Scientists to unveil new Earth-like planet

[Deleted]

Source: http://phys.org/news/2016-08-scienti...th-like-planet

Scientists are preparing to unveil a new planet in our galactic neighbourhood which is "believed to be Earth-like" and orbits its star at a distance that could favour life, German weekly Der Spiegel reported Friday.
The exoplanet orbits a well-investigated star called Proxima Centauri, part of the Alpha Centauri star system, the magazine said, quoting anonymous sources.
"The still nameless planet is believed to be Earth-like and orbits at a distance to Proxima Centauri that could allow it to have liquid water on its surface—an important requirement for the emergence of life," said the magazine.
"Never before have scientists discovered a second Earth that is so close by," it said, adding that the European Southern Observatory (ESO) will announce the finding at the end of August.
The report gave no further details.
Contacted by AFP, ESO spokesman Richard Hook said he is aware of the report, but refused to confirm or deny it. "We are not making any comment," he said.
NASA has announced the discovery of new planets in the past, but most of those worlds were either too hot or too cold to host water in liquid form, or were made of gas, like our Jupiter and Neptune, rather than of rock, like Earth or Mars.
Last year, the US space agency unveiled an exoplanet that it described as Earth's "closest-twin".
Named Kepler 452b, the planet is about 60 percent larger than Earth and could have active volcanoes, oceans, sunshine like ours, twice as much gravity and a year that lasts 385 days.
But at a distance of 1,400 light-years away, humankind has little hope of reaching this Earth-twin any time soon.
In comparison, the exoplanet orbiting Proxima Centauri, if confirmed, is just 4.24 light-years away.
This is a mere stepping stone in relation to the scale of the Universe but still too far away for humans to reach in present-generation chemical rockets.
According to NASA's Godard Space Center's website, it lies 39,900,000,000,000 kilometres away, or 271,000 times the distance of Earth to the Sun.
Proxima Centauri, discovered in 1915, is one of three stars in the Alpha Centauri system, a constellation mainly visible from the southern hemisphere.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE!

[May90]

Note that for exoplanets "Earth-like" usually means having mass near Earth's and comparable size. We don't know much about their chemical composition (for the most part), we don't know what they look like, etc. Suffice to say, it almost certainly isn't suitable for us to walk on.

[Fascinate]

Just another attempt from science to write off a creator, nothing will come from this. I am curious tho, what will be the dagger that shows we are the only life in the cosmos? Would a trip to one of jupiters moons be enough?

[Deleted]

Just another attempt from science to write off a creator

Science has no need to do that. The need is on the other side.

[Forogil]

Note that for exoplanets "Earth-like" usually means having mass near Earth's and comparable size.

Actually this one seems to be in the habitable zone as well - except for the solar flares, tidal locking, and that it is part of a 3-star system - which reminds me of a book I recently read: "The Three-Body Problem" - 三体. Some say such a planet can harbor life - others disagree.

And we will first need to wait until we get confirmation of this 'Pale Red Dot' - https://palereddot.org

[ranzino]

Just another attempt from science to write off a creator, nothing will come from this. I am curious tho, what will be the dagger that shows we are the only life in the cosmos? Would a trip to one of jupiters moons be enough?

Since when are moons of Jupiter a proof of "only life in cosmos in on earth" ?

[Fascinate]

Science has no need to do that. The need is on the other side.

Not sure how you figure, we haven't even been close to discovering life outside of our own planet yet. Id say the onus is on science no?

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Since when are moons of Jupiter a proof of "only life in cosmos in on earth" ?

Read more carefully.

[ranzino]

Note that for exoplanets "Earth-like" usually means having mass near Earth's and comparable size. We don't know much about their chemical composition (for the most part), we don't know what they look like, etc. Suffice to say, it almost certainly isn't suitable for us to walk on.

if mass and size are within earth specs, it's at least a "solid rock", unlike the various gas planets already discovered.

[Pipebomb]

Just another attempt from science to write off a creator, nothing will come from this. I am curious tho, what will be the dagger that shows we are the only life in the cosmos? Would a trip to one of jupiters moons be enough?

Why wouldn't the creator create life outside the Earth, was it not mentioned in that book you read?

[Ripster42]

if mass and size are within earth specs, it's at least a "solid rock", unlike the various gas planets already discovered.

They've found other rocky bodies in the habitable zone. This is just saying they've found one orders of magnitude closer.

[Fascinate]

Why wouldn't the creator create life outside the Earth, was it not mentioned in that book you read?

While the bible does state this, i hold onto the evidence around us more than anything.

[Kalis]

Just another attempt from science to write off a creator, nothing will come from this. I am curious tho, what will be the dagger that shows we are the only life in the cosmos? Would a trip to one of jupiters moons be enough?

Not discovering life on one of Jupiter's moons would only be proof that we have not discovered life on one of Jupiter's moons, not that there is no life elsewhere in the Universe.

The only way we can find out if there is no life elsewhere is to explore everywhere else, which is not feasible as far as we are aware.

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While the bible does state this, i hold onto the evidence around us more than anything.

The evidence around us provides no evidence as too whether there is, or is not, life elsewhere.

[Forogil]

Read more carefully.

If we find life on the moons of Jupiter we disprove "only life in cosmos is on earth", if we don't nothing much happens. Same with Mars.

One theory is that life requires something close to earth to start (we haven't investigated such cases yet) - and then we don't know how likely that is, another is that life can start in many ways, and a third is that life can travel between planets - and possibly solar systems.

Thus one interesting part about life on the moons of Jupiter (or Mars) is whether it has common ancestry to earth-life or not.

[ranzino]

They've found other rocky bodies in the habitable zone. This is just saying they've found one orders of magnitude closer.

Ok, but im still wondering why they missed a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri so easily ? Should have been examined thorougly already, before you seach for something like Gliese 581c, >20 ly away.

[Fascinate]

Not discovering life on one of Jupiter's moons would only be proof that we have not discovered life on one of Jupiter's moons, not that there is no life elsewhere in the Universe.

The only way we can find out if there is no life elsewhere is to explore everywhere else, which is not feasible as far as we are aware.

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The evidence around us provides no evidence as too whether there is, or is not, life elsewhere.

While technically correct, if we funded a trip of such magnitude social media would deem it god vs science, winner takes all.

[Pipebomb]

While technically correct, if we funded a trip of such magnitude social media would deem it god vs science, winner takes all.

What? Lol, you're a strange man.

[Kalis]

While technically correct, if we funded a trip of such magnitude social media would deem it god vs science, winner takes all.

Social media would not get a say in the debate, it would be purely scientific. Just as US politicians declaring man made climate change as not real are utterly irrelevant to whether or not man made climate change is real.

The only thing that would prove a creator is if one turned up, not if Jupiter's moons were devoid of life and I am not even sure how you came to that conclusion.

[Fascinate]

If we find life on the moons of Jupiter we disprove "only life in cosmos is on earth", if we don't nothing much happens. Same with Mars.

One theory is that life requires something close to earth to start (we haven't investigated such cases yet) - and then we don't know how likely that is, another is that life can start in many ways, and a third is that life can travel between planets - and possibly solar systems.

Thus one interesting part about life on the moons of Jupiter (or Mars) is whether it has common ancestry to earth-life or not.

No, the reason europa is so interesting is that it is believed that there is free flowing water (an ocean basically) under the ice sheet that covers the moon. It is the best shot science has at discovering life in our galaxy.

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Social media would not get a say in the debate, it would be purely scientific. Just as US politicians declaring man made climate change as not real are utterly irrelevant to whether or not man made climate change is real.

The only thing that would prove a creator is if one turned up, not if Jupiter's moons were devoid of life and I am not even sure how you came to that conclusion.

Oh, but they would...

The scale that it would take to bring a mission like this to fruition would be massive, and given the lack of proofs for EITHER side it would be debated in the court of public opinion.

[Forogil]

Ok, but im still wondering why they missed a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri so easily ? Should have been examined thorougly already, before you seach for something like Gliese 581c, >20 ly away.

There are solar flares making it hard to measure the doppler shift.
Additionally the planet (as well as the star) is lighter making that means the effect is small.

[Kalis]

Oh, but they would...

The scale that it would take to bring a mission like this to fruition would be massive, and given the lack of proofs for EITHER side it would be debated in the court of public opinion.

The court of public opinion has no jursidiction, you do realise this?

If no life is discovered on one of Jupiter's moons, then that just rules out that particular moon of Jupiter, it does not even rule out the rest of Jupiter's moons, let alone the rest of the Universe. And that is true regardles of whether it has a hashtag.