NASA Finds Planet That Could Have Life

[Gahars]

NASA's Kepler, a spacecraft designed to search for other planets that could potentially sustain life, has made a promising discovery.

The new finds bring the Kepler space telescope's total haul to 2,326 potential planets in its first 16 months of operation.These discoveries, if confirmed, would quadruple the current tally of worlds known to exist beyond our solar system, which recently topped 700.
The potentially habitable alien world, a first for Kepler, orbits a star very much like our own sun. The discovery brings scientists one step closer to finding a planet like our own — one which could conceivably harbor life, scientists said.

"We're getting closer and closer to discovering the so-called 'Goldilocks planet,'" Pete Worden, director of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., said during a press conference today. [Gallery: The Strangest Alien Planets]

The newfound planet in the habitable zone is called Kepler-22b. It is located about 600 light-years away, orbiting a sun-like star.

Kepler-22b's radius is 2.4 times that of Earth, and the two planets have roughly similar temperatures. If the greenhouse effect operates there similarly to how it does on Earth, the average surface temperature on Kepler-22b would be 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius).

Source

As the article said, this planet is in a hospitable zone - it's just the right distance away from its sun that life (as we know it) could develop. It may not seem like much, but it brings us one step closer in the search for other lifeforms in the universe.

Whatever we end up finding, if we find anything at all, they better be friendly. If they aren't, they better come prepared; we have Will Smith on standby.

 

[_Chaz_]

Great. Now we can wait 300 years to begin making it suitable for colonization.

 

[Chaosruler]

I know I can make a girl pregrant there, does that count for life?

 

[Shoat]

Now all it needs is some sort of ozone layer, breathable air, the right magnet field to protect from radiation 'nstuff, and tons of water, and it could be a candidate for a settlement once earth is no longer inhabitable (IF, by then, we have the technology to even travel there).

Don't get me wrong, it is a fascinating find considering the odds of the right planet orbiting the right sun at the right distance, but we're still centuries/millenia away from being able to do anything with any fine planets we discover.

 

[Gahars]

Oh, any actual colonization (much less a manned mission) is undoubtedly a long, long time away. Plus, the chance of it being the Goldilocks Planet (The planet "just right" for human life) that NASA is hoping to find is unlikely.

But again, it's a start. After all, "A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step."

 

[_Chaz_]

But again, it's a start. After all, "A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step."

What if you're born on the train which is traveling that thousand miles?

 

[Gahars]

But again, it's a start. After all, "A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step."

What if you're born on the train which is traveling that thousand miles?

Well, then you got a free ride.

 

[VashTS]

Even if it takes many years to get there we can replicate in space and make it some time. At least we may have another option for people millions of years ahead of us

 

[spotanjo3]

Hahaha... It will never happen. The life is us and this very Earth. Nothing else. Silly NASA.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Cool. I bet there is life on it, but it'll be micro-organisms/very simple life forms. Kinda like the bacteria they found on Mars.

 

[Midna]

Hahaha... It will never happen. The life is us and this very Earth. Nothing else. Silly NASA.

Yes, continue being conservative all you want, we don't object.

But take note that they are not specifically searching for life. They're searching for a planet that could sustain life. I wouldn't mind having an Earth-2 around in case something happens to this one.

 

[DarkStriker]

Whatever. I hope that planet is where AJ came from. Must be why hes so different

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Whatever. I hope that planet is where AJ came from. Must be why hes so different

You solved the mystery...WE MUST TELL EVERYBODY

 

[T3GZdev]

Great. Now we can wait 300 years to begin making it suitable for colonization.

forget 300 years lets do it tomorrow.

 

[Deleted-236924]

What if this was just a big misunderstanding?

For all we know, there could be a life form capable of living under circumstances that we couldn't take.
For example, life forms capable of resisting much higher temperatures.
Or life forms capable of absorbing radiation and/or Ultraviolet rays instead of water.

 

[Gahars]

Just got this image off of The Escapist. It'll help in visualizing the size of the planet.

And Pingouin7, while scientists are aware of that possibility, we can really only know what to look for with what we have on Earth; it's the only frame of reference we have, for obvious reasons.

 

[Costello]

the radius of the planet is 2.4 times that of the earth?
which means the mass of that planet is probably a lot higher than earth's (depending of course on what the planet's made of, for all we know density could be lower than earth's)
and if the mass is that much higher, then gravity is higher too which means... if you were to set foot on the planet, you would feel like you're 2 to 2.5 times your own weight.
if you weigh 80kg/176lbs here like me on earth, on that planet you would weigh 200kg/440lbs.
Comfortable much?

 

[.Chris]

the radius of the planet is 2.4 times that of the earth?
which means the mass of that planet is probably a lot higher than earth's (depending of course on what the planet's made of, for all we know density could be lower than earth's)
and if the mass is that much higher, then gravity is higher too which means... if you were to set foot on the planet, you would feel like you're 2 to 2.5 times your own weight.
if you weigh 80kg/176lbs here like me on earth, on that planet you would weigh 200kg/440lbs.
Comfortable much?

Yeah, Costello's right.. Even if we had some way of getting to Kelper-22b, we would be almost crushed instantly.

 

[PolloDiablo]

the radius of the planet is 2.4 times that of the earth?
which means the mass of that planet is probably a lot higher than earth's (depending of course on what the planet's made of, for all we know density could be lower than earth's)
and if the mass is that much higher, then gravity is higher too which means... if you were to set foot on the planet, you would feel like you're 2 to 2.5 times your own weight.
if you weigh 80kg/176lbs here like me on earth, on that planet you would weigh 200kg/440lbs.
Comfortable much?

Yeah, Costello's correct. Even if we had some way of getting to Kelper-22b, we would be almost crushed instantly.

yeah... costello is right. Also, that means that the Aliens that habit there will be hard as shit to beat (if they're big vertebrates)

 

[.Chris]

the radius of the planet is 2.4 times that of the earth?
which means the mass of that planet is probably a lot higher than earth's (depending of course on what the planet's made of, for all we know density could be lower than earth's)
and if the mass is that much higher, then gravity is higher too which means... if you were to set foot on the planet, you would feel like you're 2 to 2.5 times your own weight.
if you weigh 80kg/176lbs here like me on earth, on that planet you would weigh 200kg/440lbs.
Comfortable much?

Yeah, Costello's correct. Even if we had some way of getting to Kelper-22b, we would be almost crushed instantly.

yeah... costello is right. Also, that means that the Aliens that habit there will be hard as shit to beat (if they're big vertebrates)

The link that Gaharas gave, http://www.escapistm...nfirmed-By-NASA, lol at one of the comments;

If Dragonball Z taught me anything, it's that higher gravity = bigger muscles
Gentlemen, I believe I have found the solution to America's obesity problem