"Nearby Alien Planet May Be Capable of Supporting Life" Topic

"One of the nearest exoplanets to Earth may be a decent abode for life.

Ross 128b — which lies just 11 light-years from our planet — is likely a rocky and temperate world, a new study suggests.

"Although Ross 128b is not Earth's twin, and there is still much we don't know about its potential geologic activity, we were able to strengthen the argument that it's a temperate planet that could potentially have liquid water on its surface," lead author Diogo Souto, of the Observatório Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, said in a statement…."
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Amicalement
Armand

They used to say similar things about Mars when I was a kid.

But I guess these guys' predictions are much safer, seeing as how we may never make it to those distant planets.

Dan

Meanwhile on Ross128b…

"Just" 11 light-years away. I can practically touch it!

Regarding life forms on Ross 128b, they mostly come at night.

Mostly.

Fascinated that I am with the wonders of the universe, when astrophysicists say silly things (as mjkerner points out "just light-years way" I roll up my eyes.

I takes 9 months for an earthling craft to reach Mars. Mars is, on average, 12.5 light-MINUTES away. Based on this, it takes the same craft 1,043 months to go 1 Light-DAY.

So a bit of math later, it will take humans "only" some 349,130 earth years (!) to reach this inhabitable planet……Yup, just around the block

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Yep. A very safe prognostication. They (and the rest of humanity) won't be around when they are proven wrong.

Do people still take these guys seriously? I mean, does the general public really see these guys as doing anything essential?

I think most of those exo-planet hunters should be reassigned to watching for near earth asteroids and other real threats that we need to prepare for, at least until there's a adequate defense system in place to do that essential job.

For example … last December an asteroid half the size of the one that wiped out most of the dinosaurs came within 2 million miles of Earth (just about 8 or 9 times the distance to our own Moon), and no one in the science community seems to have known about it until just a few months before it passed by. And that hasn't been the only surprise in recent years either.

Meantime those guys are looking at and speculating about exo-planets that no human will ever visit. They really need to point their equipment in a more meaningful direction, if they want the taxed public to fund their toys and their research.

Dan

Always predict things that are about 75 years in the future. That way no one who reads about it will be alive to see if you are wrong, and if they are no one will care that you were wrong.

For example, if in 2009 you thought the polar ice caps were going to melt, don't say they will be gone in 2014, say they will be gone in 2084. That way you will not be spectacularly wrong.

It seems these Brazilian scientists got the memo. Close enough to seem close enough to get to, but far enough away it will never happen in the next 75 years.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

Bingo! And in the 1970's it was the next Ice Age that was going to cover the Earth. Carl Sagan was a big supporter of this scare.

The chances of anything coming from Ross128b are a million to one…doesnt have quite the sme ring to it.

But, I think a large part of the scientific community has worked out that if you need funding for an unexciting bit of research that will bore the public to death but might save the worl or cure cancer you occasionally have to chuck out a useless but eyecatching peice about something the public is interested in but has little value 'cos it'll bring in a few quid to fund the dull but useful stuff.

Mike

I wonder how much funding actually goes towards "useful stuff" and to programs with actual practical applications such as … doing something to avoid potentially catastrophic surprise visits from space:

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jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch

If you can't detect them in time, you can't deflect them in time. Some people might think that this isn't exciting work, but many do think of it as exciting and actually vital.

Dan

Dan

Oh, I totally agree that such things are interesting but from the viewpoint of the general public the importance of such a project may not be apparent; Ive known folk who would denounce it as a waste of time and money to look for rocks floating about. Aliens are sexier, and the sexier the headline the more money you get for looking for rocks…

If they[the ETs, any and all !] have any sense at all they will have nothing to do with the denizens of the planet Earth …