NASA announces the discovery of possibly hospitable planets...
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justincredible
They are only 40 lights years away.
https://www.engadget.com/2017/02/22/nasa-we-found-7-earth-sized-planets-just-40-light-years-away/ -
Commander of Awesome
Pretty cool, but NASA needs to stop annoucing that they're going to hold a presser 3 days out. I understand trying to build a buzz, but it's always a let down.
I'd also throw out the possible detection of Dark Matter as more interesting than some possible habitable planets 39 million Light Years away.
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasas-fermi-finds-possible-dark-matter-ties-in-andromeda-galaxy -
gutNow we just need to figure out FTL travel and get the hell off this rock after we ruin it. We can become the locusts of the universe.
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Belly35
No go zone -
Laley23
I call bullshit. The depictions of them are round, which in and of itself rules them out as "earth like". Typical government/NASA wasting money on space science then lying to the public about its findings. -
justincredible
#fakenews
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Rotinaj
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/5vkoyd/were_nasa_scientists_exoplanet_experts_ask_us/
An AMA about this on reddit now if anyone is interested. -
Zunardo
Touche.Belly35;1838349 wrote:No go zone -
friendfromlowry
I'm as fascinated with outer space as anyone else but this makes it hard to get overly excited.To get to any of these planets with our current vehicles would take about 44 million years. -
Spock
Hey NASA, everyone will be interested when you come out and tell us how you have figured out how to get there. -
jmogI love science, love space exploration, looking to the stars, etc.
On that reddit, one of the NASA scientists was listed as an astrobiologist.
My main question is how would that specific science even exist until we find/study life outside of this rock. As a chemist you test/study chemicals, as a physicist you study/test the laws of physics, as a biologist you study/test life on this Earth. As an astrobiologist you..."guess" what life would be like on other planets? Seems more of a philosophical degree than an actual science...until we see life we can test/study. -
SonofanumpHumanity only has to figure this out prior to the sun exploding into a black hole.
Travel times across America:
Today- 64 minutes
50 years ago- 3 1/2 hours
100 years ago- 27 hours
120 years ago- 3 days
160 years ago- 5 weeks -
Commander of Awesome
Pretty sure our sun isn't big enough to black hole.Sonofanump;1838481 wrote:Humanity only has to figure this out prior to the sun exploding into a black hole.
Travel times across America:
Today- 64 minutes
50 years ago- 3 1/2 hours
100 years ago- 27 hours
120 years ago- 3 days
160 years ago- 5 weeks -
Sonofanump
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QuakerOatsLaley23;1838358 wrote:I call bullshit. The depictions of them are round, which in and of itself rules them out as "earth like". Typical government/NASA wasting money on space science then lying to the public about its findings.
Where is Kyrie Irving when you need him. -
jmog
We have a pretty hard speed limit at light speed, at least according to modern scientific belief anyway.Sonofanump;1838481 wrote:Humanity only has to figure this out prior to the sun exploding into a black hole.
Travel times across America:
Today- 64 minutes
50 years ago- 3 1/2 hours
100 years ago- 27 hours
120 years ago- 3 days
160 years ago- 5 weeks
So even if we ever get there still a 40 year trip. -
O-Trap
Probably have to be something of a multi-generational trip, so you go there for your kids to live there.jmog;1838514 wrote:We have a pretty hard speed limit at light speed, at least according to modern scientific belief anyway.
So even if we ever get there still a 40 year trip. -
Heretic
Man, I've watched enough movies to know that you put people in suspended animation sleep, so 40 years goes by in a few moments. They get to the new planet without skipping a beat, secure in the knowledge that they're still in their prime...while everyone they ever knew is dead amongst the smouldering ruins of what was Earth.O-Trap;1838599 wrote:Probably have to be something of a multi-generational trip, so you go there for your kids to live there.
Win/win, I say! -
ernest_t_bass
Marge Schott just about made it...friendfromlowry;1838375 wrote:I'm as fascinated with outer space as anyone else but this makes it hard to get overly excited. -
jmogOur current fastest vehicle ever made were the Helios 1 and 2 (sun probes). Spacecraft speed has to be relative to its closest/largest gravitational body, so most were based off Earth, but helios were based off the sun. They entered the sun's orbit at 157,000 miles/hr (most Earth based spacecraft are around 22,000-35,000 miles per hour relative to Earth).
If we could make a spacecraft that travels at 157,000mph with people on board, it would take us 171,000 years to get to these planets. -
Heretic
And now that I think of it, Stephen King's "The Jaunt" even had a quicker way of travel, where you could go virtually anywhere in the galaxy over the course of one (induced) nap. With potential side effects such as complete insanity if you hold your breath when they pump in the anesthetic. But you gotta break a few eggs if you want that omelet, RIGHT?!?Heretic;1838604 wrote:Man, I've watched enough movies to know that you put people in suspended animation sleep, so 40 years goes by in a few moments. They get to the new planet without skipping a beat, secure in the knowledge that they're still in their prime...while everyone they ever knew is dead amongst the smouldering ruins of what was Earth.
Win/win, I say!
