First Earth-sized planet found in 'habitable zone': NASA

[webfact]

First Earth-sized planet found in 'habitable zone': NASA


This artist's concept released April 17, 2014 by NASA/JPL-CALTECH depicts Kepler-186f, the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone/AFP

Washington - The hunt for potential life in outer space has taken a step forward -- an international team of researchers has discovered the first Earth-sized planet within the "habitable zone" of another star.

The exoplanet, located some 500 light years from Earth, orbits in what is seen as the sweet spot around its star: not too close and not too far, so it could have liquid water, considered a crucial component to possibly hosting life.

"The discovery of Kepler-186f is a significant step toward finding worlds like our planet Earth," said Paul Hertz, NASA’s Astrophysics Division director at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.

The planet is "the right size and is at the right distance to have properties that are similar to our home planet," said Elisa Quintana of the SETI Institute at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California, the lead author of the paper published in Science.

"We can now say that other potentially habitable worlds, similar in size to Earth, can exist. It’s no longer in the realm of science fiction," she said, speaking at a press conference.

Kepler-186f is around 1.1-times the size of Earth -- which researchers say is key to predicting the composition of the surface and its atmosphere.

When planets are 1.5 times the size of Earth or larger, many of them seem to attract a thick hydrogen and helium layer that makes them start to resemble gas giants like Jupiter or Saturn.

Kepler-186f is the fifth and outermost planet orbiting the Kepler-186 star, right on the far edge of that solar system’s habitable zone, meaning the surface temperature might not be warm enough to stop water from freezing.

View galleryThis photo provided by NASA on May 16, 2013 shows the …

This photo provided by NASA on May 16, 2013 shows the Kepler Space Observatory during assembly (AFP …

"However, it is also slightly larger than the Earth, and so the hope would be that this would result in a thicker atmosphere that would provide extra insulation," explained San Francisco State University astronomer Stephen Kane, another member of the team behind the discovery.

- Tracking ’transits’ -

Scientists using the NASA’s Kepler telescope first discovered it by tracking "transits" -- shadows that cross in front of the star.

The finding was confirmed by observations from the W.M. Keck and Gemini Observatories.

But current technology does not allow astronomers to see the celestial body directly or do any analysis to determine its atmosphere or composition.

"Some people call these habitable planets, which of course we have no idea if they are," said Kane. "We simply know that they are in the habitable zone, and that is the best place to start looking for habitable planets."

Solar systems like Kepler-186, with an M-Dwarf star at its center, may be the best chance for finding a habitable planet, because there are so many of such stars and because many are very nearby.

However, because M-dwarfs are cooler, smaller and dimmer than our sun, they interact differently with planets, the researchers said.

Kepler-186f is therefore "more like an Earth cousin than an Earth twin. It has similar characteristics but a different parent," Tom Barclay, researcher at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute at Ames, said at the NASA press conference.

AFP


-- The Nation 2014-04-18

[Costas2008]

Hope there is a better Thailand up there

[JoeThePoster]

Dam_n, just when I put that down payment on the condo! here comes other options.

[VocalNeal]

Given that the first radio broadcasts were in the range of 1904 - 1910 it will be a few years before they can detect our presence. Assuming they are advanced enough to detect them? If they have managed space travel it will take a few hundred year less!

[Stan7444]

I vote for Suthep to be sent as the 1st spaceman to attempt a landing and see who will follow him then.

[ggt]

It will be used as a penal colony for those with life sentences...mining the precious metals for the new world gov't...

[boomerangutang]

Already; Muslims are lining up to be astronauts, to be the 1st to get there and preach. They want to whole universe to believe exactly what they believe. If anyone deviates, they should be blown up.

[daveAustin]

Given that the first radio broadcasts were in the range of 1904 - 1910 it will be a few years before they can detect our presence. Assuming they are advanced enough to detect them? If they have managed space travel it will take a few hundred year less!

Who is 'they'?

Nobody's saying there is life there... there could be for all we know, but it's all about a planet, like ours, being in the right orbit around its star, like ours, to support life, like ours. Very hard to detect.

[impulse]

Already; Muslims are lining up to be astronauts, to be the 1st to get there and preach. They want to whole universe to believe exactly what they believe. If anyone deviates, they should be blown up.

I've been "evangelized" by dozens, if not hundreds of Christians in my lifetime. Strangely, never by a Muslim.

But you go ahead and keep on spouting that hate.

[Credo]

Already; Muslims are lining up to be astronauts, to be the 1st to get there and preach. They want to whole universe to believe exactly what they believe. If anyone deviates, they should be blown up.

I've been "evangelized" by dozens, if not hundreds of Christians in my lifetime. Strangely, never by a Muslim.

But you go ahead and keep on spouting that hate.

They don't evangelize, they use techniques that include death to infidels.

I think we are a long ways from knowing much about this planet and even further away from being able to visit it.

[Scott]

I think we can drop the discussion of religion on this thread.

One post deleted.

[ZigZagMan]

I read somewhere that with our current rocket capabilities, that it would take 6,000 years at full throttle to reach light speed.

Then another 500 years to reach this planet.

No ?

[JesseFrank]

It will be used as a penal colony for those with life sentences...mining the precious metals for the new world gov't...

So you suggest they call it Planet Australia ?

[innerspace]

I read somewhere that with our current rocket capabilities, that it would take 6,000 years at full throttle to reach light speed.

Then another 500 years to reach this planet.

No ?

no, current technology cant even reach the speed of light, only single particles in labratories get anywhere close.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[GentlemanJim]

I read somewhere that with our current rocket capabilities, that it would take 6,000 years at full throttle to reach light speed.

Then another 500 years to reach this planet.

No ?

I think with "current rocket capabilities" the answer would be your last word...no. The problem is the issue of the requirement for equivalence between mass and energy. As you input energy to any body, it's mass increases, as it's mass increases you therefore need more energy to continue an acceleration towards the speed of light. This vicious circle has no end, resulting in your mass approaching infinite proportions as you approach the speed of light which would in turn require infinite energy to maintain equivalence. So, in truth, no 'rocket' can ever provide the infinite energy required nor would our fragile little bodies cope with infinite mass of the vessel we were in. Don't get me wrong, you can travel VERY fast, but light speed itself is off the agenda.Faster than light speed is theoretically possible but only by cheating, you would not have to travel anywhere near the speed of light to do it, you simply need the technology to create the shortcut between point A and point B and when you bring in quantum physics that could be instant. Space travel across huge distances will be possible but it will not require a bigger engine it will require completely different thinking.

What is incredible is that the scientists are able to discover things such as this planet 500 light years away. It is a truly staggering achievement. It is only in the last few decades we have been able to look beyond our own solar system and here we are discovering an earth size planet 500 light years away. To ponder on that achievement for a moment, if any of you remember the amazing image sent back by Voyager of the Earth in what Carl Sagan famously described as the 'pale blue dot', the tiny tiny 1/2 pixel size dot set in the enormity of space. That image of our planet was taken 5 1/2 hours from Earth traveling at the speed of light. Scientists have found this planet and calculated it's size and orbit from 500 light years away. The mind truly boggles! I hope they cracked the champagne.

[boomerangutang]

Look up 'Orion Project' an odd but somewhat plausible project for interstellar travel.

It uses nuclear bombs for propulsion. Normally, I'm against nukes, but I like the way the Orion Project concept. It was snuffed during the Kennedy years because powers-that-be wanted to use fossil fuels, and they felt the general public would be adverse to using N bombs.

The concept, if built, would have been so powerful, that designers were half-joking about putting barber chairs in there. In other words, eliminating payload weight would have not been a major concern.

Also, regardless of what propulsion is used, much of the journey would necessitate using roughly half the propulsion in slowing the craft down. There's no friction out there to slow things down. One possible scenario; the craft goes 60% of the distance facing forward; and then turns around for 40% of the journey facing backwards, full thrust.

[Spoonman]

They can find a habitable planet 500 light years away yet they cannot locate an airplane in a couple of square metres of ocean.

Go figure.

[Credo]

Give them the same amount of time that it took to find this planet and they will probably find the plane.

[copa8]

I read somewhere that with our current rocket capabilities, that it would take 6,000 years at full throttle to reach light speed.

Then another 500 years to reach this planet.

No ?

not really that good on long road trips...lower back issues. that extra 500 years just killed it for me.

[Credo]

I'd recommend that you upgrade to business class for this journey.

[WitawatWatawit]

There's no life on that planet. If there was, they would have phoned and invited us to dinner.

[Credo]

Oh crap, I thought I left the message on the fridge door!

[HeavyDrinker]

It will be used as a penal colony for those with life sentences...mining the precious metals for the new world gov't...

Whoa!!! Why waste it on the villains?

This could be the planet where in their "Thailand" those stunningly beautiful tall women with huge knockers actually don't have a whanger bigger than yours......or perchance have a whanger at all but that the wife now refers to as a 'tuppence'?? (anyone care to explain that one?)

[hyperdimension]

It's exciting news, but I presume there's going to be a lot of war over who owns and rules it once a way to get there is figured out. If there is already life there then I presume also that there will be a lot of bloodshed in both races as humans try to invade and take ownership.

[sirineou]

It's exciting news, but I presume there's going to be a lot of war over who owns and rules it once a way to get there is figured out. If there is already life there then I presume also that there will be a lot of bloodshed in both races as humans try to invade and take ownership.

I don't think think anyone has to worry about that any time soon, as it is 500 light years away and even if we could travel at the speed of light it would take 500 years to get there.

[ZigZagMan]

With the random extinction events considered, there could be intelligent civilizations that are a million years in front of our technology.

[Mosha]

It's orbiting a red dwarf, they produce a lot of radioactive flairs. Unlikely the planet has any advanced life forms

[ZigZagMan]

I did some checking.

The Voyager 1 spacecraft travels at around 60,000KPH and would reach this star in 8,837,302 years.

[cup-O-coffee]

Knowing this is just about as amazing as imagining it. I'll stick with my imagination.