Quoting Post Topic Astronomers find yet another planet capable of supporting life Membername   Not a member? Sign Up Free (takes 20 seconds) Password   Forgotten your password? Post Font: Verdana Arial Black Georgia Comic Sans Impact   Size: Tiny Normal Big Huge   Color: Default Dark Red Red Orange Brown Green Olive Cyan Blue Dark Blue Indigo Black [ Check Spelling ] [ Post Preview ] [ LiveTags ] Quote: from [m]Oswin Oswald[/m] at 3:08 pm on April 29, 2012[quote]Neat, let's invade them all.[/quote] FAQ Keyword Search: Post Options Favorites Manager Notify me of new replies to this topic by email Notify me of new replies to this topic by private message Original Post M U S E Posted at 3:04 pm on April 29, 2012 The planet lies in what they describe as a 'habitable zone', neither too near its sun to dry out or too far away which freezes it. And the discovery could help answer the question of whether we are alone in the universe, which has been plagued astronomers and alien fanatics for years. Scientists found the planet, Gliese 667Cc, orbiting around a red dwarf star, 22 light years away from the earth. "It's right there in the habitable zone - there's no question or discussion about it. It is not on the edge. It is right in there." Link Seems like they find one of these planets at least every month. There must be millions of civilizations in our galaxy alone.

Replies iconoclast Posted at 3:04 am on April 30, 2012 thats generally not what theyre saying many scientists actually believed there could be a strong possibility of 'no other planets' when i say 'i dont know' i more mean that it seems intuitively obvious but lacks substantiation skepticism doesnt drive discovery when it limits what people will look into and what ideas theyll think about allsmiles Posted at 2:35 am on April 30, 2012 Maybe that's what they were saying. The article doesn't specify. On top of that, scientists in particular are very good at arguing positions they might not personally believe. Skepticism drives discovery. iconoclast Posted at 2:17 am on April 30, 2012 being a skeptic means being an idiot saying 'i dont know' is better, but many go way further allsmiles Posted at 1:11 am on April 30, 2012 Quote: from iconoclast at 11:27 pm on April 29, 2012 lol @ the 'scientists' still arguing over whether planets beyond our solar system existed just 20 years ago goes to show that imagination is more important than literal proven knowledge and that many of them are just bots No it doesn't. It goes to show that scientists are the greatest skeptics in the world. I can understand the rationale behind skepticism of things unseen, especially in the scientific community. Wilder Posted at 5:13 pm on April 29, 2012 Well, given the idea of abiogenesis, why would it be so hard for simple life to form within that habitable zone? I should preface this by saying that science is by no means my thing. My comments are mostly derived from a section on the formation of life on Earth in a science class I took investigating the relationship between geographic change on Earth and changes in life on Earth. The main hurdle as I understand it, which is apparently still something amazing/baffling to large portions of the scientific community, is that it's one thing for the very basic, organic, chemical precursors necessary to produce/support life to be occur from inorganic materials on Earth, but it's something else entirely for these organic precursors to somehow concentrate in the precisely correct proportions in the precisely correct conditions to start to synthesize into more complicated molecules which could produce life. I'll admit that my specifics are definitely blurry, but I believe that the questionable point of transition is from the organic monomers that we can pretty reasonably assume could have had a high probability of forming in a more primordial Earth to the more complex polymers necessary for life. Various scientists have proposed different theories for how these concentrations might have occurred (my professor was a big fan of oceanic thermal vents), but, as it was explained to me, even these theories still have large question marks and require absolutely extraordinary leaps of probability that approach the miraculous. iconoclast Posted at 4:53 pm on April 29, 2012 Well, given the idea of abiogenesis, why would it be so hard for simple life to form within that habitable zone? It's just that even at one civilization per galaxy (which is insanely low odds, thats something like one in 400 billion) you are talking 125 billion civilizations; factor in a 75% nuclear annihilation rate and you go lower as you go further into the future at least at a certain point I realize that some specific events in our history shaped our planet itself, but they don't have to be the same for every planet. That also probably means that alien life is very different than us, much more than most people think. Wilder Posted at 4:37 pm on April 29, 2012 Quote: from iconoclast at 5:34 pm on April 29, 2012 of course, but even if one in 100000 produced intelligent life, youd have a lot of civilizations in this galaxy. you could even ramp that up to one in a billion and youd have billions of civilizations in the universe i think. One in a billion still seems like a disgustingly generous estimate. If you aren't using (massive) exponents, you aren't approaching the probability of life forming randomly. iconoclast Posted at 4:34 pm on April 29, 2012 of course, but even if one in 100000 produced intelligent life, youd have a lot of civilizations in this galaxy. you could even ramp that up to one in a billion and youd have billions of civilizations in the universe i think. Wilder Posted at 4:29 pm on April 29, 2012 Quote: from M U S E at 4:04 pm on April 29, 2012 The planet lies in what they describe as a 'habitable zone', neither too near its sun to dry out or too far away which freezes it. And the discovery could help answer the question of whether we are alone in the universe, which has been plagued astronomers and alien fanatics for years. Scientists found the planet, Gliese 667Cc, orbiting around a red dwarf star, 22 light years away from the earth. "It's right there in the habitable zone - there's no question or discussion about it. It is not on the edge. It is right in there."   Link Seems like they find one of these planets at least every month. There must be millions of civilizations in our galaxy alone. That seems like an unwarranted inference. "Capable of supporting life" is an incredibly far cry from producing it. The New World Order Posted at 4:25 pm on April 29, 2012 Sure if the atmosphere has oxygen in it. Forever Hopeful Posted at 3:37 pm on April 29, 2012 Quote: from L 0 V E at 5:08 pm on April 29, 2012 Neat, let's invade them all. I like your style... I knew I loved you for a reason.   iconoclast Posted at 3:27 pm on April 29, 2012 lol @ the 'scientists' still arguing over whether planets beyond our solar system existed just 20 years ago goes to show that imagination is more important than literal proven knowledge and that many of them are just bots Oswin Oswald Posted at 3:08 pm on April 29, 2012 Neat, let's invade them all. misterRE Posted at 3:05 pm on April 29, 2012 well thats something new, yawnn All 14 previous replies displayed.