Finding Twin Earths Is Harder Than Thought

mercurial

mercurial

MyBB Legend
Joined
Jun 12, 2007
Messages
40,900
Reaction score
2,694
Location
/\/¯¯¯¯¯\/\
ScienceDaily (Mar. 21, 2009) — Does a twin Earth exist somewhere in our galaxy? Astronomers are getting closer and closer to finding an Earth-sized planet in an Earth-like orbit. NASA's Kepler spacecraft just launched to find such worlds. Once the search succeeds, the next questions driving research will be: Is that planet habitable? Does it have an Earth-like atmosphere? Answering those questions will not be easy.
Click to expand...

Full article

What I find interesting, is that they keep looking for habitable planets and these planets are so far away, that even at the speed of light (which we will never bypass), it would take us ages to get there. So this makes me wonder... do we actually have secret aircrafts that can get us through the universe at great speed or are they just doing the searches now, in hope that one day (or incase) that we do actually have vehicles that can get us to other planets in "no time".
 
mercurial said:
Full article

What I find interesting, is that they keep looking for habitable planets and these planets are so far away, that even at the speed of light (which we will never bypass), it would take us ages to get there. So this makes me wonder... do we actually have secret aircrafts that can get us through the universe at great speed or are they just doing the searches now, in hope that one day (or incase) that we do actually have vehicles that can get us to other planets in "no time".
Click to expand...

Well, finding a destination is one part of the journey. It is pointless to pump millions of funding into a space program if you cannot go anywhere :D

As for "(which we will never bypass)" part of your statement, that is true. But, FTL travel is possible, it is just not within our reach yet. (http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/07/28/warp-speed-engine-print.html)

What the scientists were able to estimate was the amount of energy necessary, if the technology was available, to change these dimensions: about 10^45 joules.

"That's about the amount of energy you'd get if you converted the entire mass of Jupiter into pure energy via E = mc^2," said Cleaver, an energy far beyond anything humanity can currently envision creating.
Click to expand...
 
Pilgrim said:
Well, finding a destination is one part of the journey. It is pointless to pump millions of funding into a space program if you cannot go anywhere :D
Click to expand...

Exactly, which is why I'm wondering if there are some awesome secrets that they are not telling us :D
 
mercurial said:
Full article

What I find interesting, is that they keep looking for habitable planets and these planets are so far away, that even at the speed of light (which we will never bypass), it would take us ages to get there. So this makes me wonder... do we actually have secret aircrafts that can get us through the universe at great speed or are they just doing the searches now, in hope that one day (or incase) that we do actually have vehicles that can get us to other planets in "no time".
Click to expand...
More to the point though, why does a planet have to be like earth and have an earth-like atmosphere to support life? Who's to say that (possible) alien life hasn't adapted to their own type of atmosphere?
 
Smooth Criminal said:
More to the point though, why does a planet have to be like earth and have an earth-like atmosphere to support life? Who's to say that (possible) alien life hasn't adapted to their own type of atmosphere?
Click to expand...

They are referring to planets that can support our kind of life.
 
Smooth Criminal said:
More to the point though, why does a planet have to be like earth and have an earth-like atmosphere to support life? Who's to say that (possible) alien life hasn't adapted to their own type of atmosphere?
Click to expand...

+1, have thought of this many a time. Who says if they exist they have the same necessities for life as we do?

mercurial said:
Full article

What I find interesting, is that they keep looking for habitable planets and these planets are so far away, that even at the speed of light (which we will never bypass), it would take us ages to get there. So this makes me wonder... do we actually have secret aircrafts that can get us through the universe at great speed or are they just doing the searches now, in hope that one day (or incase) that we do actually have vehicles that can get us to other planets in "no time".
Click to expand...

First you find the problem :) (where are we going and how far is it)
Then we find the solution. (Jumping into wurmholes, driving uberfast-dark- matter-driven ships <<<< Fun part :D)
 
You're both missing the point. They are out there searching for Earth-like planets, meaning planets that have the same stuff that this planet does, so that we can live on there. What you guys are talking about is for another thread.
 
mercurial said:
You're both missing the point. They are out there searching for Earth-like planets, meaning planets that have the same stuff that this planet does, so that we can live on there. What you guys are talking about is for another thread.
Click to expand...

Look if we find them 20 LY away the logistics would be different to us finding them 200 LY away. Thats why I doubt we have secret spacecrafts that are being hidden from the general populace ;)
 
mercurial said:
Full article

What I find interesting, is that they keep looking for habitable planets and these planets are so far away, that even at the speed of light (which we will never bypass), it would take us ages to get there. So this makes me wonder... do we actually have secret aircrafts that can get us through the universe at great speed or are they just doing the searches now, in hope that one day (or incase) that we do actually have vehicles that can get us to other planets in "no time".
Click to expand...

Devill said:
Look if we find them 20 LY away the logistics would be different to us finding them 200 LY away. Thats why I doubt we have secret spacecrafts that are being hidden from the general populace ;)
Click to expand...

The question you asked had an answer I gave :) You said we were off topic so I got back on it :p :D

mercurial said:
:confused:
Click to expand...
:confused: Why confused? You being confused is confusing me.
 
Last edited:
Devill said:
The question you asked had an answer I gave :) You said we were off topic so I got back on it :p :D


:confused: Why confused? You being confused is confusing me.
Click to expand...

I don't understand your statement about the logistics changing if we found a planet 20 light years away.
 
even if we can't go as fast as the speed of light, there is always the possibility of bending space, according to Einstein.
 
Keeper said:
even if we can't go as fast as the speed of light, there is always the possibility of bending space, according to Einstein.
Click to expand...

Yip and that is a very interesting theory. Bending space-time. It's fascinating. It's kinda what is already happening in the universe, but it needs to be happening to a much bigger degree.
 
Keeper said:
even if we can't go as fast as the speed of light, there is always the possibility of bending space, according to Einstein.
Click to expand...

Yeah that is 1 option, also sending a probe to construct one point of a teleportation device on that end and then we can move there freely :)

// starts working on the teleportation device :D http://www.howstuffworks.com/teleportation.htm (this is interesting)

mercurial said:
I don't understand your statement about the logistics changing if we found a planet 20 light years away.
Click to expand...

If it was 20 LY away and we could travel at 0.5 x speed of light it would take 40 years. Thus the people that got on would 10-1 get off (even though they would be +- 60);)

If it was 200LY and we traveled at the same speed it would take 400 years. Thus the "ship" would have to be more of a mini-city / town with teachers and all the other facilities to make sure that we keep a constant crew :)
 
Last edited:
mercurial said:
Oh sorry. I didn't see the 20 and the 200. I thought you said 20 both times :o
It all makes sense now :p
Click to expand...

ROFL :D

Wanted to say for one of the "brighter" people on here you were struggling t understand, and I was getting worried that I was presenting my point like a retard :o
 
mercurial said:
What I find interesting, is that they keep looking for habitable planets and these planets are so far away, that even at the speed of light (which we will never bypass), it would take us ages to get there. So this makes me wonder... do we actually have secret aircrafts that can get us through the universe at great speed
Click to expand...

The Infinite Improbability Drive is a faster-than-light drive. The most prominent usage of the drive is in the starship Heart of Gold. It is based on a particular perception of quantum theory: a subatomic particle is most likely to be in a particular place, such as near the nucleus of an atom, but there is also a small probability of it being found very far from its point of origin (for example close to a distant star). Thus, a body could travel from place to place without passing through the intervening space (or hyperspace, for that matter), if you had sufficient control of probability.

:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X