Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

New Exoplanet Is Best Yet Candidate For Supporting Life

Posted by samzenpus on from the welcome-to-the-neighborhood dept.

First time accepted submitter uigrad_2000 writes "With all the new exoplanets discovered recently with Kepler, it seemed a sure thing that the first exoplanet in the habitable zone of a star would be found soon. The irony is that Kepler was not involved. GJ 667Cc is at least 4.5 times as massive as Earth, and lies in the habitable region of its host star, reports Scientific American. It was discovered by comparing public data from the ESO to recent observations from Hawaii and Chile. As opposed to the stars Kepler is watching, this is only 22 light-years away, making it even more interesting."

7 of 288 comments (clear)

  1. 22 light years by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "this is only 22 light years away, making it even more interesting."

    It's like a price on an estate: as remarkable as this is, it's only 55.3 million! Still unreachable :P

    1. Re:22 light years by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Closer planets are much easier to observe than farther ones. We may not be able to go there in the foreseeable future, but being close means we can study it.

    2. Re:22 light years by afabbro · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Visiting this planet is perfectly feasible if the human race wants it.

      I wouldn't say "perfectly" feasible. Visiting the moon is perfectly feasible. Visiting Mars is probably perfectly feasible. But 22LY is a >44Y round trip. I think instead of "perfectly feasible" I would say "probably possible".

      --
      Advice: on VPS providers
    3. Re:22 light years by Swampash · · Score: 4, Insightful

      A 44 year round trip if you travel at the speed of light from start to finish.

      That's a pretty big if.

  2. Re:If we can find them... by tiffany352 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We have a 75 light year radius sphere of expanding radio signals. If anyone is out there listening, we are the kid knocking over bookshelves in the library of the universe.

  3. Re:What if we go there? by camperdave · · Score: 5, Insightful

    (No, I don't think we'll ever reach it; 22 light years)

    We already HAVE reached it... in a sense. We've been broadcasting radio and television signals for all of recorded history (electronically recorded history, that is). Maybe they are mourning the death of The Skipper from Gilligan's Island (Alan Hale Jr.) who passed away 22 years ago. Maybe they're stunned by the loss of the shuttle Challenger, or dismayed by Chernobyl, or the Exxon Valdez. Maybe they're rocking out to Madonna and Michael "Mr Glove" Jackson. Perhaps they have had a Star Wars marathon, and are hoping beyond hope that George Lucas will make those long anticipated prequel movies. Too bad there's no way we can warn them.

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  4. Re:The universe mocks us by MrZilla · · Score: 5, Insightful

    May take up to 22 years?

    It will guaranteed never take less than 22 years. Never mind that even getting close to c is a wild dream at this time.

    But if you did manage to get close to the speed of light, the trip would take ~22 years from an earth point of view, but for the people on the ship/whatever, the trip will be quite short. If you actually hit c (never mind that it is physically impossible), the trip would be instantaneous from the point of view of the travelers.

    A more realistic scenario, if we pour a lot of money into propulsion research, might be to fly away at 10% c. That would lead to a trip take takes 220 years in earth-time, or 198 years in ship-time. Not exactly an easy trip to plan.

    --
    mov ax, 4c00h
    int 21h