with or understand just how far away other stars are. I realized that when I woke up to lost in space. This guy from another planet seemed to know about earthlings.

Most people don't even realize how big our own solar system is much less the distance to a star outside the Solar System.

A great way to learn about the scale is visiting one of the "Voyage" solar system models around the USA. IIRC, on the 10 billionth:1 scale, 2000' long model of our Solar System, then Alpha Centauri would be about 2300 miles away - the distance between Corpus Christi, TX and Seattle.

Voyage

Community Network | Voyage

Voyage: A Scale Model Solar System for Your Community | Facebook

My favorite scale is envisioning Star Trek's warp factors and the distance to our nearest neighboring galaxy, Andromeda.

Warp factor

Warp 9.975 will take you a distance of 2,922 light years, per year (or 8 light years per day).

Andromeda Galaxy - Wikipedia

Andromeda is 2,537,000 light years away.

2.537 million light years, divided by 8 light years traversed per day.

That would take a mere 317,125 days, or ~868 years to reach Andromeda on the U.S.S. Enterprise, with Captain Picard taking us there at Warp 9.975 (at 2,922 times the speed of light).

We're gonna need better dilithium crystals!

They have no clue as to the vastness and emptiness of the universe.

 

[Weatherman2020]

I think the majority of us would like to find out that we are not alone before we die.

Amazing people will believe in alien life but not God who says he is always with you.

What are you afraid of?

Don't bother I already know.

Afraid of losing more of my money to scammers.
Planets are detected by gravitational methods, there is no optics that will ever be able to determine if a planet has life. Ever.
So what are you afraid of about God?

There are radio waves which can and do reach us. I suspect an alien form of life has listened to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin, and determined their is no intelligent live on Earth.

A. Those radio waves are from mega energy events, not WKRP. Tell me, how many years until a radio signal of Palin would take to get to the closest star?

 

[Wyatt earp]

I think the majority of us would like to find out that we are not alone before we die.

Amazing people will believe in alien life but not God who says he is always with you.

What are you afraid of?

Don't bother I already know.

Afraid of losing more of my money to scammers.
Planets are detected by gravitational methods, there is no optics that will ever be able to determine if a planet has life. Ever.
So what are you afraid of about God?

There are radio waves which can and do reach us. I suspect an alien form of life has listened to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin, and determined their is no intelligent live on Earth.

A. Those radio waves are from mega energy events, not WKRP. Tell me, how many years until a radio signal of Palin would take to get to the closest star?

Tell me you didn't go there not wkrp?
Oh crap you did.

 

[no1tovote4]

We could also find them tomorrow... This prediction isn't science it is guesstimating..

 

[Weatherman2020]

We could also find them tomorrow... This prediction isn't science it is guesstimating..

Just proves that when people don't believe in God they'll believe in anything.

 

[Weatherman2020]

Amazing people will believe in alien life but not God who says he is always with you.

What are you afraid of?

Don't bother I already know.

Afraid of losing more of my money to scammers.
Planets are detected by gravitational methods, there is no optics that will ever be able to determine if a planet has life. Ever.
So what are you afraid of about God?

There are radio waves which can and do reach us. I suspect an alien form of life has listened to Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin, and determined their is no intelligent live on Earth.

A. Those radio waves are from mega energy events, not WKRP. Tell me, how many years until a radio signal of Palin would take to get to the closest star?

Tell me you didn't go there not wkrp?
Oh crap you did.

Imagine the aliens listening in on Les Nesman.

 

[ScienceRocks]

You can love your family, care about your nation and love science and the wonders of our universe.

This idea that we can't search the university because one is a conservative christian will probably come as a surprise to many astronomers in history.

 

[sealybobo]

We could also find them tomorrow... This prediction isn't science it is guesstimating..

Just proves that when people don't believe in God they'll believe in anything.

Look at the Muslims believing that garbage right? Can you believe they believe that crap?

Look at those Mormons who believe those stupid crazy stories, right?

Same with your virgin birth walking on water martyr stories.

People who believe in gods will believe anything, including the theory that they too are Gods that live in a heavenly paradise after you die. Talk about gullible

 

[no1tovote4]

We could also find them tomorrow... This prediction isn't science it is guesstimating..

Just proves that when people don't believe in God they'll believe in anything.

I see no correlation. There are people who believe in God who also believe that it is likely there is life beyond this planet that we may sometime meet.

 

[SixFoot]

We could also find them tomorrow... This prediction isn't science it is guesstimating..

Just proves that when people don't believe in God they'll believe in anything.

I see no correlation. There are people who believe in God who also believe that it is likely there is life beyond this planet that we may sometime meet.

I'm one of those particularly peculiar people who believe in both the accounts of Creation and the evolution of the universe from the big bang to us.

It's all semantics to me.

 

[Weatherman2020]

We could also find them tomorrow... This prediction isn't science it is guesstimating..

Just proves that when people don't believe in God they'll believe in anything.

Look at the Muslims believing that garbage right? Can you believe they believe that crap?

Look at those Mormons who believe those stupid crazy stories, right?

Same with your virgin birth walking on water martyr stories.

People who believe in gods will believe anything, including the theory that they too are Gods that live in a heavenly paradise after you die. Talk about gullible