Astronomers Discover Planet Identical To Earth

Yes, this is an utter B.S. story, as it comes from "The Onion", but it amused me as I read it. It sounds to me how NASA would be if run by some of the people I know. Sorry if it's in the wrong forum, I don't have access to post new topics in the "LOL" or "HOAX!" Forums for some reason.

Source

WASHINGTON—In what many are hailing as the most significant development in the history of space exploration, NASA scientists announced Thursday that a planet seemingly identical to Earth has been discovered by the agency’s Orbital Space Mirror.

According to NASA, the $2.9 billion aluminum glass mirror, which stretches over 180 feet wide and 147 feet tall, has already produced invaluable data suggesting that our solar system may contain a terrestrial planet of the exact same size, shape, and surface composition as Earth.

“This is a historic moment for humankind to confirm the existence of another planet that is almost indistinguishable from our own,” said mission leader Allen Brugel, who explained that after releasing the Orbital Mirror from a Delta IV heavy rocket at an operational altitude of 104,000 miles, the team received almost instantaneous images of an Earth-like planet approximately 208,000 miles away. “It is remarkable to find another celestial body where water is not only present but also covers two-thirds of the planet’s entire surface. What may be even more surprising is that it was discovered in a part of space that was previously thought to be completely empty.”

“It turns out that, in a universe that’s 93 billion light years wide, a planet perfectly suited for human life was right next to us in our own solar system,” Brugel added.

Seems like the perfect place for TPTB to blast off too once World War 3 is in full effect and the nukes start flying!

“Perhaps most fascinating is the significant amount of evidence indicating that sentient life may already be present on this new planet,” said Brugel, noting that portions of the planet’s surface are illuminated by artificial light at night, a phenomenon scientists say is most prevalent in the planet’s northern hemisphere. “We suspect they may be a significantly advanced society, as our mirror imaging system confirms that there are numerous sophisticated satellites circling the planet.”

“Beyond that, we can only begin to speculate what types of beings such a planet could produce,” he added.

Maybe the significantly advanced society wouldn't welcome them to their planet though?

According to sources, a recent unmanned mission to land on the body’s surface was aborted after discovering that life forms on the planet had launched a probe traveling at the same speed on a flight path identical to that of the NASA team. Internal NASA reports indicate that a potential head-on collision was narrowly avoided when both crafts simultaneously changed course at the last second.

Maybe they are hostile?

At press time, NASA had reportedly launched its Orbital Space Mirror 2 to the side of Earth opposite that of its original Orbital Space Mirror, leading scientists to conclude that there may actually be an infinite number of Earth-like planets stretching outward forever in a straight line through space.

With infinite possibilities, maybe they can find peaceful, non-hostile life forms that will welcome them with open arms; a new civilization to manipulate and walk all over.

a reply to: ThisIsMyRifle

Lol

SNF op...very nice!!!

a reply to: ThisIsMyRifle

Ahhh the onion.com........ Brining amazing true stories since 2007

This did make me chuckle

a reply to: ThisIsMyRifle

One day astronomers will find the planet heaven and then they'll find the plannet hell

originally posted by: ThisIsMyRifle
Yes, this is an utter B.S. story, as it comes from "The Onion", but it amused me as I read it. It sounds to me how NASA would be if run by some of the people I know. Sorry if it's in the wrong forum, I don't have access to post new topics in the "LOL" or "HOAX!" Forums for some reason.

Source

WASHINGTON—In what many are hailing as the most significant development in the history of space exploration, NASA scientists announced Thursday that a planet seemingly identical to Earth has been discovered by the agency’s Orbital Space Mirror.

According to NASA, the $2.9 billion aluminum glass mirror, which stretches over 180 feet wide and 147 feet tall, has already produced invaluable data suggesting that our solar system may contain a terrestrial planet of the exact same size, shape, and surface composition as Earth.

“This is a historic moment for humankind to confirm the existence of another planet that is almost indistinguishable from our own,” said mission leader Allen Brugel, who explained that after releasing the Orbital Mirror from a Delta IV heavy rocket at an operational altitude of 104,000 miles, the team received almost instantaneous images of an Earth-like planet approximately 208,000 miles away. “It is remarkable to find another celestial body where water is not only present but also covers two-thirds of the planet’s entire surface. What may be even more surprising is that it was discovered in a part of space that was previously thought to be completely empty.”

“It turns out that, in a universe that’s 93 billion light years wide, a planet perfectly suited for human life was right next to us in our own solar system,” Brugel added.

Seems like the perfect place for TPTB to blast off too once World War 3 is in full effect and the nukes start flying!

“Perhaps most fascinating is the significant amount of evidence indicating that sentient life may already be present on this new planet,” said Brugel, noting that portions of the planet’s surface are illuminated by artificial light at night, a phenomenon scientists say is most prevalent in the planet’s northern hemisphere. “We suspect they may be a significantly advanced society, as our mirror imaging system confirms that there are numerous sophisticated satellites circling the planet.”

“Beyond that, we can only begin to speculate what types of beings such a planet could produce,” he added.

Maybe the significantly advanced society wouldn't welcome them to their planet though?

According to sources, a recent unmanned mission to land on the body’s surface was aborted after discovering that life forms on the planet had launched a probe traveling at the same speed on a flight path identical to that of the NASA team. Internal NASA reports indicate that a potential head-on collision was narrowly avoided when both crafts simultaneously changed course at the last second.

Maybe they are hostile?

At press time, NASA had reportedly launched its Orbital Space Mirror 2 to the side of Earth opposite that of its original Orbital Space Mirror, leading scientists to conclude that there may actually be an infinite number of Earth-like planets stretching outward forever in a straight line through space.

With infinite possibilities, maybe they can find peaceful, non-hostile life forms that will welcome them with open arms; a new civilization to manipulate and walk all over.

Giant space mirror, looks just like the earth, sophisticated satellites......they're not looking at earth are they, by accident?

a reply to: ThisIsMyRifle

But the Onion didn't say how friendly they would likely be after rothschild and his banking ilk get their central banks parked on each bit of land on their planet…..

Also for me Onion didn't tell us if they have an identical moon, without which us humans couldn't exist. Fine having a planet maybe we could cope with less sun as they do at the far extremes of our planet, but without a moon providing the timing and exerting the force it does on sweet and beautiful earth - its not like our planet, similar but the water, unless moved by tides would be stagnant and probably poisonous.

According to NASA, the $2.9 billion aluminum glass mirror, which stretches over 180 feet wide and 147 feet tall, has already produced invaluable data suggesting that our solar system may contain a terrestrial planet of the exact same size, shape, and surface composition as Earth. 

Reminds me of the movie Another earth , I did see a while ago .

originally posted by: learnatic
a reply to: ThisIsMyRifle

One day astronomers will find the planet heaven and then they'll find the plannet hell

Planet Hell has already been found. It's called Kepler-10 b -



Funny Onion story though. Of course one day soon a planet with similar size in the habitable zone around a star similar to our Sun will be confirmed. There are several waiting to be confirmed in the Kepler data right now: KOI-4878.01 and KOI-5806.01 are two of the best ones but I suspect one closer will be found as well.

originally posted by: Shiloh7
a reply to: ThisIsMyRifle
Also for me Onion didn't tell us if they have an identical moon, without which us humans couldn't exist. Fine having a planet maybe we could cope with less sun as they do at the far extremes of our planet, but without a moon providing the timing and exerting the force it does on sweet and beautiful earth - its not like our planet, similar but the water, unless moved by tides would be stagnant and probably poisonous.

Untrue. That's old "Rare Earth" thinking. Things have moved on since that book was written. The Sun also provide tides. It's just that the moon's tides are 2.2 times larger.

Earth May Not Have Needed Moon for Life - Discovery News - Aug 2011
Moonless Earth Could Potentially Still Support Life, Study Finds - Space.com - Aug 2011

Is A Moon Necessary For A Planet To Support Life? - NPR - Nov 2011

Alien Planets May Not Need Big Moons to Support Life - Space.com - Feb 2014

originally posted by: ThisIsMyRifle
Yes, this is an utter B.S. story, as it comes from "The Onion", but it amused me as I read it. It sounds to me how NASA would be if run by some of the people I know. Sorry if it's in the wrong forum, I don't have access to post new topics in the "LOL" or "HOAX!" Forums for some reason.

You (or a MOD) should edit the title to put "The Onion:" ahead of it since it's not an actual news story and people might be misinformed that this has already taken place.

I don't know why you'd have posted the title without mentioning IN THE TITLE that came from the onion as it seems intentionally misleading or trolling for stars and flags.

Even with The Onion in the title such a story being in a fact based forum seems ill advised as a lot of people still have no clue what The Onion is. You can tell from their responses in this thread.

It's not a news story so it probably should be here.

a reply to: ThisIsMyRifle

Its a "mirror" this is stupid they are merly looking back at earth. Its a hoax. Silly to over Annalise the answer that was right there the entire time. But some people are going to believe this.

a reply to: ThisIsMyRifle

Very funny a mirror positioned 104,000 miles away and we get an image of a planet 208,000 miles away .....

a reply to: ThisIsMyRifle

Lol this...

after releasing the Orbital Mirror from a Delta IV heavy rocket at an operational altitude of 104,000 miles, the team received almost instantaneous images of an Earth-like planet approximately 208,000 miles away.

Made me chuckle. 208,000 miles (the distance between the Earth and the "mysterious planet") is twice the distance to 104,000 miles (the distance to the "mirror"). In other words, the "mysterious planet" being "reflected" by the alleged "space mirror" is the Earth.

originally posted by: Shiloh7
a reply to: ThisIsMyRifle

But the Onion didn't say how friendly they would likely be after rothschild and his banking ilk get their central banks parked on each bit of land on their planet…..

Also for me Onion didn't tell us if they have an identical moon, without which us humans couldn't exist. Fine having a planet maybe we could cope with less sun as they do at the far extremes of our planet, but without a moon providing the timing and exerting the force it does on sweet and beautiful earth - its not like our planet, similar but the water, unless moved by tides would be stagnant and probably poisonous.

In the full article it does mention that there is an identical moon, but it orbits around the planet in the opposite direction.

I did say this was a fake story, but my limit to edit was exceeded by the time I woke up.

Yes, I understand the mirror actually is used to look at pairs of black holes. Apparently on either side of event horizon-pairs are images of the earth reflecting and bending around and back towards the Earth showing time stamps of the past in stunning clarity. Once the technology expands to be able to adjust for gravitational distortions we can accurately see clear images of Earth up to 6 billion years ago coming straight back at us as if a radio signal was bounced back off the farthest object in space.

Someone got NASA a big ol' selfie stick for Christmas.



Fun read. Thanks for that!

I am amazed at the number of people that have responded to this thread, that have not taken the time to read all of what I wrote in the Op, or to go to the source I provided, before commenting on this thread. As I said, it was a bull# story. I couldn't post in the relevant forum as the new post option was not available to me. And yet others still think that I believe what I posted in the OP were true!

This leads me to believe there are more people on these forums that want to jump onto a post and try to shoot it down, (whether it is a post of something true or false) without reading through all of the information provided. And it is people (just) like that, that are in office in our governments pulling the wool over our eyes, and discrediting anything that does not support THEIR agenda.