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Michelle
Moistened Bint
Joined: 28 Oct 2004
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 Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:01 am Post subject: New Earth? |
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I guess it's a possibility if it wasn't quite so far away.
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It's Earth, but not as we know it
from correspondents in Paris
April 25, 2007 12:28pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse
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ASTRONOMERS say they have discovered a "super-Earth" more than 20 light years away that is the most intriguing world found so far in the search for extraterrestrial life.
About five times the mass of Earth, the planet orbits a cool, dim red dwarf' star in the constellation of Libra, the team from the European Southern Observatory (ESO) said.
The star, Gliese 581, has already been identified as hosting a planet similar in size to Neptune, the frigid gas giant on the edge of our own solar system.
The new planet is 14 times closer to Gliese 581 than Earth is to the sun. But because Gliese 581 is so cool, the planet is not scorched by solar radiation. It zips around the star at express speed, making just 13 days to complete an orbit.
"We have estimated that the mean temperature of this super-Earth lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be liquid,'' said lead researcher Stephane Udry of Switzerland's Geneva University.
"Moreover, its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth's radius, and models predict that the planet should be either rocky - like our Earth - or covered with oceans.''
"Liquid water is critical to life as we know it,'' said Xavier Delfosse, a team member from France's Grenoble University.
"Because of its temperature and relative proximity, this planet will most probably be a very important target of the future space missions dedicated to the search for extra terrestrial life," he said.
"On the treasure map of the Universe, one would be tempted to mark this planet with an X.''
In 1995, two astronomers, also at Geneva, spotted the first extrasolar planet, a term for a planet orbiting a star other than our own. Since then, 227 such planets have been spotted, according to the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia.
Gliese 581 is among the 100 closest stars to us. Its red dwarf monicker comes from the fact that it is only a third of the mass of the sun.
Because such stars emit far less heat, they offer a far greater chance of having planets in the so-called Goldilocks zone where liquid water - and thus the potential for life - can exist.
Even though Gliese 581 offers such promise, it would be impossible for mankind to reach it - or even send an unmanned scout probe - using current technology.
Chemical rockets generate only a fraction of the light speed needed to get there within a human timescale. |
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mohrorless
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:36 am Post subject: |
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Someone call SETI and have them re-aim the telescope!
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Quixote
Duke
Joined: 06 Nov 2006
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:29 am Post subject: |
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and here also:, what the Beeb has to say (actually, much the same thing):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6589157.stm
Us SETI shrubbers though, are still processing the backlog from Arecibo. We could get a "WOW" signal from the folk on Gliese 581 - but years hence! But maybe they've been too busy; having a New Year's party every 13 days 
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mohrorless
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:37 am Post subject: |
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13 days is almost enough time to recover from the last one. Do you think they could brew fast enough to do it every 13 days?
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Michelle
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mohrorless
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:45 am Post subject: |
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| Michelle wrote: | I guess it would mean a birthday for everybody every 13 days too.  |
Would you have time to keep up the Birthday list? Imagine how crowded the forum would be then.  There would have to be a seperate birthday section.
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Michelle
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mohrorless
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 11:50 am Post subject: |
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| Michelle wrote: | It would be totally insane! I'm having enough trouble keeping up as it is.  |
Actually we could have a birthday section on the forum and have 13 threads in it. Then we just go and post our greetings on the correct day.
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Quixote
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 12:10 pm Post subject: |
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Wishing you a happy one thousand seven hundred and eighth birthday?
Dear ol' Uncle Ned is pushing three thousand now, but quite clear in his head and still shrubbing away at SETI - We are hoping for a signal from that sun 'Sol' someday - it's said that it has a very small planet (except for a region called 'Texas', which is much bigger). Our scientists think it may have some life on it, though they'd all be so young we could hardly expect them to be intelligent
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mohrorless
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 5:48 pm Post subject: |
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RampageIII
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Joined: 13 Mar 2007
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| Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 3:13 am Post subject: |
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I think this is a great find! When do we leave?? 
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Michelle
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Eaving
Prince
Joined: 23 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 4:20 am Post subject: |
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Annual holidays would be a bit of a pain though. I mean saying you could fairly have two major holidays a day you'd cap at only 26 holidays a year. On the up side Even if you job only closed for 5 holidays a year and you got your normal weekends you only have a 4 or 5 day work year  .
OH, annual raises
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mohrorless
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| Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 5:19 am Post subject: |
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| Michelle wrote: | | When we can locate the Enterprise. |
Which one?
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Michelle
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mohrorless
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| Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 7:11 am Post subject: |
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| Michelle wrote: | Does it matter....although I would rather have Picard than Kirk.
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To summerize.....Michelle prefers
over
I actually wouldn't mind either Enterprise-D or Enterprise-E:
D:
or
E:
I would not mind the Defiant though:
*fixed
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Last edited by mohrorless on Thu Apr 26, 2007 9:28 am; edited 1 time in total |
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JerWA
Prince
Joined: 01 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 7:21 am Post subject: |
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I think maybe you meant:
 Or maybe: Or, best yet: 
PS: LOL @ Someone still actually using Tripod. |
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Tenebra
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Michelle
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Tenebra
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