"Finding a Second Earth Could Happen Anytime Now": NASA/Harvard Teams (A Daily Galaxy 2009 Top Post)

"It could happen almost any time now. We now have the technological capability to identify Earth-like planets around the smallest stars."

David Latham -Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

To date, Planet hunters have spotted more than 400 planets beyond our solar system, but the vast majority are hot, Jupiter-sized planets that would dwarf the Earth and are almost certainly lifeless.

"It could happen almost any time now. We now have the technological capability to identify Earth-like planets around the smallest stars."

David Latham -Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

To date, Planet hunters have spotted more than 400 planets beyond our solar system, but the vast majority are hot, Jupiter-sized planets that would dwarf the Earth and are almost certainly lifeless.

Last summer, a collaboration between the COROT and HARPS systems detected a rocky expolanet five hundred light years away, a small stone ball less than twice the diameter and about five times the mass of Earth - giving it the same density as our place.  Don't imagine any aliens just yet though (or if you do, make them pretty heat resistant) - it orbits only 2.5 million kilometers from its star, sixteen times closer than even Mercury gets.  The expolanet's "year" is thus shorter than our day - meaning that even if there is an asbestos-based civilization their economy is utterly devastated by birthdays.

COROT is the COnvection ROtation and planetary Transit satellite, scanning thousands of stars to see the tiny dips in brightness caused by planets.  HARPS is the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher, a super-sensitive spectrograph installed on a Chilean telescope to accurately identify how fast a wavelength source moves.  Between them, they were able to identify the location of the planet and work out it's orbital radius and speed, thereby working out the mass and size.  And with names like that, they probably combine to form Voltron's big brother.

Astronomers may be on the brink of discovering a second Earth-like planet, a find that would add fresh impetus to the search for extraterrestrial life. Advances in technology suggest scientists are on the verge of being able to detect the presence of small, rocky planets, much like our own, around distant stars for the first time. The planets are considered the most likely habitats for extraterrestrial life.

Finding a rocky planet with an Earth-like density brings us one step closer to discovering another planet similar to our own. A twin-Earth beyond the solar system could provide the best chance of finding life elsewhere in the universe.

The majority of the atoms in our bodies were created in the Big Bang 15 billion years ago. Most of the mass in our bodies are oxygen atoms that were created by generations of stars that preceded the formation of our Sun. We are a subset of the physical universe. And through astronomy this negligible subset is slowly acquiring -however limited- an awareness of the total universe that created it.

The great thing about outer space? It's absolutely full of fantastic stuff just waiting for us to be able to see it:  every time we improve our observations, either the equipment or analysis, something new and brilliant jumps out of the universe saying "Here I am!"  Now fans of interplanetary ideas have been rewarded with the very first rocky planet outside the Solar System.

Everything we've seen previously has been some Jupiter-like gas giant, a huge ball of not-solid-stuff-like-Earth that's still interesting but - since we don't imagine meeting alien clouds very much - not as exciting.  But it isn't the case that space only features balls of gas, it's just that our technology couldn't see anything smaller.  Until now.

It's awesome stuff for scientists.  Yet another example of how we'll never be bored, how the universe is simply stuffed with things waiting for us to detect them. 

Luke McKinney with Casey Kazan

Finding a rocky planet with an Earth-like density brings us one step closer to discovering another planet similar to our own. A twin-Earth beyond the solar system could provide the best chance of finding life elsewhere in the universe.

The majority of the atoms in our bodies were created in the Big Bang 15 billion years ago. Most of the mass in our bodies are oxygen atoms that were created by generations of stars that preceded the formation of our Sun. We are a subset of the physical universe. And through astronomy this negligible subset is slowly acquiring -however limited- an awareness of the total universe that created it.

The great thing about outer space? It's absolutely full of fantastic stuff just waiting for us to be able to see it:  every time we improve our observations, either the equipment or analysis, something new and brilliant jumps out of the universe saying "Here I am!"  Now fans of interplanetary ideas have been rewarded with the very first rocky planet outside the Solar System.

Everything we've seen previously has been some Jupiter-like gas giant, a huge ball of not-solid-stuff-like-Earth that's still interesting but - since we don't imagine meeting alien clouds very much - not as exciting.  But it isn't the case that space only features balls of gas, it's just that our technology couldn't see anything smaller.  Until now.

It's awesome stuff for scientists.  Yet another example of how we'll never be bored, how the universe is simply stuffed with things waiting for us to detect them. 

Luke McKinney with Casey Kazan

Comments

[Mithridates]

Yeah! Well actually I thought it was going to happen on the 4th of January (was hoping for a discovery of an Earth-like planet orbiting a tiny red dwarf star in the habitable zone) but at least it's certain to happen later in the year. If WISE ends up discovering a brown dwarf closer to us than Alpha Centauri then 2010 will truly be the year in which the way we see the universe completely changed forever.

[mmmhmmTASTY]

'We are a subset of the physical universe. And through astronomy this negligible subset is slowly acquiring -however limited- an awareness of the total universe that created it.'

awesome

[Diana Herrington]

My only thought is: will we be any more responsible then we have been with this precious earth.

[Kourosh]

Excellent. It was starting to get a bit stuffy here.

[Allyn Bauer]

"It's awesome stuff for scientists."

It's awesome stuff for everybody.

[Slip]

there is no point in finding another earth like planet, its not like we have the technology to travel far enough to get there.

[Medisoft]

Too bad this 2nd Earth will be farther away than we can imagine and never get to.

[Justin Bean]

Wow, thats scary dude! Seriously.

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[Stobrawa]

"... created in the Big Bang 15 billion years ago." Did I miss something? Last I herd it was 13.7 billion with a margin for error certainly less than 10%. Seriously, am I behind the times?

[gus]

Kepler looks much more likely, (almost certain) to report Earth-like planets including some potentially in the habitable zone around their stars and they'll do it within the next year or two. There's a selection bias with current observational techniques towards high mass planets close to stars and Kepler just blows past those limits. Things are about to get very exiting.

[Ron Jeremy]

My penis smells like hot stinky goat cheese.

[Eric M]

I'm going to have to second the comment that:

'We are a subset of the physical universe. And through astronomy this negligible subset is slowly acquiring -however limited- an awareness of the total universe that created it.'

Is both profound and well put.

[EvilCosmicMonkeyfrom Knoxville]

Interesting assumption.

Too bad that, barring the development of an FTL drive or wormhole / Einstein - Rosen bridge generator OR discovery of a Stargate, we aren't going to see any Extra - Solar Earths in our lifetimes, or our children / grandchildren's lifetimes.

BUT scouting ahead & planning ahead never hurt.

[Eli]

"'It's awesome stuff for scientists.'

'It's awesome stuff for everybody.'"

Wish that were true, but sadly, it's not. Too many people are still drowning themselves in pointless mundanity, and are not concerned with the big picture. Half of the people walking down the street right now have no clue that we're currently looking for life in other planets, and some couldn't care less.
But hey, great news for those of us who give a damn about our origin and existence.

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[lukaas249]

YOU may be ready to go but WE are not ready to go. The furthest we have managed to fling anything from Earth is about 10 billion miles (Voyager 1, unmanned of course.) 10 billion miles is a tiny, tiny fraction of a light year. These "earth-like planets" are more than a hundred trillion light years away. We aren't going, our kids aren't going, their kids aren't going and I can safely repeat that phrase for the rest of the day I am afraid. No one wants it more than me... but it is an accomplishment that is unimaginably far off.

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The great thing about outer space? It's absolutely full of fantastic stuff just waiting for us to be able to see it: every time we improve our observations, either the equipment or analysis, something new and brilliant jumps out of the universe saying "Here I am!" Now fans of interplanetary ideas have been rewarded with the very first rocky planet outside the Solar System.

[kuwait 25]

'We are a subset of the physical universe. And through astronomy this negligible subset is slowly acquiring -however limited- an awareness of the total universe that created it.'

[kuwait 25]

'We are a subset of the physical universe. And through astronomy this negligible subset is slowly acquiring -however limited- an awareness of the total universe that created it.'

[bathroom vanities]

It's a great imagination. It's worth waiting...

[rolex watch]

or vague. At least we have the kind of satisfaction After I bought this watch ,in a sense,it

[omega watches]

the physical universe. And through astronomy this negligible subset is slowly acquiring -however