Earth to...Earth? Are you there?

jasamaman writes "So far all the planets found outside our solar system have been gas giants. So they are not habitable, and couldn't really hold life as we know it. But "planet hunter" David Charbonneau is looking for another planet just like Earth, and claims that astronomers are "very close"."

Comments

Re:How dose he know?

[blacktar]

What would you expect from a person whose last name sounds suspiciously like a bottle of cheap wine?

Close but no cigar.....

[CDWert]

Well, close but no cigar,

Perhaps the teraforming of venus or mars would be a more practical consideration for the next 100 years.

What the heck does it matter if we find a planet in say , we misses it surrounding Alpha Centarui, our closest stellar neighbor.

We pretty much know there out there , law of averages dictates it. WE (earth), is not an cannot be alone in it planetary type classification, to think so would align you mental reasoning with that of the clergy in the middle ages saying the frigging sun revolved around the earth.

So what dose it matter in the short term if there is another planet even within 20 light years, a very short distance I might add, Propulsion at near the speed of light is fantasy for at least another century. OR until artificial gravity can be harnessed (no not for propulsion but for keeping the people inside from turning to goooo on acceleration a deceleration), add to that the fact space isnt a vacum, a craft travelling at NOV (near optic velocities) well lets say there are more issues than you can imagine if you havent studied the problem.

So, what are we left with ?

Venus and Mars, mars is cold and dry. May be a little watter but its still going to be cold , rocord equator temperatures are not even comfy, there isnt enough CO2 at the caps to produce an atmosphere of enough density for a greenhouse effect to occur.

SO we have venus, wet, HOT as hell and very active. Remeber the percipitation experiments in chemistry class ? How about coming up with a plan to do just tha to the sulfur in the atmosphere ? Man what I wouldnt give to have about 2 liters of venutian atmosphere to play with. Now granted even after it would take some time for the planet to cool even after reduced its atmosphere. And the place would forever smell like rotten eggs, but more habbitable perhaps than mars, at least you have PLENTY of water, albeit bound in sulfuric acids at the moment.

Sooo earth earth where are you ? Does it really matter ? What next drawings of what life may be like on theat planet ? (Remeber the wood carvign of the men on the moon a guy claimed to see with wings and all)