'Second Earth' found, 20 light years away

[SoulOfTheFlame]

Uh huh...

Wasn't Venus supposed to be a second earth as well?

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by Dion

"We wouldn't be surprised if there is life on this planet," said Stephane Udry, an astronomer on the project at the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...aceexploration

[underGRADFlame]

I wonder if Hiro could teleport there?

[Reaper]

Originally Posted by SoulOfTheFlame

Uh huh...

Wasn't Venus supposed to be a second earth as well?

And science was so advanced when Venus was discovered. For instance, humans had just invented technological wonders such as the rubber ball.

[worth]

That planet is 1.5x bigger than earth, meaning 1.5x the gravity. We'd have a tough time walking around there. 13 day year would make me dizzy.

A light year is about 10 million million km. Closest star to our own is Alpha Centauri which is 4.3 light years away or 43 million million km away.

Mars is anywhere from 56,000,000 km to 399,000,000 depending on our orbits.

If you were talking to someone on mars I think the delay would be somewhere around 27 minutes (again, depending on orbit).

Talking to someone on this new planet, the delay would be 20 years. I guess that's an easier way to put it into perspective.

Anyone watching that Mars Rising program on Discovery recently? Their basically saying a round trip time of 1,000 days to mars including 18 months on the planet. So you're basically looking at 500 days travel time there and back with earth technology. Probably somewhere in the range of 100,000km/h.

Just for somparison sake, the ISS in Low Earth Orbit goes along at around 30,000km/h.

[badnarik]

Originally Posted by evman150

I know I will come off sounding like an ass here, but this is a statement more directed at society than directly at you.

How does one even pose this question? How are there gaps that big in our education that someone can pose this question?

It is so fundamental...so fundamental. It really is a sad commentary on the science education the general public receives.

As for this old article, for those wondering, the planet has such a short year (period) because it is so close to the star, which is because the star only shines at 2700K, because the star is a red dwarf. And the luminosity of a star is proportional to the temperature to the fourth power. So a star with a temperature of 2700K is (5760/2700)^4 ~ 21 times less luminous (Solar temperature = 5760K). And that doesn't include the square dependence on radius. Assuming it's about half the radius of the Sun (reasonable assumption), that's another 4 times less luminous, for a grand total of ~ 80-85 times less luminous than the Sun. So that is the reason the so called "habitable zone" is so close to the star, and also why the period is so small.

Asking how many light years is mars from earth is no more ridiculous than asking how many km is mars from earth. Microlightyears vs Megakilometers, right? Someone else already pointed out that the question offers perspective.

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by worth

That planet is 1.5x bigger than earth, meaning 1.5x the gravity. We'd have a tough time walking around there.

I think gravity would be a function of how fast its spinning, not how big it is.

Lets go and find out.

Cowperson

[worth]

Not sure how a planet spinning affects gravity, but gravity is dependant on the mass of the object you're standing on. This is why when they went to the moon, they were jumping around. Moon has less mass therefore less gravity.

On this new planet, it's 1.5x as big as the earth, meaning if you weigh 200lbs on earth, you'd weigh 300lbs there. There would be 1.5x the gravity there as compared to here.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

I think gravity would be a function of how fast its spinning, not how big it is.

You're kidding right? Please say you're kidding.

evman150, be gentle.

[photon]

Originally Posted by worth

On this new planet, it's 1.5x as big as the earth, meaning if you weigh 200lbs on earth, you'd weigh 300lbs there. There would be 1.5x the gravity there as compared to here.

Well assuming the same density.. and without any different data, it's a reasonable place to start.

[The Unabomber]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I don't know why we shouldn't expect society to understand what a light year is, it's a pretty simple concept that everybody should know...then again, many Americans have no concept of what a Kilometer is. I would expect somebody to undestand the lightyear concept but not maybe something more useful (in talking about the distance to Mars) like AUs.

I still like the odd discussions on CP with people who claim that they don't believe FTL is impossible (nevermind Einstein) simply based on the fact that supposedly, scientists thought supersonic travel was impossible 50 years ago (false). People just don't grasp the whole speed of light concept when they try to frame it in familiar terms.

So would it be safe to assume that you people would know our world history pretty well? I don't care what i light year is yet is seems like it should be basic knowledge, something that i should have picked up in grade 1 or 2.

[North East Goon]

Fat Bottom girls would make that rocking world go round!

[llama64]

20 light years?

That's like 10 min at warp 9 or something!

[FlamingLonghorn]

My question is why is it necessary that people know what a light year is? It's not knowledge that 99.9% of people need or will find useful at anytime during their life.

[evman150]

Originally Posted by Sowa

My question is why is it necessary that people know what a light year is? It's not knowledge that 99.9% of people need or will find useful at anytime during their life.

It is just indicative of a general ignorance of science, which unfortunately is disturbingly pervasive in our society.

Like I said before, I'm not asking people to be able to define it as (3E8*60*60*24*365.24)m, only that they be familiar with the unit, that they know it to be a distance, and a very long one at that.

[underGRADFlame]

If this is Earth - E
and this is Mars - M
and this is Gliese 581 - G

E.M............................................... .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ..X1000 ....G

or something like that!

[troutman]

This planet was discussed back in April:

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthr...ghlight=gliese

Very interesting.

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by photon

Well assuming the same density.. and without any different data, it's a reasonable place to start.

according to the link above me, the mass is 5x Earths mass.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I don't know why we shouldn't expect society to understand what a light year is, it's a pretty simple concept that everybody should know...then again, many Americans have no concept of what a Kilometer is. I would expect somebody to undestand the lightyear concept but not maybe something more useful (in talking about the distance to Mars) like AUs.

I've met university educated people that don't know the sun is a star. People have their own interests.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by llama64

20 light years?

That's like 10 min at warp 9 or something!

Ensign, lay in a course.

Engage.