NASA has discovered 7 Earth-like planets orbiting a star

originally posted by: ThoughtIsMadness
The cool thing is the size of the sun and the temperature at which it burns.

Being such a small star and the habitable zone being so close would force the earth like planets to orbit the Sun in like days as opposed to our 365.25.

very cool stuff

If we lived on one of those planets, our life span would be how much longer?

This is were they send the worlds worst camera 🎥 why do they always do that

a reply to: Denoli

Please elaborate.

originally posted by: Cobaltic1978

originally posted by: ThoughtIsMadness
The cool thing is the size of the sun and the temperature at which it burns.

Being such a small star and the habitable zone being so close would force the earth like planets to orbit the Sun in like days as opposed to our 365.25.

very cool stuff

4 seasons in one week.

I was just daydreaming about this and I was struck by a thought.

You know how the earth has a pulse. And during the course of a month you yourself may experience a cycle of energy or mood.
How cool it is to imagine the lifeforms on any one of these alien worlds and what their cycles would be and the quickness of the pulse of their world. How it would be for one of them to witness human life and earth and how slow we seem to cycle and pulse with our planet.
It sets the imagination running to estimate the differences in our physical and mental forms that would occur just because of this one difference. Not to mention the difference in gravity and the requirements for oxygen or any of the other gases required for intelligent life.

Space is very exciting and inspiring again. I love it.

Cue James Cameron Movie in 5, 4, 3,......

originally posted by: dashen
wouldnt be shocked if the secret space program dropped in for a visit already

Only if they started 39,000 years ago...

a reply to: muSSang

This is really great news, especially considering it is relatively near by, at only about 40 light-years (235 trillion miles) from Earth.

"Based on their densities, all of the TRAPPIST-1 planets are likely to be rocky. Further observations will not only help determine whether they are rich in water, but also possibly reveal whether any could have liquid water on their surfaces. The mass of the seventh and farthest exoplanet has not yet been estimated – scientists believe it could be an icy, "snowball-like" world, but further observations are needed.

"The seven wonders of TRAPPIST-1 are the first Earth-size planets that have been found orbiting this kind of star," said Michael Gillon, lead author of the paper and the principal investigator of the TRAPPIST exoplanet survey at the University of Liege, Belgium. "It is also the best target yet for studying the atmospheres of potentially habitable, Earth-size worlds."

www.nasa.gov...

And to think this was going to be another hyped up press conference NASA threw. This news was a nice surprise.

These discoveries always bring up the thought.. "What if God chose not to create 'intelligent' life anywhere but Earth?"

originally posted by: CreationBro
a reply to: schuyler

Even if they are partially tidally locked (still spinning albeit slowly), the extremely short orbital periods and low ish flux of that star may make the planets fairly reasonable in terms of heating distribution, right?

If they are totally locked then id imagine the terminator areas would be the only viable zones for life, although we are already finding a lot of interesting extremophiles.

A good atmosphere sure helps with temp distribution. If only!

originally posted by: carewemust
These discoveries always bring up the thought.. "What if God chose not to create 'intelligent' life anywhere but Earth?"

This is ridiculous, You have to get some science in your life if you even entertain such a thought.
Its a small lonely world with a closed view and an archaic book.

Then start taking the origami space drives seriously... NASA dorks.

ANyway, who cares. Fully explore THIS planet and I might change my grumpy mind. Humans, always doing everything half-assed then like a kid with ADD moving on to something else.

NASA has discovered 7 Earth-like planets orbiting a star

Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy and Grumpy, and Snowwhite, the star of the show.

Apple, anyone?

originally posted by: CreationBro
a reply to: schuyler

Even if they are partially tidally locked (still spinning albeit slowly), the extremely short orbital periods and low ish flux of that star may make the planets fairly reasonable in terms of heating distribution, right?

One side is totally in the dark all the time in a permanent night. The other side is totally in the light, facing its sun, all the time in a permanent day. I don't see how that would result in being "fairly reasonable in terms of heat distribution."

originally posted by: carewemust

originally posted by: ThoughtIsMadness
The cool thing is the size of the sun and the temperature at which it burns.

Being such a small star and the habitable zone being so close would force the earth like planets to orbit the Sun in like days as opposed to our 365.25.

very cool stuff

If we lived on one of those planets, our life span would be how much longer?

I desperately hope you are not being serious.

Nm.

With such a lower sun temp than ours and the fact its only 500 mil yrs old, I would think the window for life would be fairly narrow, at least compared to us. Very cool that they're able to compile this data. I love hearing about this stuff, there's so little we know, definitely a milestone for the human race.

originally posted by: ThoughtIsMadness

originally posted by: carewemust
These discoveries always bring up the thought.. "What if God chose not to create 'intelligent' life anywhere but Earth?"

This is ridiculous, You have to get some science in your life if you even entertain such a thought.
Its a small lonely world with a closed view and an archaic book.

You don't think that we should keep an open mind?

a reply to: schuyler

I am serious! If the planet completes an orbit in one month, calendar-wise, our life expectancy would be over 700 years.

a reply to: schuyler

I stated a partial tidal lock, not total lock. Sorry for the confusion. I was suggesting a slow rotation like Venus or Mercury in comparison.

Combined with these new planet's several days long orbital period, and atmospheres that possibly help in heat distribution (high winds or other activity)...thats all im suggesting.

As mentioned in my previous post, a totally tidally locked planet would indeed have one side facing star side permanently which would probably yield a habitable area only along the terminator (where the light and dark sides meet on the surface).

originally posted by: mtnshredder
With such a lower sun temp than ours and the fact its only 500 mil yrs old, I would think the window for life would be fairly narrow, at least compared to us. Very cool that they're able to compile this data. I love hearing about this stuff, there's so little we know, definitely a milestone for the human race.

Well that depends on extinction level events, maybe they have had less than us.

a reply to: muSSang

And btw, noone claimed that they dicovered 7 Earth LIKE planets, both of your sources say Earth SIZED, so did you decide to change it to Earth LIKE in your title?

The relative sizes of the planets and star, plus the system’s proximity, mean that plucking the signatures of living, breathing organisms from the planet’s atmospheres could be within reach.

What do you mean?