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Billions of Habitable Planets?

Posted by michael on from the every-one-of-them-filled-with-tribbles dept.

cbv writes: "MSNBC has an interesting article about new calculations by Charly Lineweaver and Daniel Grether, both of the University of New South Wales in Australia, which provides an interesting answer to the question on how many potentially habitable planets exist in our galaxy."

18 of 462 comments (clear)

  1. Re:The BIG question by Scaba · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think only telelphone sanitizers, hairdressers and middle management will get to go, if I remember correctly.

  2. more than half by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 5, Funny
    The most remarkable fact from the article:
    We found that of all planets just reaching the dawn of their personal computing era, more than half of them have a whiney guy in glasses writing letters to magazines complaining about people not paying for his BASIC interpreter.
  3. The population of the universe is 0... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    From Douglas Adams...

    Number of Planets in the Universe = infinity
    Number of Populated Planets in the Universe = N

    n
    --------- = 0
    infinity

  4. How many? by Insightfill · · Score: 4, Funny



    ...Billions and Billions...

    </sagan voice>

    Boy, I'll miss that guy! One of the many people who triggered lots of tech interest in me and made me who I am!

  5. Puh-leez! by Cynical_Dude · · Score: 3, Funny

    Thinking that Earth is the only inhabitable planet in the galaxy or even the universe is so last millenium.

    It doesn't take a genius (just a bit of open-mindedness) to figure out that in the vast reaches of just our own galaxy (not to mention the universe) the chances are good that additional systems similar to Sol were formed.

    Remember: The absence of proof is not the proof of absence.

    On a lighter note, I really hope they'd hurry up and colonize another planet. Then, next time some ecologist gets on my nerves by saying: "THINK OF THE PLANET!" I can retort: Sheesh, it's not like it's the only one we've got!".

    And yes, I know I stole that from Futurama ;)

  6. I thought it was 42 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    maybe it's 42 billion :)

  7. This has probly already been said, but... by Eskimo+Bob · · Score: 2, Funny

    Anyone who believes that there is not an assload of planets that could possibly support sentient life is incredibly arrogant.

    Anyone who believes that a "god-like being" would only create life on a singular planet is even more arrogant.

    Anyone who believes that we will be able to easily find them within the next century is naive.

    Anyone who thinks that people will be sent to any such planets found within the current century is a tool.

    Remember, the earth is not the center of the universe (unless of course, all points in the universe are equidistant from every other point, then every point is the center of the universe, which would really mean it has no center. But what are the odds of that...).

    That being said... I wouldn't mind taking a ride on a monkey fueled liquid nitrogen cooled rocket sleigh to some far off planet and get it on with alien chicks with 2 bellybuttons, like William Shatner.

    --
    I am a big, fluffy, cute, cuddly bunny. fear me.
  8. New planets? by Hoi+Polloi · · Score: 2, Funny

    Great, as soon as they reveal their locations their going to get spammed.

    --
    It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
  9. Re:this is a WAG, nothing more, nothing less. by rho · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm more interested in that terrabyte of NZ sheep porn, myself...

    --
    Potato chips are a by-yourself food.
  10. Safety and Security. by Talinom · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't care how many worlds there are in the Galaxy. I'm NOT going to wear a red shirt when I beam down to one of them.

    --
    "Giving money and power to governments is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." - P.J. O'Rourke
  11. Re:you mean... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    "Here's a depressing thought: they may also consider it prudent to quickly destroy nearby infant civilizations quickly, perhaps by accellerating small chunks of rock to near lightspeed and aiming them at noisy planets."

    PALESTINIANS FROM OUTER SPACE!!

  12. Re:The Problem with Space Travel by roman_mir · · Score: 3, Funny

    Read Nemesis (Isaac Asimov). BTW. by the time a large spaceship like that goes half way to the star we would have developed technologies allowing us to go back and forward to and from the star 100 times a day. Poor crew of that ship would have arrived to the star only to visit McDonald restaurant!

    --
    You can't handle the truth.
  13. Great offer!!! by Futurepower(tm) · · Score: 3, Funny


    I will give you half of my share of the planets if you can tell me how to get there and back, safely and for a reasonable price.

    --
    Bush's education improvements were
  14. Re:Metrics... by FrankDrebin · · Score: 5, Funny

    Can anyone tell me the difference between a 'metric buttload' and an 'Imperial buttload'? Thanks.

    I believe the imperial buttload is based on the size of Hing Henry V's rear end. Quite large, it was.

    While the metric buttload is smaller, it scales nicely. For example, there are 10 metric buttloads in a metric shitload.

    QED

    --
    Anybody want a peanut?
  15. Hmmmmm, variety of humanoids, yummm! by Com2Kid · · Score: 2, Funny

    CatGirls, elves, fae, oh yah! The more planets there are the better the odds are that we may find some sapient humanoids who resemble characters from modern fantasy! Kicking.

    Hell if necessary we can colonize a few billion planets, and if THEY don't have the 'desired' females on them, we can start going into parallel dimensions until we eventually do find the 'desired' 'results'. w00t!

    This species (homo sapiens) is /SOOO/ going to rock the galaxy(metaverse? Kickin!) in another few hundred years!

    --
    Need help treating your acne? Come here!
  16. Re:you mean... by Above · · Score: 3, Funny

    Bah.

    The answer is easy, 42. It's nice you finally found the question.

  17. Re:The BIG question by AMuse · · Score: 3, Funny

    Some have observed that the level of committment this would require of humanity would be like nothing ever seen before, and which would
    require devotion that has historically only been commanded by religious quests.

    Fortunately, there's a "religion" with the right kind of funding to do so!

    Who would ever think something good would come out of Scientology? :>

  18. You know what this means... by Graabein · · Score: 2, Funny

    You know what this means, in 2-300 years the title "Miss Universe" will actually mean something.

    --
    And remember kids: Never trust a computer you can actually lift.