Planet System Similar to Ours Revealed

that's exactly my point.

the universe is way too big, and we know way too little, to be able to say for sure and for certain that there aren't species of life in the universe that rely on environments that we see in our own solar system, like venus, or jupiter or something.

i just refuse to believe that jupiter CAN'T support life.

the type of life we see on earth? obviously. but the universe is way too big for me to say that there isn't something out there that lives in those kinds of environments.

all life -that we know of- relies on water in some way or another. but the planet earth is but 1 small planet in a very huge universe that we don't know much of anything about beyond our own planet, and we don't even know all there is to know about our own planet.
I think the problem is that even contemplating a form of life that is so fundementally different that it doesn't require water (meaning that the differences even down to the cmolecular level would be enormous) is really difficult to conceptualize.
 
I forget where I read this, but a book was proposing ways that life could exist without water. There was a proposal that Titan (one of Saturn's moons) could support life in a similiar way, with Methane(I believe it was methane. It may have been a different chemical. I'm not completey sure). Titan exists in a zone in our solar system where this chemical exists in solid, liquid, and gas at the same time, like water is on Earth. When you open your mind, it really does make sense.

Of course, there may things that are so radically different we wouldn't know them as life.
 
Hmm. Since we are on the "life on other planets" topic I don't understand the mentality that the "odds are too great for life to not exisist". I do not understand how anyone has come to that conlcussion. Being as we as humans have no idea the processes, enviromental conditions, etc in which life can be created and thrive how do we know that we aren't the 1 in a billion chance? I'd say right now the only real thing any human can say is "There is an equal chance that there is either evolved life or no life on other planets" as we know literally nothing about how life spawns.
 
Well I would just add that if we are on or own it would justify those crying out divine intervention. However, I personally believe that there is probably other forms of life out there in the Universe.
 
Gotta love when a Human says something like that or "I hate humanity", etc.

We're not special,we are simply more evolved than other animals.Sort of the same,but with a bit more experience.Humans are the hairless apes.
 
Some more new planets that doesn't exactly sound like the perfect place to spend your vacation on:
:)


Newfound Planets are Scorching Hot
By Ker Than
Staff Writer
posted: 08 November 2007
10:25 am ET


Three new planets discovered outside our solar system are among the hottest worlds ever found.

The exoplanets were discovered by the Wide Angle Search for Planets (WASP) project, which is dedicated to the discovery of large gas planets that orbit very close to their stars. The stars scorch the planets, so they're called hot-Jupiters.

The gaseous worlds each orbit different sun-like stars and were found using the so-called transit technique, whereby planets are detected by a slight dip in starlight caused by their passage directly in front of their parent star as seen from Earth.

WASP-4 and WASP-5 are located about 500 light-years away in the southern constellation Phoenix. They were spotted using cameras in South Africa. WASP-3 found using a camera in the Canary Islands in the Northern Hemisphere.

The newfound hot Jupiters orbit 20 to 40 times closer to their stars than Earth does the sun. The tight orbits mean the planets are tidally locked to their stars, the way the moon is to Earth, so that each constantly shows one face to the star, and that face is always hotter than the dark back side.

With temperatures on their star-facing sides reaching upwards of 3,140 degrees Fahrenheit (1,726 Celsius), the new planets are "among the hottest found so far," said study team member Pierre Maxted of Keele University in the United Kingdom. "They're very short period so they have very hot atmospheres."

Unlike some hot Jupiters, the new planets don't seem capable of radiating away the heat from their stars. The influx of energy causes the planets to swell 25 to 50 times Jupiter's size, even though their mass is less than that of Jupiter.

"A lot of that should be radiated away from the night side," Maxted told SPACE.com. "That doesn't seem to be happening in some planets. And it's one of those things we want to understand and why we want more examples. How are these things catching so much energy from their parent stars?"
 
GLOBAL WARMING! :cmad:
 
Of course, there may things that are so radically different we wouldn't know them as life.
I don't know about that. We already have a set definition of biological life that could allow for other (unknown/unforseen) forms to be included.

Then again, we have difficulties classifying such things as viruses as life (by the definition, they're not....but they sort of are...yeah, it's a pain in the ass). So meh.
 
I don't know about that. We already have a set definition of biological life that could allow for other (unknown/unforseen) forms to be included.

Then again, we have difficulties classifying such things as viruses as life (by the definition, they're not....but they sort of are...yeah, it's a pain in the ass). So meh.

The discussion of life on other worlds is a exhausting debate, as to whether or not they actually exist, and if they do, are they similar to us, or incredibly different? I've stated my beliefs many a time. But I also believe this thread has strayed off-topic, but just for the heck of it;


Extraterrestrials: Where are They?


If the Universe Is Teeming with Aliens... Where Is Everybody? Fifty Solutions to Fermi's Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life


These two books are very excellent reads, they are very thought provoking and contain excellent arguments on both sides of the coin.

As for the topic at hand;

Extrasolar Plants

It's a weird and wonderful universe out there, I find Astronomy very interesting.

:yay:
 
^It's their way of dealing with the fact that humans are not special.

Well, in terms of us not being the only hospitable planet out there, this might be correct. But if you believe guys like Whitley Strieber, in a metaphysical sense we are a rare breed that alien interests have been monitoring for ages.

Now that I have your attentions, I'd like to make a theory here. I believe the Grays that have been such a common entity abductees have interracted with are creatures who evolved from a dolphin type species.
 
Now that I have your attentions, I'd like to make a theory here. I believe the Grays that have been such a common entity abductees have interracted with are creatures who evolved from a dolphin type species.
...a dolphin-type species from earth? :dry:
 
I wonder what the *Ill beep this out for fear of banning*'s like on Cancri
 
By Ker Than, Staff Writer

posted: 06 November 2007 01:26 pm ET

Scientists announced today the discovery of a fifth planet in a distant star system that that now looks like a "cousin" to our own.

Known as 55 Cancri, the sun-like star harbors the most number of planets ever discovered outside our solar system.

"We now know that our sun and its family of planets is not unusual," study team member Geoffrey Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley told reporters in a teleconference. "Architecturally, this new planetary system is reminiscent of ours, albeit souped-up. All the planets in this new system are more massive by factors of 5 to 10."

Four of the planets had been previously detected, but the existence of the fifth planet took 18 years to confirm. It is about 45 times more massive than Earth and might be similar to Saturn in its composition and appearance.

55 Cancri is located 41 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Cancer and is visible with binoculars. The system contains a clutch of four inner planets that are separated from an outer planet by a huge gap.

"We haven't found a twin of our solar system, because the four planets close to the star are all the size of Neptune or bigger," Marcy said.

Although more than 250 extrasolar, or "exoplanets," are now known, only one other star, mu Ara in the southern sky, is known to have four planets. Astronomers expect many multi-planet star system to be found as technology improves.

Possibly habitable

The newest member of Cancri 55's family lies within the star's habitable zone, the region around the star within which water can exist in its liquid state. Though the planet is a giant ball of gas, liquid water could exist on other, currently undiscovered rocky planets in the system. Marcy said he's optimistic that continued observations will reveal a rocky planet around the star within five years.

Such a potentially habitable planet could reside in the nearly 700 million-mile (1.1 million-kilometer) wide space that separates 55 Cancri's four inner planets and its outer one.

"I would bet you that gap isn't empty," said study team member Debra Fischer of San Francisco State University. "What we see in our solar system is that we are full up on planets. There are very few tiny windows where you can drop even a moon-sized object in and have it survive in a stable orbit.

Another possibility is that a moon in orbit around 55 Cancri's newly confirmed planet could harbor liquid water, and perhaps life, the researchers say

"If there were a moon around this planet, it would have a rocky surface," Marcy said. "Water on it could in principle puddle into lakes and oceans, serving as the solvent for biochemistry.

'One small step'

Michael Briley, an astronomer at the National Science Foundation who was not involved in the study, said the discovery marks an "exciting step" in the search for worlds like our own

"To go from the first detections of planets around sun-like stars to finding a full-fledged solar system with a planet in a habitable zone in just 12 years is an amazing accomplishment and a testament to the years of hard work put in by these investigators," Briley said

Alan Stern, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington who also was not involved in the study, said "it is amazing to see our ability to detect extrasolar planets growing.

"We are finding solar systems with a richness of planets and a variety of planetary types comparable to our own," Stern said

The planets were found using the Lick Observatory and the W.M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii using the so-called radial velocity, or "wobble," technique, whereby the presence of planets are inferred by the way they gravitationally affect their parent star's orbit. The newest world will be detailed in an upcoming issue of Astrophysical Journal.

"Finding five extrasolar planets orbiting a star is only one small step," Marcy said. "Earth-like planets are the next destination."


And it to think that it all happend by coincidence. :o
 
anything but this


earth2.jpg
 
And it to think that it all happend by coincidence. :o
You know, there are natural laws that govern what can and does go on in the universe. We know some of them through our study of the mythical little discipline known as science. You might specifically know them as, "Physics," "Chemistry," and, "Biology."

For instance: you throw Hydrogen and Oxygen together, you're probably gonna get water. Know how I know? :oldrazz:
 

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