Eighteen Earth-sized exoplanets discovered

Just when you're waiting for an Earth-sized exoplanet to turn up 18 arrive all at once !

The discovery was made by scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research after re-analyzing Kepler Space Telescope data using a new technique.

The 18 newly discovered worlds fall into the category of Earth-sized planets. The smallest of them is only 69 percent of the size of the Earth; the largest is barely more than twice the Earth's radius. And they have another thing in common: all 18 planets could not be detected in the data from the Kepler Space Telescope so far. Common search algorithms were not sensitive enough.

In their search for distant worlds, scientists often use the so-called transit method to look for stars with periodically recurring drops in brightness. If a star happens to have a planet whose orbital plane is aligned with the line of sight from Earth, the planet occults a small fraction of the stellar light as it passes in front of the star once per orbit.

"Standard search algorithms attempt to identify sudden drops in brightness," explains Dr. Rene Heller from MPS, first author of the current publications. "In reality, however, a stellar disk appears slightly darker at the edge than in the center. When a planet moves in front of a star, it therefore initially blocks less starlight than at the mid-time of the transit. The maximum dimming of the star occurs in the center of the transit just before the star becomes gradually brighter again," he explains.

"Our new algorithm helps to draw a more realistic picture of the exoplanet population in space," summarizes Michael Hippke of Sonneberg Observatory. "This method constitutes a significant step forward, especially in the search for Earth-like planets."
phys.org...

Hopefully they'll find one relatively close.

a reply to: gortex

I cannot get excited for small dots of light 1000 of light years away...

But if SETI picks up intelligent radio transmissions from one of these exo planets you got my attention.

a reply to: gortex

Exciting times ahead for us, hopefully we could point a few telescopes in their direction for a closer analysis.

a reply to: gortex

It's great to hear about more of these planets being discovered, however, it seems the more they find, the more the parameters needed for a planet just like Earth are less likely.
Tidal locking with it's star, and Red Dwarfs are examples of where you don't want to be, while, on the other hand, an alien solar system almost like ours may also not have stabilising planets like Jupiter..along with all their own planets just where they would be needed to be to kick ass..so to speak.. to have the stability that our solar system has...at least for now.

originally posted by: Spacespider
a reply to: gortex

I cannot get excited for small dots of light 1000 of light years away...

But if SETI picks up intelligent radio transmissions from one of these exo planets you got my attention.

Maybe if they were at 50 Light years or less

Maybe I'm a bit sadistic and misanthropic but it kind of amuses me to watch humans struggle to find a planet around another star that they have no hope of ever getting to.

It's kind of refreshing after living a life dominated by people who act like they know everything and can do anything. And all that nonsense about how you can do anything you set your mind to if you try hard enough.

Really? LOL

Let's see how long it takes them to actually put one human on Mars for more than a few hours or a couple of days or something.

originally posted by: BrianFlanders
Maybe I'm a bit sadistic and misanthropic but it kind of amuses me to watch humans struggle to find a planet around another star that they have no hope of ever getting to.

It's kind of refreshing after living a life dominated by people who act like they know everything and can do anything. And all that nonsense about how you can do anything you set your mind to if you try hard enough.

Really? LOL

Let's see how long it takes them to actually put one human on Mars for more than a few hours or a couple of days or something.

IT is the proof that all stars have planets, that came out of this.
Everything else is some very crude elemental analysis.

The quantum observation will lead to a way to actually image them someday.

originally posted by: charlyv

originally posted by: BrianFlanders
Maybe I'm a bit sadistic and misanthropic but it kind of amuses me to watch humans struggle to find a planet around another star that they have no hope of ever getting to.

It's kind of refreshing after living a life dominated by people who act like they know everything and can do anything. And all that nonsense about how you can do anything you set your mind to if you try hard enough.

Really? LOL

Let's see how long it takes them to actually put one human on Mars for more than a few hours or a couple of days or something.

IT is the proof that all stars have planets, that came out of this.
Everything else is some very crude elemental analysis.

The quantum observation will lead to a way to actually image them someday.

LOL

I think you missed my point but oh well. Yes. I'm interested in space and astronomy. I was just commenting on the fact that it amuses me how puny us humans actually are.

a reply to: gortex

Hopefully, should we manage to devise a method or means of ever reaching one of these alleged new Earths, distance and travel time, might not be the issue they currently present.

a reply to: BrianFlanders

We'll have the technology to go interstellar within the next century.

High confidence on that statement.

This is great news, but I still wish we could build this on the far side of the moon:
www.eso.org...
Maybe we could actually resolve planets in an image?
Or at least gather enough light for spectral analysis of terrestrial type worlds?

originally posted by: Archivalist
a reply to: BrianFlanders

We'll have the technology to go interstellar within the next century.

High confidence on that statement.

Yeah, OK.

We MIGHT have the capability to send unmanned craft to the closest stars. MIGHT. We're not sending humans to another solar system in less than a century. We might be sending some kind of frozen embryos or something that will get there in the distant future when everyone who is living now is long gone.

We can't even sent people to Mars. And when we do, they are just going there to touch the ground and come back (assuming they make it back). We have the technology to get there. We don't have the money. We don't have anything close to the technology to send a human out of the solar system.

a reply to: gortex

They were discovered long ago the reason why since 1958 they have established Mt Weather an underground facility with a sub government in place? using taxpayers money to build them underground cities under the guise of NASA,recorded history tells of planet system comming into our solar system,and having devastation on the earth surface,California was once an island that disappeared,charted in late 1700's and it seems we are now in those destructive years,as they get closer the damage increases in intensity

originally posted by: Zeropinion
This is great news, but I still wish we could build this on the far side of the moon:
www.eso.org...
Maybe we could actually resolve planets in an image?
Or at least gather enough light for spectral analysis of terrestrial type worlds?

Humanity is way overdue to place observation telescopes on the far side of the moon. That is our best hope to rule out the Fermi Paradox in our lifetime.

originally posted by: Grimpachi

originally posted by: Zeropinion
This is great news, but I still wish we could build this on the far side of the moon:
www.eso.org...
Maybe we could actually resolve planets in an image?
Or at least gather enough light for spectral analysis of terrestrial type worlds?

Humanity is way overdue to place observation telescopes on the far side of the moon. That is our best hope to rule out the Fermi Paradox in our lifetime.

Many possible explanations for lack of contact, earth may be private property, their may be a "prime directive" in place, and remember, the hitch-hikers guide says space is really big, maybe nobody found us yet.
Still, an array like the one in Chile built on the far side of the moon would make every land based and space based optical telescope to date look like a bunch of Christmas trash scopes.

originally posted by: manuelram16

originally posted by: Spacespider
a reply to: gortex

I cannot get excited for small dots of light 1000 of light years away...

But if SETI picks up intelligent radio transmissions from one of these exo planets you got my attention.

Maybe if they were at 50 Light years or less

We'd be able to hear their radio emissions from 1000 years ago, but any response from us would take a while to get there.

However, we would at least know they are there, which is important enough.

Maybe within 20-100 years Manking will be able to achieve interstellar travel then, the closest star systems will be the first ones to be explored thence the limit of 50 light years.
Interesting question: Does anybody here knows how to navigate in space ? what about the coordinate system used for space ?, the North, South or GPS coordinate systems we use everyday don't work in space.

a reply to: Spacespider

The more 'em out there, the greater the chance of that happening, I would posit.

This could change the usefulness of the Drake Equation.

Though there is legit debate as to its actual usefulness, it is kinda fun to play around with...

originally posted by: BrianFlanders

originally posted by: Archivalist
a reply to: BrianFlanders

We'll have the technology to go interstellar within the next century.

High confidence on that statement.

Yeah, OK.

We MIGHT have the capability to send unmanned craft to the closest stars. MIGHT. We're not sending humans to another solar system in less than a century. We might be sending some kind of frozen embryos or something that will get there in the distant future when everyone who is living now is long gone.

We can't even sent people to Mars. And when we do, they are just going there to touch the ground and come back (assuming they make it back). We have the technology to get there. We don't have the money. We don't have anything close to the technology to send a human out of the solar system.

Fusion drive will be done cooking in my lifetime. They're pretty far along on that. We understand next generation propulsion, and what it will require.
We're pretty far along on sustainable food and water technology, as well.

The final major issues involved,, are likely to be solved by a combination of advanced computing and genetics.

Biotech scientists know what they're about.
There are organisms on Earth, that can survive the trip.
So, we know it's biologically possible. The follow up questions to that, how can we get the necessary genes into us?

Frozen embryos is a little weird. I find that to be a possibility, but not a necessary technological stage.

If a human can't survive the trip, we either find a way to accommodate a human with artificial technology, or, we engineer a human that can.

That mockumentary about the Minerva mission may happen, but if we get to that point, why not wait the extra 10-20 years for genetics to allow the mission to be manned?

For centuries the greatest minds in the world thought the sun revolved around the earth. Up until the late nineteenth century those same types proved mathematically that centrifugal effects would crush the human body if it were propelled to more than 60 mph.
Seems silly eh? Poor ignorant saps.
In a couple centuries people will look back to THIS age of ignorance with the same amusement and contempt.
And yeah, I suspect humanity will be spread out among the stars.
If the species survives at all.