Astronomers find batch of "super-Earths"

Astronomers find batch of "super-Earths"

uk.news.yahoo.com

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - European researchers said on Monday they discovered a batch of three "super-Earths" orbiting a nearby star, and two other solar systems with small planets as well.

(visit the link for the full news article)

They said their findings, presented at a conference in France, suggest that Earth-like planets may be very common.


could this mean alien life too??

uk.news.yahoo.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Interesting. Not sure what they mean by 'super-Earths, unless it's the size:

The planets are bigger than Earth -- one is 4.2 times the mass, one is 6.7 times and the third is 9.4 times.

One thing to keep in mind is the kind of gravity you'd probably find on such a planet, given that the density is similar to Earth's.

I'd think such planets would only have life in the oceans other than simple microscopic land forms, because their gravity would be quite high.

I think it illustrates that the kind of planet and the location in the galaxy would be quite narrow to allow the development of sentient life. Still, there could be plenty of life on other planets in our galaxy, and sentient life might also be prevalent. It just requires a special set of circumstances for that life to be able to get off planet and then to become space-faring, let alone develop sigificant space exploration skills.

Any such civilization would have to be, imo, truly extraordinary, occupying a Goldilocks Zone of low radiation and only limited planetay extinction events. (enough to drive evolution and no more).

2 cents.

yes i think by calling them super earths, they do mean their size.
It's very interesting and one to watch closely.

Wow this is awesome.

To me i'm more excited about humans eventually being able to go to these planets and actually live there than I am about alien life.

Don't get me wrong discovering alien life would be awesome, but once this planet dies out we need somewhere to go.

reply to post by theendisnear69


As fun as it might sound, I would not relish going to a planet 4x-9x the size of Earth. You'd end up getting squished by the gravity.

If you landed, you'd never be able to get off plaet.

Unless, of course, the planet had only a small fraction of the density of Earth.

Please use existing thread to continue discussion:

Astronomers Find Batch of 'Super Earths'

Thread Closed.