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Super-Earths Discovered Orbiting Nearby, Sun-Like Star
likuidkewl writes "Two super-earths, 5 and 7.5 times the size of our home, were found to be orbiting 61 Virginis a mere 28 light years away. 'These detections indicate that low-mass planets are quite common around nearby stars. The discovery of potentially habitable nearby worlds may be just a few years away,' said Steven Vogt, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UCSC. Among hundreds of our nearest stellar neighbors, 61 Vir stands out as being the most nearly similar to the Sun in terms of age, mass, and other essential properties."
61 virgins...... drool.....
Hey! I thought it was supposed to be 70 Virginis.
Something tells me that these astronomers are keeping Virginis 1 through 9 to themselves. Grab your torches and pitchforks, kids.
Not so much a problem for the folks on the spacecraft, relativity can make the journey very manageable for them. They better not think about returning home to see Grandma though...
So space will be colonized by people with dysfunctional families?
What'd probably happen is about five years (as the travelers perceive it) after launch we'll develop faster-than-light travel and interrupt their journey. Or maybe just let them ride it out as a curious time capsule to cruise by and show buttcheek to.
So space will be colonized by people with dysfunctional families?
Sorry folks, planet's closed. The six legged moose like creature out front should have told you.
I've lost all my marbles except one & It's fun to test angular & centripetal acceleration in my skull
I say it is high time we develop a warp ship capable of carrying the combined military might of the entire planet to this system.
We'll move quickly, from one "Super" Earth to the next, conquering indigenous peoples and enslaving them to toil in our mines until the planet is naught but a smoldering husk, a shadow of what used to be.
Then we'll see who is "Super".
Who's with me!?!
At .0002c, it would take about 14000 years to get there, but the lucky astronauts would only experience 13999.99972 years. Sign me up!
Why should space be any different?
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
found to be orbiting 61 Virginis
now to be known as the slashdot system...
I'm a rabbit startled by the headlights of life
No guidance systems? Interesting idea...
I don't like Linux. This doesn't make me a troll.
That's no moon...
I have something in common with Stephen Hawking...
Protip: for easy comparison of VLNs, make sure they are in the same units (although anyone on slashdot should know that 1 Joule is equal to one Watt-Second).
But anyway, your numbers make the answer quite clear. We need a nuclear fusion reactor to propel our spacecraft, and it needs to have about 10,000 times the energy output of the sun. Quite doable. We know of stars with 100,000 times the energy output of the sun, we just need to harness one of those to the shuttle, shutter the front half of it, and we'll get plenty of energy pushing us forward.
Now we only need to figure out a way to get to that 10,000x star.
"Trolls they were, but filled with the evil will of their master: a fell race..." -- J.R.R. Tolkien on Olog-hai
Death by Snoo Snoo? "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised."
No mention of warp drive? Please deposit your geek card into the nearest shreader.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
My chip stopped working a couple days after I started playing around with that old radar set I found at the junk store . . .
"Think about how stupid the average person is. Now, realise that half of them are dumber than that." - George Carlin