An " Earth " like planet has just been found ! Ok , now what ?

It would seem that with each month that passes we are being treated to some new report describing the discovery of some new extrasolar planets . These reports use to be few and far between and often these early discoveries of extrasolar planets were of gas giants .

As this tech evolved it became possible to scan the light spectrum emitted from these distant objects to learn what elements were present , and if there could be favorable conditions present for life to gain a foothold .

As we all know , it's not just enough for certain elements to be present for life to exist , there are other theorized factors , such as the planet's size as well as the planet's distance to it's sun .

It would seem that with the current tech knowledge being applied to this science some very exciting discoveries are being made of planets that seem , on an observable level , to fit into a " friendly zone " of size , distance from it's sun as well as favorable elements present to promote life.

To many it would seem that its simply a matter of when , not if , before science reveals the discovery of an Earth like planet orbiting some distant sun , what a day that will be for science !

But then does that not beg the question , so what now ?

What would we do , what could we do ?

My guess being , we get SETI to scan for radio transmissions to look for signs of intelligence , aside from that really what could we do ?

Please share your thought on this , assuming that science finds another Earth out there what would the next step be ?



[edit on 1-8-2010 by Max_TO]

Everyone needs to stand outside and wave in the direction of the planet at the same time. Assuming they have telescopes powerful enough to observe our greeting, we should hopefully develop similar technology by the time they return our amassed appendage flap.

Seriously though I don't think we'll really be able to know much until we actually do develop more refined telescopes. When they're powerful enough to resolve artificial light sources on the night side of distant worlds, then you'd have an indicator of intelligent life. Look at night side images of Earth from satellites, we're like a giant light beacon to anyone with the technology to see it.

Gasses are great, and very interesting, but they will find ways to explain it away due to natural occurrence. Nature, however, does not make street lamps! I don't think it's that far away, perhaps a generation or two of telescopes after the Webb telescope it may become tangible to do something like that.

Same thing we always do. Shoot highly concentrated, multi-band radiowaves at their face until they get annoyed and blow us out of the sky

reply to post by Max_TO


Do we have any links to peruse?
Which of the methods has been used to discover this new Earth-like planet?
Do we have any spectroscopy info?
Does Earth-like mean by mass? If so that would indeed be interesting.

In regard to your premise about what to do you might find the following of interest. There is a growing view that we may have been looking in the wrong part of the radio spectrum because we have not considered fully the economic/resource situation of any interstellar civilisation.

Different reports on the same article:

www.newscientist.com...

www.digitaljournal.com...

www.cbsnews.com...

Originally posted by Max_TO
It would seem that with each month that passes we are being treated to some new report describing the discovery of some new extrasolar planets .


[edit on 1-8-2010 by Max_TO]

AHA!
Now you notice what I notice.
Space projects have been receiving less funding so what do you do to drum up some money?
You send out recycled findings to CNN and other news groups to draw excitement back into a dwindling field.

We've known about exoplanets for years...we've been able to see them(indirectly) since the 1990s...Please stop the SPACE PROPAGANDA!!!

Well, I hope what we DO NOT DO is all fall into the mind set:

'Who cares if we frig up the Earth more and more each day continuing to kill her and all her life forms? So what? We've got another Earth to move onto so hey - destroy away'!

Honestly that's the only thing that passes through my mind when I hear of 'other Earths'... That and what a bunch of egoists we are to even call them 'Earths'...

Oh, and if any of those planets have intelligent life? And are out there listening? I hope they're armed to the teeth (?) and ready to shoot us down without ever letting us put only little piggy toe on THEIR PLANET...

peace

Earth-like planets? I think we've already found one, and it's right beneath our feet. My opinion is this: no matter how advanced our tech is at the moment, it isn't advanced enough to find planets our size in any significant detail. IF and when a discovery like this is ever made, you and I will long be in the grave.

reply to post by Max_TO


There would need to be one within 50 or 60 light years from earth for us to find one.

if we did find one it would lead to more money to fund better space telescopes to get better images and develop propulsion systems so we could send a probe there.

Patriot the tech is ready now its a question of funding & engineering it. My guess is by 2025 we will have a space based telescope capable of imaging other earths within 60ly if they exist

[edit on 1-8-2010 by yeti101]

reply to post by silo13


What a pessimistic post. If you're not happy with the way people are treating our planet then do something about it, but that should be no justification for us not travelling to other planets.

Some of are actually eco-friendly you know.

The most recent Scientific American has a couple of articles about these Super Earths, and how they are finding them if you are interested. I don't think it is on their website yet.

This is a description of how Kepler is finding these, and what information they can extrapolate from this data. It also has a good piece on some modelling on what would be happening in the interior of these planets.

This is critical information, and I found the most interesting thing about this extrapolation being that our planet is probably in the small range for habitation for our type of life. Anything smaller in the right temperature zone is likely geologically locked.


For those who would like us to not look anywhere else I have a few points for you.

One - I will not be held hostage based on everyone becoming better people and better stewards because you find that important.

This world is vitally important. I still will not support the idea that until everyone is "good" by your standard that all of us cannot do anything else. How Machiavellian.

Second - Even without human help, this planet has been unstable for the last 200,000 years of modern humans.

Just in the last 20,000 years there have been multiple glacial periods, with ice trapping people to shrinking habitable zones, isolated by gigantic arid uncrossable deserts.

This phenomena has almost extincted our kind twice in the last 200,000 years. It did extinct other homonid breathern.

Even if everyone on this planet suddenly became perfect - this planet is not. It is beautiful. It is a wonderful, amazing, astounding, defying odds place. But it will kill us. Period.



[edit on 2010/8/1 by Aeons]

reply to post by packinupngoin

We've known about exoplanets for years...we've been able to see them(indirectly) since the 1990s...Please stop the SPACE PROPAGANDA!!!

what are you on about? the only planets we could find around active stars in the 1990s were gas giants. Only since around 2005 have we had the ability to detect smaller planets less than 10 earth mass. Now with kepler launched last year we have the ability for the first time in human history to detect earth sized planets in earth-like orbits around stars like the sun. It will take 3 years to confirm any.

[edit on 1-8-2010 by yeti101]

Originally posted by The Patriot
Earth-like planets? I think we've already found one, and it's right beneath our feet. My opinion is this: no matter how advanced our tech is at the moment, it isn't advanced enough to find planets our size in any significant detail. IF and when a discovery like this is ever made, you and I will long be in the grave.

I have ties to the future that require the paltry advance we make today to build on.

My lifetime is not my only concern.

we first need to become a civilization that another one would want to contact... if you had been keeping tabs on earth and watching us.. would you really want to contact us?

Originally posted by amadeus30
we first need to become a civilization that another one would want to contact... if you had been keeping tabs on earth and watching us.. would you really want to contact us?

I would not want to contact anyone else. I would profile other candidate systems, then direct probes to look for signs of intelligent life....

Which I would then avoid like a plague.

Stellar systems with no intelligent lifeforms and habitable planets mean resources without conflict.

The only time I would want to contact another group is to trade - knowledge, information or goods - or to collaborate.

It is a big galaxy - no need to court conflict for no reason.

Originally posted by ZombieOctopus
Seriously though I don't think we'll really be able to know much until we actually do develop more refined telescopes. When they're powerful enough to resolve artificial light sources on the night side of distant worlds, then you'd have an indicator of intelligent life. Look at night side images of Earth from satellites, we're like a giant light beacon to anyone with the technology to see it.

What's the guarantee that other civilizations on other worlds would fill their skies with light pollution? I live in Los Angeles and it's absolutely pathetic how little of the sky I can see. When I wanted to see the stars and use my telescope I had to drive an hour and a half away and almost 10,000 feet up a mountain to get a good view. Hopefully other life forms would not destroy their view of the night sky like we do.

Originally posted by pjslug

Originally posted by ZombieOctopus
Seriously though I don't think we'll really be able to know much until we actually do develop more refined telescopes. When they're powerful enough to resolve artificial light sources on the night side of distant worlds, then you'd have an indicator of intelligent life. Look at night side images of Earth from satellites, we're like a giant light beacon to anyone with the technology to see it.

What's the guarantee that other civilizations on other worlds would fill their skies with light pollution? I live in Los Angeles and it's absolutely pathetic how little of the sky I can see. When I wanted to see the stars and use my telescope I had to drive an hour and a half away and almost 10,000 feet up a mountain to get a good view. Hopefully other life forms would not destroy their view of the night sky like we do.

It is highly likely that many planets don't have a view of the night sky at all. Thick global cloud cover, or a layer of ice crust too think to see through.

If no one had ever seen the sky, would it even occur to you to look?

reply to post by mr-lizard

What a pessimistic post. If you're not happy with the way people are treating our planet then do something about it,

Which is why I said I HOPE this does not happen.

Hope, is never pessimistic.

Also, you don't know what I do or do not do to help the world. Check your presuming.

And what's negative about hoping the 'others' out there will not offer their hand in peace?

We here on Earth, where history does repeat itself, repeatedly, don't have a very good track-record of how we treat 'others'. Not from DAY ONE have we EVER left a SINGLE tribe, or peoples, we've 'discovered' in PEACE. Not once.

We either corrupt them for their land, exterminate them with genocide, try to shove our beliefs down their throats, rape their women, steal their children, steal what is theirs by birthright, etc.

That's just facts.

That I HOPE this doesn't happen (in reference to 'other worlds') and that I HOPE the 'others' are not as naive as some of our own ancestors, and that I do, do my part to 'help' this Earth, well, none of that runs contrary to hope for something better, for us, or for them.

Space Travel? NO I DO NOT AGREE with it at all.

There is NO reason (IMO) for space travel without taking care of what we've got already here on Earth.

Feed the children.
Educate the children.
House them and give them medical treatment and hope.
Cure Malaria and AIDS, unwanted births.
Stop rape, breast-ironing, female circumcision, stonings.
Stop sending young men to DEATH in wars (and young women).
Take care of the Veterans of War that have already given their lives.
Stop the use of bio-fule and put a halt to ALL OFFSHORE DRILLING!

I could go on and on, my point being, PUT THOSE TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO USE HERE CORRECTING THE EARTH and HER PEOPLE before spending it on 'space travel'...

peace

Those are all good goals. None of which are mutually exclusive to other goals. Only you make them so.

Originally posted by Max_TO

What would we do , what could we do ?

My guess being , we get SETI to scan for radio transmissions to look for signs of intelligence , aside from that really what could we do ?

I suggest that we gather up all the Who's in Whoville, (no matter how small) and chant "We are here!" To prevent our planet from being boiled in a kettle of oil.

(Which is the real reason for global warming)

Horton cant hold out against the horde forever, you know.

Originally posted by Aeons

Originally posted by pjslug

Originally posted by ZombieOctopus
Seriously though I don't think we'll really be able to know much until we actually do develop more refined telescopes. When they're powerful enough to resolve artificial light sources on the night side of distant worlds, then you'd have an indicator of intelligent life. Look at night side images of Earth from satellites, we're like a giant light beacon to anyone with the technology to see it.

What's the guarantee that other civilizations on other worlds would fill their skies with light pollution? I live in Los Angeles and it's absolutely pathetic how little of the sky I can see. When I wanted to see the stars and use my telescope I had to drive an hour and a half away and almost 10,000 feet up a mountain to get a good view. Hopefully other life forms would not destroy their view of the night sky like we do.

It is highly likely that many planets don't have a view of the night sky at all. Thick global cloud cover, or a layer of ice crust too think to see through.

If no one had ever seen the sky, would it even occur to you to look?

But we are talking about INTELLIGENT civilizations, not primitive cultures who have no idea that outer space exists above the clouds. An intelligent civilization would have figured that out by sending probes, just as we send probes up in space or to the bottom of the ocean.