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| Just How "Earthlike" is it? |
| 2005-06-21 |
| In the land rush known as extrasolar planet hunting, the most prized real estate is advertised as "Earth-like." On Monday, June 13, scientists raced to plant their flag on a burning hunk of rock orbiting a red star. This newly discovered planet is about seven times the mass of Earth, and therefore the smallest extrasolar planet found to orbit a main sequence, or "dwarf" star (stars, like our sun, that burn hydrogen). There are even smaller planets known to exist beyond our solar system, but they have the misfortune to encircle pulsars, those rapidly spinning husks of dying stars. Such planets aren't thought to be remotely habitable, due to the intense radiation emitted by pulsars. Planets that are ten Earth masses or less are thought to be rocky, while more massive planets are probably gaseous, since their stronger gravity means they collect and retain more gas during planetary formation. 155 extrasolar planets have been found so far, but most of them have masses that are more comparable to gaseous Jupiter than rocky Earth (Jupiter is 318 times the mass of Earth). |
| Posted by:Spavirt Pheng6042 |
| #13 Which makes one appreciate how unique the earth is. Any farther or closer to the sun, or a different sun, and we would not exist. But having expanded in this enviroment, survival in other worlds is just a matter of engineering. |
| Posted by: john 2005-06-21 13:23 |
| #12 Ok, bottom line: This planet is no good, find another one. |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-06-21 13:23 |
| #11 I think half went straight to the essence of the thing. ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-06-21 13:21 |
| #10 without water there can be no beer, with no beer there can be no life |
| Posted by: half 2005-06-21 12:07 |
| #9 If I were stupid everytime I was rich, I'd be in Hollywood. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2005-06-21 11:22 |
| #8 CF Don't worry, if I had a million dollars for each time I said something stupid I would be rich. :-) |
| Posted by: JFM 2005-06-21 10:47 |
| #7 Ok... ok... It was a very stupid thing to say. I truey apologize. Sorry about the brain-fart. Hmmm... this foot doesn't taste too good this morning.... I really must stop shooting my keyboard off like that. Thanks for the correction. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-06-21 09:31 |
| #6 What JFM said, and more so. Carbon is different from Silicon in that the Si-Si bonds are much weaker than Si-O or Si-H bonds. In fact, you will never find a Si-Si bond in nature (obviously, we have made synthetics). In Carbon, the C-C bond is almost as strong as C-O or C-H, so that you can have C-C bonds in nature. So, if you want Silicon life, you need to have a planet with no free Oxygen or Hydrogen, and I think no Nitrogen. That makes it rather difficult to sustain reactions, though. Carbon is not just one of many, or even the best, but the one and only way to form life. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-06-21 09:19 |
| #5 Why in the hell life can't exist in these conditions? Because theare fundemental chemenicals in action For instance life needs a solvant, not a mere liquid, a solvant who will transport nutriments. In the earth it is water. But in that planet you don't have water but vapor, so water would not work. You need another solvant with the right physical (like fluidity) and chemical characteristic. Molten lava or rivers of lead don't work. And that solvant must be abundant enough to form oceand. Otherwise you don't play roulette enough for that very imporobable miracle (life) having sporting chance of happenning. Did I mention that water has some very sopecial characteritics like the fact it is nearly the only body (with uiodine) who has a point where it becomes lighter when coldening it. Without it ice would accumulate at the bottom of oceans thus stiffling life instead of flotaing to the surface and thus being melted by the sun. Your solvant should be better to have that property. There are also some specvial properties in the basic molecular links in organic reactions. Plus the fact that the number of atoms who canbe a base for life is very exactly two: carbon and silicium because both can combine with electron-deficient chemicals (sorry but I don't know the english exact term) like oxygen or chlorine and with electron-exceeednt bodies like hydrogen or metals. And thus because they have four electrons in the peripheral orbit. There are other elements with 4 electrons like germanium but they are very rare (so they will not do) and not only on Earth but, judging by the spectrographical analyis of stars, everywhere. |
| Posted by: JFM 2005-06-21 08:48 |
| #4 Feeling a little cranky this morning, CF? Maybe this 'asswipe'is making 'broad statements' about not expecting life because he knows something about the chemistry of complex organic molecules and how they behave at high temperatures. He didn't say finding life was flat-out impossible. He said he did not expect to find any. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2005-06-21 08:23 |
| #3 OK, who didn't know that, astronomically speaking, 'Earth-like' is a very, very broad term? I mean, Christ, in our system we have Mercury, Venus, Mars, and possibly Pluto that could be classified as 'Earth-like'. It's a structural thing, not climate. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-06-21 08:11 |
| #2 "Because the planet is in a two-day orbit, it is heated to oven-like temperatures, so we do not expect life," says science team member Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Obviously this guy doesn't need any more funding since he already knows everything there is to know about everything -- I say we stop all scientific spending and just let this asswipe answer all our questions. Why the hell can't life exist in 'ovenlike' tempratures? Because they don't on earth? Sorry but people who make broad statements like this are too closed minded. Dont forget that for most of history the earth was 'flat' (otherwise we would fall off!). |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-06-21 05:12 |
| #1 Just How "Earthlike" is it? The surface temperatures estimated for this planet - 200 to 400 degrees Celsius (400 to 750 degrees Fahrenheit) Thats a relief and good news..not likely to find dummycrats or jehadis there. |
| Posted by: Moon Walker 2005-06-21 03:02 |