So, we know there are other planets out there, but our telescopes can only see the crappy planets. And I was just wondering, shouldn't this kind of be pretty high on that NASA to-do list? We were going to launch all these thing-a-mabobs up in the Terrestrial Planet Finder, but then that kept getting put off.

Let me explain the awesomeness of this, and believe me, this is brimming with pure gold awesomeness.

So, this is a graph of what the telescopes can see, all the coolest planets out there are the M, E, N, and stuff in the blue bubbles. And then there are all these small blue bubbles in the upper left representing the shitty planets we found so far next to other stars.



So really, until we get those new kick-ass telescopes, all the planets we find will, as a rule, suck.

Take Epsilon Eridani, we know it has one planet at least that's Jupiter-like, but it probably has a smaller, more awesome, planet closer to the star. And it's only 10 light years away. Can you IMAGINE what Hollywood will do with this once we confirm habitability?



This place is going to rock, can't you just feel it? There are just so many potential sites for good Earth-like planets, that once we get something running that can detect them, new information on really really high-potential for life planets is going to start flowing in at a ridiculous rate.

We've proved that there is not intelligent life sending us radio waves from these places, but that doesn't mean there isn't a good atmosphere, or even life, or even ruled by dinosaur-like creatures.

I mean, we just found out that Mars can grow asparagus, proving that it kicks far more ass than ever previously hypothesized.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/28/2288615.htm

The entire generation of "lonely Earth in space" is coming to a close. I'm just getting tired of waiting in the mean time. Hurry up NASA.

6/29/2008 11:06:06 PM

6/29/2008 11:09:11 PM

Mars can't grow asparagus. It has no liquid water. Even the article says that.

6/29/2008 11:13:41 PM

6/29/2008 11:14:18 PM

i don't like asparagus from earth

why would i eat martian asparagus?

6/29/2008 11:15:35 PM

There's an earth-like planet telescope that's suppose to be launched soon (within the next year I think), and i'm sure there are other projects in the works.

But, it would be extremely awesome if we found an earth-sized planet in an earth-like orbit, around an earth-like star, that has an earth-like composition. I would almost say it would be best thing ever, next to actually visiting that planet.

6/29/2008 11:18:31 PM

The thing for me is:

As so far as we've been able to measure, the universe has given us absolutely as much as we could possibly ask for in terms of Earth-likety. There are planets out there in Earth-like orbits we've detected, and there are planets with an Earth-like mass. If we could detect Earth-like planets in Earth-like orbits, it's reasonable to think that with the sample size, we would find plenty. Likewise, we can't actually measure the composition of these planets, but there's no reason to think that we won't find something to get excited about.

It'll all just come down to a matter of the sample size. Fuck, if Venus had evolved it's tectonics and atmosphere differently, we could be living on the 2 instead of 3rd rock from the sun.

Given all the info, I think that our uniqueness comes down to the improbable chance of advanced life and intelligent life developing. If we could just start finding those planets with nothing but grass or bacteria... we could pillage the environments of those too!

6/29/2008 11:47:10 PM

now we just need to find a petrol planet

and then make a landfill planet

and we'll be all set

6/29/2008 11:49:47 PM

Quote :

"If we could just start finding those planets with nothing but grass or bacteria... we could pillage the environments of those too!"

My hunch is that once the mechanisms for bacteria are present, on an earth-like planet, intelligent life would be inevitable.

6/29/2008 11:49:56 PM

Quote :

"we could pillage the environments of those too!""

"My those Earth people are getting rude."

6/30/2008 12:02:01 AM

asparagus... hmm. what about artichokes and spinach? that'd make an awesome dip.

i'd totally go for that.

6/30/2008 1:10:29 AM

Quote :

"My hunch is that once the mechanisms for bacteria are present, on an earth-like planet, intelligent life would be inevitable."

Yeah, but let's not forget 11th grade biology here. How long did Earth have bacteria before intelligent life? It was almost the entire age of the Earth. Seriously, the Earth did not exist for long until that magic lightning bolt that created us all.

It may be true that if left undisturbed, many of these systems would develop intelligent life on their own. That is...

If we don't get to them first.

6/30/2008 8:43:36 AM

Quote :

"Take Epsilon Eridani, we know it has one planet at least that's Jupiter-like, but it probably has a smaller, more awesome, planet closer to the star. And it's only 10 light years away. Can you IMAGINE what Hollywood will do with this once we confirm habitability?"

I don't know... make a bad ass space station.

6/30/2008 9:57:27 AM

more optimism

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/080624-st-planet-tally.html

6/30/2008 11:29:23 AM

Man doesn't seem to be in any hurry to discover how inferior he really is...

6/30/2008 1:22:30 PM

cause I'm doing it as hard as I can

6/30/2008 1:24:39 PM