Potentially habitable planet found

[kach22i]

Potentially habitable planet found
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070425/ap_on_sc/habitable_planet

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON - For the first time astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for "life in the universe."

After we screw up this planet, maybe we can go over there like a bunch of locust.

[red-beard]

Just what I was thinking. Do you think they have snail darters and spotted owls?

[kach22i]

Originally posted by red-beard
Just what I was thinking. Do you think they have snail darters and spotted owls?

Do you think they have God and religion?

[rcecale]

Originally posted by kach22i

After we screw up this planet, maybe we can go over there like a bunch of locust.

Are you libs taking Alec Baldwin with you when you leave?

Randy

[widgeon13]

let's send them Rosie, Al and Jesse. I'm sure they can offer assistance.

[VaSteve]

How come every time they discover something, they tell us if it has water or whatever. OK, maybe it's inhabitable for us, but what if there's a being that breathes hydrogen and craps rocks.... Maybe those beings have a lot of planets to live on... Live as we know it, no...but why are scientists so close minded that is has to be earth-type life??

[IROC]

Originally posted by VaSteve
How come every time they discover something, they tell us if it has water or whatever. OK, maybe it's inhabitable for us, but what if there's a being that breathes hydrogen and craps rocks.... Maybe those beings have a lot of planets to live on... Live as we know it, no...but why are scientists so close minded that is has to be earth-type life??

I think it is simply because we have never found another form of life that breathes hydrogen and craps rocks. :>) Most every (all?) life forms on this planet are carbon-based forms that require water to survive. Our total understanding of life revolves around these properties. I think we "project" that if that is the way it is here, it must be similar in other locations. There is speculation of silicon-based life forms (since silicon is the most abundant element in the universe, IIRC), but we've never run across one.

[Tervuren]

They used to think Venus was habitable...

I'm expecting in time for them to find something wrong...

[lendaddy]

Originally posted by Tervuren

I'm expecting in time for them to find something wrong...

Other than it being 5 billion years away from earth? Now that's a road trip!

[VaSteve]

Originally posted by IROC
I think it is simply because we have never found another form of life that breathes hydrogen and craps rocks. :>) Most every (all?) life forms on this planet are carbon-based forms that require water to survive. Our total understanding of life revolves around these properties. I think we "project" that if that is the way it is here, it must be similar in other locations. There is speculation of silicon-based life forms (since silicon is the most abundant element in the universe, IIRC), but we've never run across one.

Right, that's what I'm saying. Our understanding limits our comprehension of something other than what we can relate to. Maybe rocks are alive in their own way, maybe dirt is too. We just can't see it. But that's like "pot talk".

[72doug2,2S]

Do you think they have God and religion?

Great question. Please let us know what you find out.

[on-ramp]

It's too far away to get there.

besides, who gets to go?

[slakjaw]

I wonder what their women look like.

[red-beard]

Originally posted by VaSteve
How come every time they discover something, they tell us if it has water or whatever. OK, maybe it's inhabitable for us, but what if there's a being that breathes hydrogen and craps rocks.... Maybe those beings have a lot of planets to live on... Live as we know it, no...but why are scientists so close minded that is has to be earth-type life??

http://euro.astrobio.net/news/article1683.html

Well, they don't breathe hydrogen or crap rocks, but see here:

But there are microbes on Earth that breathe metal, and they don't care about oxygen.

[trekkor]

Didn't they say it's 20.5 years away...Traveling at the speed of light!!

How about getting reliable cell phone service first.


KT

[rouxroux]

Well now that Rosie does not have anything to do, she could lead the expedition... "Have you seen Uranus"?

[Superman]

Sure, life forms can and very likely will surprise even the most imaginative scientists. That sounds like an oxymoron.

But there is some basis in their expectations. A planet whose temperature is -300 C will have little movement. Everything will be frozen. That doesn't mean there couldn't be life, but it reduces the potential for life that is large and mobile. Microbes, sure. Intelligent life? Possible, but much less likely than in an environment that includes movement. Weather.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I agree. Just because OUR particular corner of the universe is best set up for carbon-based life incorporating liquid water and temperature ranges about -20 to +50 degrees C certainly doesn't mean it can't exist in vastly different forms elsewhere. The universe is an awfully big, complicated thing.

[red-beard]

Rosie O'Donnel in outer space
fat butts are all in place.
(ahhh) Blasting off on another chase.
Mars- bar or milky-way,
when she's chewing who can say.

Buckle up your seatbelts.
They could be in orbit (or on the View).
On a spooky planet (maybe near you!).
There's no way of knowing
When she's grow'in
way above the atmosphere,
trying to get back to here.

They're blasting off now.
Rosie's on a slip and slide.
Pussycats all by her side.
Donald Trump is the kooky guide.
Come along and dig the chase.
With the O'Donnel in outer space.
O'Donnel in outer space.
(yeah)

[Moneyguy1]

Even a great discovery like this, expanding our understanding of the universe degenerates into ridicule and politics.

Sad, really......