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Newly Spotted Frozen World Orbits In a Binary Star System
An anonymous reader writes A newly discovered planet in a binary, or twin, star system located 3,000 light-years from Earth is expanding astronomers' notions of where Earth-like planets can form. At twice the mass of Earth, the planet orbits one of the stars in the binary system at almost exactly the same distance at which Earth orbits the sun. However, because the planet's host star is much dimmer than the sun, the planet is much colder than Earth. "This greatly expands the potential locations to discover habitable planets in the future," said Scott Gaudi, professor of astronomy at Ohio State. "Half the stars in the galaxy are in binary systems. We had no idea if Earth-like planets in Earth-like orbits could even form in these systems."
The summary clarified "Binary Star" for Slashdot readers. That seems unnecessary, or my opinion of Slashdotters is far too 2002.
Until faster-than-light travel is either solved or deemed completely impossible these facts are interesting but useless to us. It is probably within our realm to terraform planets close to earth to be livable. But until we figure out how to get there it's just not going to make an impact beyond scientific curiosity. We need to try to solve the FTL problem. Eventually something is going to make our little rock uninhabitable. While there may be many worlds that are close to Earth out there we need to be able to get there.
It's a bit of a burning question. General relativity seems to indicate that FTL may be possible unless it is unified with gravity field theory. The physics isn't there yet. After the physics we need the "tricks" that comprise engineering to get the physics to be useful. The sooner we sink more money in this area the quicker a breakthrough may come. And yes, I am fully aware that throwing money at a problem like this isn't going to solve it. The solution is going to come from some really, really smart guy sitting in a locked room somewhere with a notebook. But experimental data helps and that's where the money comes in.
Sadly the governments of the world seem to be less interested in physics today. Sigh.
Has this been independently verified by other astronomers? Keeping in mind yesterday's slashdot article suggesting that ptreviously identified planets gliese-581d and gliese-581g don't actually exist?
It's a rebel hideout
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
It means the star is digital, either on or off.
We need to try to solve the FTL problem.
r.e. FTL research: you raise some good points.
But nobody (except maybe a Comi-Con panel) is going to get behind funding FTL research.
Our species also has some baby steps to work on first: in no particular order... orbital solar power, fusion, space elevators, mars colonies, asteroid mining. *shrug* Let's solve those things first because they will (eventually) set the stage for interstellar work, including FTL research.
As for basic physics research, I would say China is showing some interest in basic research and advancing the state of the art; with any luck that will motivate some other governments to not be left behind. India also seems hungry to establish itself as a prestigious space power; they're doing some cool things - I hope they are successful.
Likewise I'm optimistic about the progress SpaceX has made; I hope they're wildly successful because it will open new doors for humans.
Perhaps you could do some baby steps yourself; like getting familiar with math and engineering 101.
Orbital Solar Power makes no sense outside of comic books either. Fusion? 50 years and counting. Space Elevator? More sci-fi comic book fantasies. Asteroid mining? Are you joking?
http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the...
http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the...
As for SpaceX, it's the same old fuel in a stick stuff that we've been doing for more than half a century now. It's not magic. LEO and satellites. That's it.
Why would you want to open a door if there's nothing but a deadly vacuum filled with radiation on the other side?
What's the appeal? You're talking about "humans"? You're concerned about your fellow man or just your sci-fi fantasies you read about as a child?
cool. it flips between being a star and a black hole.
Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
You naysayers... Why would someone risk near-certain death in space? Because it's better than absolutely-certain death on the ground. Just wait until it gets that bad down here, and you're good to go.
We know nothing about this planet's atmosphere. The low flux of energy from its star tells us that its stratosphere (if present) must be very cold, but says nothing about its surface temperature. It could have a much deeper troposphere, and thus a much stronger greenhouse effect than Earth has.
60 K = -352 F. Slashdot will eat any characters not on a whitelist due to past abuses of Unicode characters, and this includes the actual minus sign that isn't a hyphen.
Baffling and insane reply. WWIII could happen and the Earth would still be orders of magnitude more hospitable than anything in space.
Can't hold it back anymore
Japan is starting work on orbital space power already. Hopefully they've played SimCity and turned disasters off. Microwave power was a fun way to burn a line through your city.
LOL. Japan loves to *announce* grandiose projects... that go nowhere.
Say, where's that 1997 Space Hotel?
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9705/2...
There isn't even a single rivet in orbit.
Say, you have the same belief structure as people who believe in the Rapture. What's the difference?
"Winter has arrived."
"Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.