NASA Discovers Earth-Like Planets, Possibility of Intelligent Life

[Ron]

 

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has discovered three new "habitable zone" planets that are close to Earth's size, even if they're not all that close to Earth.

NPR's Joe Palca reports, the trio of worlds is about 1,200 light years away and are thought to lie in the so-called "Goldilocks zone" — where it's not too hot and not too cold for liquid water.

Just as important, the planets' moderate size — less than twice the mass of Earth — bolsters the chances for life on them, scientists says.

So-called exoplanets that orbit other stars have become a fairly routine find since the first of them were discovered in the 1992. But, as The Associated Press notes, "In the past ... they haven't fit all the criteria that would make them right for life. And until now, the handful of planets astronomers found in that ideal zone were just too big. Those are likely to be gas balls like Neptune and that's not suitable for life."

Two of the three detailed in the new findings published in the journal Science are of particular interest: Kepler-62-e and Kepler-62-f. William Borucki, the chief scientist for NASA's Kepler telescope, says the planets are slightly wider than Earth, but not too big. Kepler-62-e is a bit toasty, like a Hawaiian world and Kepler-62-f is a bit nippy, more Alaskan, Borucki tells the AP.

"This is the first one where I'm thinking, 'Huh, Kepler-62-f really might have life on it,' " said study co-author David Charbonneau of Harvard. "This is a very important barrier that's been crossed. Why wouldn't it have life?"

Palca says the Kepler spacecraft detects planets orbiting distant stars by finding small dips in the light coming from those stars when an orbiting planet passes in front.

Update at 5:30 p.m. ET. Clarifying The Planets' Positions:

We initially wrote that all three newly discovered planets orbit the star Kepler-62. In fact, two orbit that star, and another one orbits the star Kepler-69.

 

http://www.npr.org/b...nd-distant-star

 

 

What do you think?

[So Sejima]

my mom told me this yesterday saying it takes 22 light years to get there

[Wumbo]

Goldilocks zone. Cute.

 

But yeah, I find this to be very believable, moreso than there is no intelligent life anywhere else.

[Ron]

my mom told me this yesterday saying it takes 22 light years to get there

 

Er, no, try 1,200 light years.

[SpongeOddFan]

interesting, the planet could closet size as Earth.

[terminoob]

My home world is being dangerously close to being discovered.

 

Time to hide. Again.

[E.V.I.L.]

I hope this is true because I'm sick of everyone thinking they're badasses, lol  

[ExKizuna]

i went to NASA space camp my bunk buddy was Moctezuma Lobato

 

Elastic's was my brother

[crushingmayhem]

It's very possible that one of those planets may actually have life. But the problem is that Nasa will likely hide this info from public view, so it's doubtful that we'll ever know the truth.

[Jellatine]

Very interesting, but CM has a point, there's no way the government would tell us something as big as life in another planet.

[terminoob]

Very interesting, but CM has a point, there's no way the government would tell us something as big as life in another planet.

 

Sure they would. They'd just have to wait until it's convenient for them. Like when the alien species declares war on Earth, or it escapes from a secret underground torture chamber, or when it's discovered that the President has a zipper on the back of his neck and a closet full of skin of all the other past (and future) Presidents.

I'm sure aliens have already visited or crash landed or somethinged Earth and I'm sure the government was all over that shit before anyone aside from a few crazy hicks in Trailer Town USA could notice anything, and I'm sure aliens have visited in the past and helped construct civilizations, and I'm sure aliens are continuing to visit or crash land or something Earth, and I'm sure NASA knows everything and they're just slowly building up anticipation for the big reveal at whatever moment they deem is "the moment". They can't keep the information hidden from us forever; it'll either be leaked or there'll either be one definitive moment where it's either super profitable (money-wise or social-wise) or super necessary (war-wise or on-the-loose-wise).

[Moar Boy]

There could be a possibility of intelligent life...

If we weren't the first or last intelligent species in the universe.

[terminoob]

There could be a possibility of intelligent life...

If we weren't the first or last intelligent species in the universe.

 

Given how old the universe is (and how it probably isn't the first universe, nor is it the last), I find it hard to believe that we'd be the first or last intelligent species in the universe.