First rocky planet found outside our solar system

First rocky planet found outside our solar system

www.cnn.com

Scientists have discovered the first confirmed Earthlike planet outside our solar system, they announced Wednesday.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Im not much of a Solar / Stars expert...but any chance this is the so called Nibiru. It is interesting as the closer we get to 2012 more scientific news is being released. A few days ago we got some great new hubble pictures, and now a new "earth like" planet has been found. Is there any relation of this planet to the one found with the IRAS sattelite in 1983?? I am new to ATS so if all of this sounds dumb and you feel more stupid after reading this..I apologize. Thanks for reading....



www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 16-9-2009 by RipCity-J]

reply to post by RipCity-J

"This is the first confirmed rocky planet in another system," astronomer Artie Hatzes told CNN, contrasting the solid planet with gaseous ones like Jupiter and Saturn.

But "Earthlike" is a relative term.

Yeah apparently all that they have been finding before this have been gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn etc. This is the first "rocky planet" like Mars etc.

No telling if there is life...



[edit on 16-9-2009 by SLAYER69]

reply to post by RipCity-J


Not likely. This description kind of kills it:

It is so close to the star it orbits "that the place may well look like Dante's Inferno, with a probable temperature on its 'day face' above 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit (2,000 degrees Celsius) and minus-328 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 200 degrees Celsius) on its night face," said Didier Queloz of Geneva Observatory in Switzerland, the project leader.

Hatzes, explaining that one side of the body is always facing the star and the other side always faces away, said the side "facing the sun is probably molten. The other side could actually have ice" if there is water on the planet.

Also, this planet is around 490 light years away.

[edit on 16/9/09 by stumason]

The Odds are getting bigger...

.. I predict the discovery of Life outside Earth within the next 20 Years!!

They say it is about five times Earth's mass but in April 2009 Gliese 581e was found which is about 1.9 times Earth's mass at minimum.

Gliese 581e

At a minimum of 1.9 Earth masses, it is the smallest extrasolar planet discovered around a normal star, and the closest in mass to Earth.

Although scientists think it probably has a rocky surface similar to Earth, it is also likely to experience intense tidal heating similar to (and likely more intense than) that affecting Jupiter's moon Io.[2]

What's really new here along the lines of record low mass and rockiness? Normal star (red dwarf is abnormal)? Really short year?

Still, it is cool that more extrasolar planets are being found, no doubt.

Edit: Maybe it has to do with discovery/detection dates and not announcement dates? The CoRoT-7b articles seem quite fresh and not only on CNN. Confusion.

[edit on 9/16/2009 by EnlightenUp]

[edit on 9/16/2009 by EnlightenUp]

Originally posted by Next_Heap_With
The Odds are getting bigger...

.. I predict the discovery of Life outside Earth within the next 20 Years!!

One of the biggest discoveries in history will be the discovery of a rocky planet with an atmosphere that would support human life. I can see it happening within the next 20 years. Exciting times..

reply to post by SLAYER69


I bet each star has gas giants in their outer regions and rocky planets near their interiors. The number count of planets will vary due to the make up of the star. I believe a star is balanced by its planets. Sort of an atomic structure.

reply to post by Next_Heap_With

.. I predict the discovery of Life outside Earth within the next 20 Years!!

OMG I FOUND LIFE OUTSIDE OF EARTH!



Sorry, couldn't resist!

My big question here is, 490m light years distant. Odds are the planet's already gone. What exactly does the source info look like that they would know this is a planet?

Originally posted by RipCity-J

Im not much of a Solar / Stars expert...but any chance this is the so called Nibiru. It is interesting as the closer we get to 2012 more scientific news is being released. A few days ago we got some great new hubble pictures, and now a new "earth like" planet has been found. Is there any relation of this planet to the one found with the IRAS sattelite in 1983?? I am new to ATS so if all of this sounds dumb and you feel more stupid after reading this..I apologize. Thanks for reading....



www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 16-9-2009 by RipCity-J]

[edit on 16-9-2009 by c2o...]

[edit on 16-9-2009 by c2o...]

[edit on 16-9-2009 by c2o...]

reply to post by Arrowmancer


quote from the article:

They were helped by the fact that CoRoT-7b is relatively close to Earth -- about 500 light years away, in the constellation of Monoceros, the Unicorn.

"It's in our solar neighborhood," Hatzes said. "The thing that made it easier is it's relatively close, so it's relatively bright. If this star was much much farther away, we wouldn't have been able to do these measurements."

At about five times Earth's mass (though not quite twice as large in circumference), it is the smallest planet ever spotted outside our solar system.

The planet will still be there, it's around 500 light years, so fairly close in astronomical terms. But it's still a long way away compared to say the Sun, or our outer solar system.

At 500 light years away no chance it's Nibiru, some ancient references to Nibiru actually referred to the planet Jupiter, but there were other references that didn't refer to Jupiter.

I always expected there were other solar systems, but it's nice to see they are actually able to find them now, even rocky planets! Keep looking!

Nice story, thanks!

Technically, most stars are solar systems. Some simply may not have planets.

Now that we've found a planet in a solar system, we have to find a plausible, realistic way to reach one.

What I'd give for an ansible. *wink to the sciffy fans*

Originally posted by Arbitrageur
At 500 light years away no chance it's Nibiru,

Oh come on now... The Annunaki can transport Nibiru in a flash


First huh?
The planet was first detected early in 2008 ....


April 24, 2007 Gleis 581C a rocky planet



Artist's impression of the five-Earth mass planet, Gliese 581 c, found in the habitable zone around the red dwarf Gliese 581, with the instrument HARPS on the ESO 3.6-m telescope. Credit: ESO

Gliese 436 c 2007
Mysterious "Super Earth" Is Smallest Known Exoplanet?






Ribas and colleagues say the planet, dubbed GJ 436c, orbits a red dwarf star about 30 light-years away in the constellation Leo.

According to the study team, GJ 436c would also be the first exoplanet revealed by its affect on the orbit of a planetary neighbor.

[edit on 17-9-2009 by zorgon]

reply to post by Arrowmancer

Won't do you any good unless there's another one at the other end. And someone's there to answer it.

reply to post by zorgon

reply to post by SLAYER69


Slayer - that was an incredible video --- I'll get the marshmellows and hershey bars, you bring the graham crackers.

This thread brings up an interesting point: we are "observing" planets/suns as they were hundreds/thousands of light years ago. Now turn the table. Aliens would have had to observe our "habitable" planet just as long ago in order to arrive here now -- plus the time it takes to get here in their zippy space/time warping crafts... Interesting implications...

reply to post by SLAYER69


Yeah I have posted the original version in several Nibiru thread

reply to post by Arrowmancer


What makes you think that a star wouldn't have planets?
That is kinda' odd.

Also, 480 million light years... Chances are the planet is already gone?

No way. How long has Earth been around?

That planet has a long ways to go yet.


Also, I wonder if QM will ever revise our understanding of how we perceive light?