July 2010 Kepler: Millions of earth-like planets

[Ezechiel]

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/07/26/4756559-millions-of-earths-talk-causes-a-stir
A leader of the Kepler planet-hunting team has created a slow-moving scientific stir by telling an audience at a high-tech conference that our galaxy could harbor 100 million Earths, based on the space mission's raw data. The resulting buzz focuses not only on the findings, but also on the means by which they came to light.

Interesting potentials, very surprising that this isn't in the headlines. Copernicus was swimming against church doctrine of its time... Is Dimitar Sasselov swimming against powerful american evangelical lobbyists

 

[Angel of Ioren]

It's amazing.
Astronomers have been speculating for years about the abundance of Earth like planets, and now the evidence is starting to show itself. How someone can think that there isn't life out there is baffling to me. It's possible that some of it may be intelligent life too.

 

[tyder001]

It's amazing.
Astronomers have been speculating for years about the abundance of Earth like planets, and now the evidence is starting to show itself. How someone can think that there isn't life out there is baffling to me. It's possible that some of it may be intelligent life too.

Sorry, no spacemen. I guess I'm toward the "men from space" the way some here are toward E.S.P. They might be there but I've seen no evidence of it. Course it's a big universe so if ya find one then I'll beleive it.

 

[Angel of Ioren]

Sorry, no spacemen. I guess I'm toward the "men from space" the way some here are toward E.S.P. They might be there but I've seen no evidence of it. Course it's a big universe so if ya find one then I'll beleive it.

You really think that? Of course there isn't proof, but given the age of the Universe and knowing that life is possible in a variety of conditions, the hypothesis for life out there is strong. I never said anything about men from space though.
The difference between life in the universe and ESP is that we know for a fact life is possible (we're here aren't we?).

 

[tyder001]

We know "we" are here. I agree with that. I'll just wait and see what comes out of this one. I honestly don't beleive in life on other planets but it may be there. Even my wife (who is pretty pragmatic and thinks there is life out there) thinks I'm wrong on this one. So, since I don't want to take away from the subject by starting an argument I'll hush. Don't beleive they will find "anybody" or that "they" are visiting us but I'll keep an "open mind" to some extent. 8)

 

[Xylo]

When/if we humans find life, I expect it will be like nothing we've ever imagined.

I wish I could watch that video but I'm here at work.

 

[justcurious]

Hard sciences, i.e. physics, astrophysics, assert that the universe is isotropic. This means that the laws of physics are the same everywhere and at all time (especially geometric properties). Also, the cosmological principle assumes that we do not occupy a special place, in terms of observed laws and physical properties in the universe. If it is correct, and I think hard sciences are right on this one, life and intelligent life should be found everywhere.

But it is funny to see that self-proclaimed logical thinkers fail to know of the isotropic and cosmological principles or fail to see their logical implications. Doing otherwise amounts to put ourselves, humans, outside of the reach of said principles. Now, I've been told that putting humans in a special place was the sign of a religious thinking... go figure.

 

[Ezechiel]

I honestly don't beleive in life on other planets but it may be there.

Listen to the video from position 12:30. The key to earth-like carbon based life forms is the presence of an environment that allows bubbles (membranes)... In other words offering the possibility of molecules, cells (nucleic acids) to organize divide, evolve and complexify in enclosed environments.

Our planet, in the goldylock zone, is a huge membrane. A planet-scale bubble that eventually enables intelligent life forms.

Oxygen in the form of O<SUB>2</SUB> is produced from water by cyanobacteria, algae and plants during photosynthesis and is used in cellular respiration for all complex life. Oxygen is toxic to obligately anaerobic organisms, which were the dominant form of early life on Earth until O<SUB>2</SUB> began to accumulate in the atmosphere 2.5 billion years ago

You must realize that pushing the idea that this process is unique in the universe is the same as saying that the earth is the center of the universe !?. Other life forms resulting from other types of processes may be possible (silicon-based life), but our best bet is focusing on planetary signatures (atmospheres) similar to ours.

When you talk about life on other planets, you're really talking about the possibility of a long term experiment repeating itself in the same conditions. IMHO, its highly pretentious (or religious) to say that our spec of dirt floating in the galactic wind is the holy grail LOL.

 

[TClaeys]

I honestly don't beleive in life on other planets but it may be there. 8)

I'm not going to start an argument either, but why do you think there isn't any life out there?? It seems to me that the odds of NO life are a heck of a lot slimmer than at least some life. The odds of life being present somewhere in the universe or even our own galaxy are probably pretty high especially considering the Kepler data if that holds true.

I would be way more amazed if there weren't anything. I really believe that life does exist outside of Earth. I'd almost bet we find signatures of biology in my own lifetime. There doesn't seem to be anything special about Earth other than the fact that it was in the right place at the right time, but life (however it can be defined) hasn't been shown to be fragile, it's been shown to be pretty freaking tough.

I'll put my bets on finding it. What we do when we actually personally encounter it is another story.

 

[dad2059]

Not only biology, but biology that's specific to it's particular planet.
Meaning trees that are not green, but blue. Red grass, six-legged lizards, one-legged rabbits, etc.
Interstellar convergence is possible, but even if the building blocks are similar, the results are particular to the specific ecosystem.

 

[Ezechiel]

Not only biology, but biology that's specific to it's particular planet.
Meaning trees that are not green, but blue. Red grass, six-legged lizards, one-legged rabbits, etc.
Interstellar convergence is possible, but even if the building blocks are similar, the results are particular to the specific ecosystem.

Our own earth has undergone dramatic changes and produced wildly different ecosystems... life adapted.

For example: Large dinosaurs required higher oxygen concentrations than is present right now.

The conditions in the Burguess Shale era ? ... well it does get pretty weird LOL and this is still planet earth

 

[Frank Stalter]

The numbers are pretty staggering but we always knew this would be the end result, didn't we? Well at least anyone with a passing interest in astronomy did.

 

[Ezechiel]

Seems Dimitar Sasselov is making a slight adjustment to his original estimate....

http://arstechnica.com/science/news...es-to-stop-galaxy-sized-rumors-he-started.ars

NASA was freaking out lol

One of the scientists who works on the Kepler planet-hunting mission, Dimitar Sasselov, inadvertently set off a bit of a controversy when he appeared to announce that its first big data release implied that our galaxy is rich in Earth-like planets, with approximately 100 million habitable ones. That might be great news, except for some awkward facts: he dropped the news during an informal TED talk, and nobody at NASA or elsewhere was prepared to back up his assertions. In fact, the Kepler team has faced a bit of a backlash for its decision to limit the release of data on Earth-like candidates. Had Sasselov spilled the beans?

 

[CapnG]

That's actually kind of depressing. Given what we currently know, maybe only 1 in a million of those earths will develop complex life and given the further odds of developing intelligent life and the vast seperations of time between us and them it really could just be us here, approximately one intelligent species per galaxy, seperated by immensse gulfs of time and space.

Poo.

 

[Ron Collins]

You really think that? Of course there isn't proof, but given the age of the Universe and knowing that life is possible in a variety of conditions, the hypothesis for life out there is strong.

I'll just say that this is absolutely correct, and that given the age, proliferation of life supporting planet probabilities, and the apparent eventual development of sentience it should follow that some of that sentience become technologically sophisticated. Furthermore, some of those intelligences are now space fairing and could have been so for eons. Given all of this, is it really so far fetched that "alien" entities could be here watching us? Doesn't this negate the "you cant get to here from there" argument when potentially there is no "there"? Just a question.

 

[NTS]

Kepler: Home Page

Life as we know it requires a planet with liquid water. The Kepler Mission is basically looking for planets that orbit at the right distances from their stars for liquid water to exist (of course it will detect other types of planets too). The probe records data on the light intensities of the same set of stars continuously, so any drop in a star's light because of a planet passing in front of the star (a transit) is detected. At least three transits (spaced equally apart) have to be observed to confirm the detection. Some planets orbiting close to their stars have already been confirmed. Some of these may have liquid water if the star is dim enough. It'll take a while longer to find truly Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars, since seeing three transits will require 2 - 3 years. When the mission is completed there should be enough information to make statistical estimates on how many of the various types of planets are present in the galaxy.

Most scientists think life is common on planets with liquid water. There's a split between physicists and biologists on whether intelligent life is likely. Physicists tend to look at the universe deterministically and think that similar conditions will produce similar results, including intelligence. Biologists tend to think that because of the chanciness of evolution, a feature like high intelligence (e.g. enough for advanced technology) is not likely to occur more than once.

Time will tell.

 

[Angel of Ioren]

I'll just say that this is absolutely correct, and that given the age, proliferation of life supporting planet probabilities, and the apparent eventual development of sentience it should follow that some of that sentience become technologically sophisticated. Furthermore, some of those intelligences are now space fairing and could have been so for eons. Given all of this, is it really so far fetched that "alien" entities could be here watching us? Doesn't this negate the "you cant get to here from there" argument when potentially there is no "there"? Just a question.

I don't think that it negates the laws of known physics - but there's lots we don't know that more advanced civilizations do know, if they are indeed out there. However, given the size of the Universe, we may never cross paths.

 

[Frank Stalter]

I'll just say that this is absolutely correct, and that given the age, proliferation of life supporting planet probabilities, and the apparent eventual development of sentience it should follow that some of that sentience become technologically sophisticated. Furthermore, some of those intelligences are now space fairing and could have been so for eons. Given all of this, is it really so far fetched that "alien" entities could be here watching us? Doesn't this negate the "you cant get to here from there" argument when potentially there is no "there"? Just a question.

Watching from advanced telescopes isn't far fetched at all. It's finding a way to physically get here that is the giant step.

 

[trainedobserver]

I never said anything about men from space though.

I'm rooting for intelligent space traveling cephalopods myself. I want my flying saucers to come with tentacled aliens.

 

[ALPHA ROMEO UNIFORM]

Maybe it might like ice-cream