[gatorbob]

<p>I've always been a bit of an astronomy geek, and I've been following the search for extra-solar planets for a while.  <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/news/kepler_data_release.html" target="_blank">Yesterday, NASA announced</a> that the Kepler telescope has now discovered over 1200 planets, 68 of which are earth-sized and 54 of which are in the "Goldilocks zone", where it's the right temperature for liquid water.  (Not too hot, not too cold). </p>
<p> </p>
<p>These discoveries are based on an observation of a portion of the sky equal to about 1/400 of the sky.  So if all these planets were found this easily in this tiny portion of the sky, there must be millions more out there still waiting to be discovered.  And who knows how many millions more can be discovered as our technology improves. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>This strengthens my belief that we are not alone in the universe.  The Milky Way galaxy is estimated to have somewhere around 300 billion stars, and the Milky Way is one of maybe 100 billion galaxies.  That could mean something like 30 sextillion stars in the universe.  (That's 30,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars).  I think it would have been foolish to expect that our sun is the only one of those stars to have a planets suitable for life.  And now that we know THAT'S not the case, I'm sure there's gotta be some kind of life out there somewhere.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Still, we may never know for sure.  The vast distances between stars makes communications nearly impossible.  One particular star, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler-11" target="_blank">Kepler-11</a>, has been found to have six planets, for example.  But Kepler-11 is 2000 light years away.  Which means sending a single message and receiving a single reply would take 4000 years. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Space is a big place. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Well, I think this is really cool.  Anyone else?</p>

 

[airehead]

<p>I think it's arrogant to think we're it, we're all that's here.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Just looking at the night sky screams of possibilities.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>One game I like to play is I imagine God has several earth-like planets going at the same time.</p>
<p>I imagine he gave them different scriptures and standards to live by.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>And now he watches which of His planets handles all they were given the best.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So, this proves I'm weird.</p>

 

[runfishhunt]

<p>I think the aliens have arrived and Snooki is their leader...</p>

 

[kerfwango]

<br><br><div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>runfishhunt</strong> <a href="/forum/thread/72476/alien-planets#post_1981608"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-bottom:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-right:0px solid;"></a><br><br><p>I think the aliens have arrived and Snooki is their leader...</p>
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<br><br><p> Then we should be fine as long as the hair gel and booze hold out.</p>

 

[Grizzly]

<p>The data is just starting to come in.  We haven't found the Goldilocks worlds just yet, that will require another 2 years of observation.  But what is really encouraging is that in the data here there are 70 worlds of the size or mass of the Earth.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>That's just 70 so far in the patch of sky that Kepler is examining.  That will grow.  And that's just the suns whose planets orbit in a plane that allows us to observe a transit...  I am not sure what percentage of the 100,000 stars observed fall into that category, but let's just say that it's only 10%...  start doing the multiplication.  The galaxy is teaming with planets that might be like Earth.</p>

 

[altoids]

<p>Sweet!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Cool stuff, GatorBob.  I missed that article, so I'm glad you shared. </p>

 

[gretriever]

<br><br><div class="quote-container"><span>Quote:</span>
<div class="quote-block">Originally Posted by <strong>runfishhunt</strong> <a href="/forum/thread/72476/alien-planets#post_1981608"><img alt="View Post" class="inlineimg" src="/img/forum/go_quote.gif" style="border-right:0px solid;border-top:0px solid;border-left:0px solid;border-bottom:0px solid;"></a><br><br><p>I think the aliens have arrived and Snooki is their leader...</p>
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<p><br>
So wherever it is, the planet of New Jersey is destroyed?  (your Uranus joke here: ________________________________________ ) <br>
 </p>