Dusty Disc May Mean Other Earths

DoraLives writes "According to the BBC, astronomers say they have evidence for Earth-like planets orbiting a nearby star. The star in question is Vega, which is nice and close (as stars go), quite young (also as stars go), and one of the brightest stars in the sky. Apparently, 'Vega has a disc of dust circling it, and at least one large planet which could sweep debris aside allowing smaller worlds like Earth to exist.' Should be interesting to keep an eye on it as the years roll by as the disk rotates and our optical powers keep growing."

Comments

three-two-one---contact

[ChrisTower]

If it does have an Earth-type planet, it'll probably be inhabited by a bunch of beings that look like my late father... that's barely worth the trip out there, or an hour and half.

So...

[Stile 65]

Vegans really ARE aliens from another solar system!

I'm off to eat some meat.

Re:to bad we're looking in the past

[crymeph0]

Vega is only 25 light years away, so they'd be looking at the 70's. Of course, once they hear Disco, they'll probably decide nothing of value could have ever come from our system.

Terrestrial Planet Finder Links

[js7a]

Until we get good stellar-occluding interferometers and coronagraphs, we can't be sure. Once we get those in place, it becomes possible to determine the atmospheric composition (i.e., O2, H2O, N2, etc.)

Here are Terrestrial Planet Finder links at:

• NASA JPL (Flash animation)
• Caltech
• Space.com

Re:to bad we're looking in the past

[Daniel Dvorkin]

I kind of doubt anyone there is looking at us right now. From the (somewhat fuzzy) description in the article, it sounds like what we're observing is a disc of dust surrounding Vega with proto-planets forming within it. It was probably several hundred million years after the Solar System passed through that phase before life even got started on Earth. According to currently accepted models of planetary formation, those proto-planets would be pretty hellish places right now; their surfaces will be blazing hot and suffering constant bombardment by other, slightly smaller bodies. Being anywhere on the surface of one would be like being at Ground Zero of a massive nuclear strike.