NASA spots 54 potentially life-friendly planets

[Hot Mega]

'life-friendly' but are they man-friendly??? Oceans and jungles are 'life-friendly' too.:elaugh:

WASHINGTON – An orbiting NASA telescope is finding whole new worlds of possibilities in the search for alien life, including more than 50 potential planets that appear to be in the habitable zone.

In just a year of peering out at a small slice of the galaxy, the Kepler telescope has spotted 1,235 possible planets outside our solar system. Amazingly, 54 of them are seemingly in the zone that could be hospitable to life — that is, not too hot or too cold, Kepler chief scientist William Borucki said.

Until now, only two planets outside our solar system were even thought to be in the "Goldilocks zone." And both those discoveries are highly disputed.

Fifty-four possibilities is "an enormous amount, an inconceivable amount," Borucki said. "It's amazing to see this huge number because up to now, we've had zero."

The more than 1,200 newfound bodies are not confirmed as planets yet, but Borucki estimates 80 percent of them will eventually be verified. At least one other astronomer believes Kepler could be 90 percent accurate.

Countinued at link......

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110202/ap_on_sc/us_sci_alien_planets

 

[Rey C.]

I think it's only a matter of time before we find life on another planet (or it finds us). Initially it may not be an animal or cognitive being, but rather some sort of plant or simple organism. But still, when (not if) that discovery eventually happens, that is one event that I hope I'm still around to see.

BTW, I'm assuming that we won't blow each other up before this (IMO) inevitable event takes place.

 

[Hot Mega]

I think it's only a matter of time before we find life on another planet (or it finds us). Initially it may not be an animal or cognitive being, but rather some sort of plant or simple organism. But still, when (not if) that discovery eventually happens, that is one event that I hope I'm still around to see.

BTW, I'm assuming that we won't blow each other up before this (IMO) inevitable event takes place.

Well if we accept the premise of man's evolutionary origins from simple organisms to what we are now....then we should assume whatever we find out there (or finds us) would probably be more advanced than humans since man and earth are considered relatively young.:o

Who knows though...everything we know and assume is from carbon based life forms.

 

[~~whimsy~~]

If there is life out there why haven't they shown themselves to us if they are so advanced? So many sightings to a select few and they are either debunked, questionable, or left in the conspiracy office of the internet.

If there are advanced beings why are they holding back on showing themselves to such a paltry selection of humans on a simple planet? We can only make it to the moon and even that is questioned. We have a space station and have a few folks up there. These UFOs that are claimed to be seen, documented, and all that are coming from who knows where but stays hidden.

The government would not be able to keep such a thing covered up if the ship(s) from another part of the universe comes and decides to show itself point blank for everyone to see.

How life would be interesting to find outside of this planet and possibly planetary travel, it won't be happening any time soon. If at all.

We can't even take care of ourselves on this planet. Why would we want to go to another planet and trash that one?

 

[winterwarz]

54 / possible infinite = Yay!

 

[CptHa]

54 is great, but how many have been claimed by the Romulans?

 

[Rey C.]

I just think the possibilities are almost endless. If we look at our own (short) history, imagine where we would/could/should be if Rome had not fallen and we had not entered the Dark Ages. From a time when humanity, civilization and science were developing at an accelerated pace, with (at least) the ruling classes speaking Latin in everyday communication and Greek when discussing politics or more ethereal matters, to a time when even the ruling class was largely illiterate and the "civilized" western world was racked by poverty, disease and virtual anarchy. I read a very good book several years ago which surmised that we would have achieved flight hundreds of years ago and should have reached the moon at least a century ago, had we not been stunted by the Dark Ages. If that were the case, I doubt any of us would be amazed by all the neat things our smartphones can do. It would be (literally) yesterday's news.

Anyway, whatever life might be out there could be very diverse... just as it is here. Maybe there are "life friendly" planets which host no life at all. Maybe there are some planets which host simple, single cell organisms. Maybe there are other planets which host advanced societies, far more advanced than our own. And maybe there are planets which host nothing more than the remnants of advanced societies, which reached their plateau thousands or even millions of years ago, and are now nothing more than nuclear waste lands.

But since we continue to find life on Earth (in remote jungles, as well as in the deep sea) that was thought to be long ago extinct, or we didn't know existed in the first place, it wouldn't surprise me to learn that even the most advanced beings haven't found us yet... as if they're even looking for us to begin with. And as I type this, there may be some organism crawling out of the muck, on some planet millions of light years away from us, which is just now beginning its evolutionary cycle.

In many ways, where we are now is similar to where we were just a few hundred years ago. Less than a millennia ago, the prevailing belief was the world was flat and you'd fall off the edge of the Earth if you went on a long boat ride. Considering the immenseness of the universe, I just think it's more likely than not that Earth is not the sole host of life... whatever form it might take.

 

[Hot Mega]

If there is life out there why haven't they shown themselves to us if they are so advanced? So many sightings to a select few and they are either debunked, questionable, or left in the conspiracy office of the internet.

If there are advanced beings why are they holding back on showing themselves to such a paltry selection of humans on a simple planet? We can only make it to the moon and even that is questioned. We have a space station and have a few folks up there. These UFOs that are claimed to be seen, documented, and all that are coming from who knows where but stays hidden.

The government would not be able to keep such a thing covered up if the ship(s) from another part of the universe comes and decides to show itself point blank for everyone to see.

How life would be interesting to find outside of this planet and possibly planetary travel, it won't be happening any time soon. If at all.

We can't even take care of ourselves on this planet. Why would we want to go to another planet and trash that one?

Again, the logic, reasoning and science we produce questioning this stuff is only based on the logic, reasoning and science we've discovered and developed.

 

[CunningStunts]

I hope we find a habitable planet that's pretty close by soon... I for one will volunteer to go there to get away from all the dipshits infesting Earth.

 

[PlasmaTwa2]

54 is great, but how many have been claimed by the Romulans?

Do they even say where these planets are? For all we know, NASA could be planning a mission to claim the "uninhabited" Romulus as we speak...

 

[knowone]

54 is great, but how many have been claimed by the Romulans?

One of them is run by Emperor Ming and it's coming right at us.

 

[L3ggy]

Great, 54 more planets to destroy...

 

[Hot Mega]

I hope we find a habitable planet that's pretty close by soon... I for one will volunteer to go there to get away from all the dipshits infesting Earth.

Most probable would be your chance to go there in the form of your offspring one day.

Meaning....no human being for generations will be able to travel beyond our solar system. The Voyager 1 & 2 missions are just recently getting beyond our solar system and they were launched in the mid '70s.

Speaking of your offspring...I could envision some day in an effort to try to ensure mankind's survival fully robotic crafts would be launched on missions toward hospitable candidate planets. Then based on some pre programmed logic the robotic systems on the craft fertilizing human eggs with sperm and implanting human kind there. (Who knows, IT COULD HAVE ALREADY HAPPENED...that could be how we got HERE in the first place and Noah's Ark was metaphorical. Give it some thought.:tongue

 

[rizwano]

tat's coool

1 planet should be an exclusive porno planet. all the ones supporting porn should be in that planet.

 

[meesterperfect]

the milky way , one galaxy with 400 billion stars in a universe with possibly 500 billion galaxys , some of them containing up to 10 trillion stars...........i should hope at least one of them has life.

 

[DJCowboy]

I believe there are more "empty" planets than there are planets with life on them (but I still believe there are potentially million millions of those life planets) but a majority of those planets have life on them that really can't even comprehend the fact that there is something outside of their world like we can

 

[Hot Mega]

the milky way , one galaxy with 400 billion stars in a universe with possibly 500 billion galaxys , some of them containing up to 10 trillion stars...........i should hope at least one of them has life.

You mean another? We already know 'at least one of them has life'. :tongue: