Hubble Discovers a Hundred New Planets

Spudley writes "The BBC is reporting that the Hubble Telescope has discovered over a hundred new exoplanets - a number which almost doubles the total known. Apparently they are also expecting to be able to analyse the atmospheres of up to 20% of them. The discovery will be confirmed within the next seven days."

Comments

Wonderous

[werdnab]

The discovery will lend support to the idea that almost every sunlike star in our galaxy, and probably the Universe, is accompanied by planets.

This is even beyond Carl Sagan's reasoning of the likleyhood of the existence of life in the Universe. It is hard to imagine the possible abundance of extra terra life, but this theory is reasonable, and this discovery is one step closer to proving it.

I just wish I could be around to witness the presentation of absolute proof that life exists elsewhere in the Universe.

Re:The mighty galaxy

[wanerious]

Yep, I teach physics and astronomy at the local community college, and I diffuse such statements at the beginning of each semester. "Are we ever going to use this stuff?" students typically ask physics and math professors at some point during their studies (always at the difficult parts --- no one has objections to learning irrelevant easy stuff). "Nope!" I say, proudly beaming. Teaching astronomy to the general public has no practical value, aside from the (perhaps) 2nd order effect of funding for space missions that help make technological advances. Rather, I hope to teach them how to think critically, expose them to scientific ideas, methods, and principles, and instill some sense of appreciation for the amazing universe we are embedded in. If we stimulate imaginations and a little "shock and awe" at ideas not yet imagined, hopefully that is some slight public service. This is especially important for children, whose romantically large sense of wonder should be occasionally inflated. As Feynman said, "science is like sex; occasionally something practical comes out of it, but that's not the reason we're doing it."

Re:This is good

[ImTwoSlick]

My two cents on this matter: we can learn more from using telescopes such as hubble than we can by going back to the effing moon.

I hate to say it, but ...Hubble is just a telescope. There... I said it. It's only real advantages over ground based telescopes are its position above the atmosphere, and greater sky viewing range.

A base on the moon would have HUGE advantages over Hubble. With no atmosphere, and better accessability for repairs and upgrades, a moon based telescope would be a far greater asset then Hubble. I'm also sure there are many other research possiblites a new environment like this will provide.