U.S. space telescope spots 715 more planets

U.S. space telescope spots 715 more planets

(Reuters) - Scientists added a record 715 more planets to the list of known worlds beyond the solar system, boosting the overall tally to nearly 1,700, astronomers said on Wednesday.

The additions include four planets about 2-1/2 times as big as Earth that are the right distance from their parent stars for liquid surface water, which is believed to be key for life.

The discoveries were made with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope before it was sidelined by a pointing system problem last year. The telescope, launched in 2009, spent four productive years staring at 160,000 target stars for signs of planets passing by, relative to the telescope's line of sight.

The tally of planets announced at a NASA press conference on Wednesday boosted Kepler's confirmed planet count from 246 to 961.

Ok, this is starting to become an almost daily event. Announcing yet more planets. There are almost as many planets as there are visible stars....

I know I know, Just kidding. But the argument against ET is starting to get a bit thin IMHO. Sooner or later if there are ETs and they have reached our level or higher & may be squawking and hopefully we may pick up on their I love Lucy shows some day soon.

reply to post by SLAYER69


What the overall discovery of so many interesting exoplanets in the very very very tiny itty-bitty slice of our galaxy means is that there are trillions and trillions of planets in the uncounted galaxies of the universe. When the Enterprise finally gets going on its five-year mission it's going to have to pick and choose among millions of the things.

JadeStar did a great thread leading up to this announcement www.abovetopsecret.com... with some very good graphics (both before and after the teleconference). As I said in another thread, if ATS didn't have her they'd have to invent her.

reply to post by SLAYER69

While cool "it's just planets", they will never be able to prove life on any of them, just that they are Habitable in some form.
There are no doubt millions of planets out there that we can discover with the right tool but thats sadly it, we just know they are there with no chance of reaching any of them or prove if life exist on them.

So ET life is still way of in the distance of our reach or proof.

reply to post by SLAYER69

Sooner or later if there are ETs and they have reached our level or higher & may be squawking and hopefully we may pick up on their I love Lucy shows some day soon.

Even living micro-organisms would be good, that is all the confirmation needed

And it definitely is only a matter of time before something is discovered, I've said it before and I'll say it again, we are ignorant to think we are alone.

reply to post by Mianeye


Long ago, our ancestors pondered over crossing open seas.
We are at the "bark canoe" stage of space travel, it's not our generations time to comprehend the technology to get there yet.
Although there is the 100 year starship symposium 100yss.org

Now of course before we go anywhere we need a destination.
Soon we will find a planet that is ripe and fertile, this is for our generation to discover but for others to go there.

reply to post by Mianeye


"they will never be able to prove life on any of them"....is there such a thing as TOO skeptical???

SLAYER69
U.S. space telescope spots 715 more planets

(Reuters) - Scientists added a record 715 more planets to the list of known worlds beyond the solar system, boosting the overall tally to nearly 1,700, astronomers said on Wednesday.

The additions include four planets about 2-1/2 times as big as Earth that are the right distance from their parent stars for liquid surface water, which is believed to be key for life.

The discoveries were made with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope before it was sidelined by a pointing system problem last year. The telescope, launched in 2009, spent four productive years staring at 160,000 target stars for signs of planets passing by, relative to the telescope's line of sight.

The tally of planets announced at a NASA press conference on Wednesday boosted Kepler's confirmed planet count from 246 to 961.

Ok, this is starting to become an almost daily event. Announcing yet more planets. There are almost as many planets as there are visible stars....

I know I know, Just kidding.

Actually there are MORE planets than stars.

Watch the video below for why this is:

TiedDestructor
reply to post by Mianeye

 

"they will never be able to prove life on any of them"....is there such a thing as TOO skeptical???

Yes.

We'll be able to prove this is less than 30 years. Maybe less than 20. We could do it now if we had the money.

By the way, we should all get very used to these announcements. There are two other satellites like Kepler going up over the next 10 years.


NASA has TESS going up in 2017 and Europe has PLATO due for 2020-2024 launch. In addition to these there will be plenty of discoveries of planets by ground based telescopes as some massive ones come on line in the next 10 years and some smaller existing ones become more sensitive to smaller planets due to new advanced electronics, optics and computer algorithms.

And the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to Hubble will also contribute to our understanding of these new worlds.

So planet announcements will be old hat by 2024.

The big deal will be the characterizations of planets. What different ones are like. That has already started (we have the first cloud maps and spectra of gas giants).

It is very possible that by 2024 we will have the first spectra of terrestrial sized, habitable planets and that one or more might tell us enough to say with some degree of confidence that there is life there.

Mianeye
reply to post by SLAYER69

 

While cool "it's just planets", they will never be able to prove life on any of them, just that they are Habitable in some form.
There are no doubt millions of planets out there that we can discover with the right tool but thats sadly it, we just know they are there with no chance of reaching any of them or prove if life exist on them.

So ET life is still way of in the distance of our reach or proof.

edit on 26-2-2014 by Mianeye because: (no reason given)

you are wrong. there are unique bio-signatures that we will be able to detect soon even at interstellar distances. there are compounds that are are not long lived that can persist only because of constant regeneration by biological processes. isotopic diferences in atmospheric gases similarly indicate life. there are also color signatures that would most probably indicate vegetation we will soon have telescopes that can detect night side city lights.

granted that assumes life there is similar to life here but the signatures for non-similar life could be worked out as well.

additionally we are beginning to look for Kardeshov type I and I+ technological signatures other than radio transmissions. IR sources such as power stations in space or on a planet's surface or other technological signatures of a similar order and magnitude. out of place gamma ray and x ray signatures that may indicate advanced space propulsion systems and so forth.

search for space civilizations via their technological signatures:

www.theatlantic.com...

search for chemical signatures such as O2 and methane:

www.space.com...

Well let's update those telescopes and find some moons and the color of these planets! Maybe one day we will be able to teleport information to one. I have a feeling more good news will come out this year.

reply to post by Mianeye

So ET life is still way of in the distance of our reach or proof.

Not so distant.
They are right "behind the corner..."

weirdguy
reply to post by Mianeye

 

Long ago, our ancestors pondered over crossing open seas.
We are at the "bark canoe" stage of space travel, it's not our generations time to comprehend the technology to get there yet.
Although there is the 100 year starship symposium 100yss.org

Now of course before we go anywhere we need a destination.
Soon we will find a planet that is ripe and fertile, this is for our generation to discover but for others to go there.

You put this so eloquently weird guy . I am very much of the same opinion. We are so close but its almost time.
I love analogies and this one is close to perfect. My favorite post of the week. Star for you sir.

By the way if you didn't know, there is a free application you can download to explore these and other exoplanets on your computer:

eyes.jpl.nasa.gov...

It's pretty fun. You can zoom in on a planetary system, display its habitable zone, show orbits, show how long it would take to get there by a car, a bullet train, a jet plane or a ship travelling at the speed of light.

It's been nominated by a South by Southwest interactive award.

reply to post by SLAYER69


I was just looking on 'recent' threads link and 'new' threads link but didn't see this, I was wondering whether to start a thread until I browsed this Forum! I'm surprised not many posters (Maybe due to Time differences)...

But yes, nice discovery and I reckon this proves there are other forms of us out there (even without the actual evidence) I'd say... I mean think about it.. Worlds circling stars similar distances as our Solar System...

Must be another me out there somewhere.

IMPORTANT: IF YOU ARE READING MY POST RIGHT NOW (TruthxInxThexMist), Please reply as soon as you can.

Zcustosmorum
reply to post by SLAYER69

 

Sooner or later if there are ETs and they have reached our level or higher & may be squawking and hopefully we may pick up on their I love Lucy shows some day soon.

Even living micro-organisms would be good, that is all the confirmation needed

And it definitely is only a matter of time before something is discovered, I've said it before and I'll say it again, we are ignorant to think we are alone.

Nobody, in his right mind, will say that

Bangorak

Zcustosmorum
reply to post by SLAYER69

 

Sooner or later if there are ETs and they have reached our level or higher & may be squawking and hopefully we may pick up on their I love Lucy shows some day soon.

Even living micro-organisms would be good, that is all the confirmation needed

And it definitely is only a matter of time before something is discovered, I've said it before and I'll say it again, we are ignorant to think we are alone.

Nobody, with more than 2 neurons, will say that

Don't tell it to me mate

Zcustosmorum

Bangorak

Zcustosmorum
reply to post by SLAYER69

 

Sooner or later if there are ETs and they have reached our level or higher & may be squawking and hopefully we may pick up on their I love Lucy shows some day soon.

Even living micro-organisms would be good, that is all the confirmation needed

And it definitely is only a matter of time before something is discovered, I've said it before and I'll say it again, we are ignorant to think we are alone.

Nobody, with more than 2 neurons, will say that

Don't tell it to me mate

The problem is that some nutcases want to connect it with : aliens visiting us regularly and/or living among us
(puts his alu-hat on)

Bangorak

Zcustosmorum
reply to post by SLAYER69

 

Sooner or later if there are ETs and they have reached our level or higher & may be squawking and hopefully we may pick up on their I love Lucy shows some day soon.

Even living micro-organisms would be good, that is all the confirmation needed

And it definitely is only a matter of time before something is discovered, I've said it before and I'll say it again, we are ignorant to think we are alone.

Nobody, in his right mind, will say that

edit on 27-2-2014 by Bangorak because: (no reason given)

Well, I've got three confirmed neurons, and am sure there is or was life out there. With trillions of planets to choose from, life will find a way (and haven't you seen the new data about the very good possibility of past life being again discovered in a meteorite that came from Mars? And that's right next door.)