Karamjit Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 The newly discovered orb sits merely 1,400 light-years awayOur good old planet has so far done a pretty good job sustaining life. So, naturally, scientists hoping to find extraterrestrial beings, be they microscopic organisms or nasty-looking beasts, are keeping an eye open for Earth-like foreign celestial bodies. Well, it just so happens that, with the help of NASA's Kepler space observatory, launched in March 2009, one such Earth-like planet was spotted orbiting a star located at a distance of merely 1,400 light-years from our Solar System.The star in question is called Kepler 452. Like the Sun, it is a G2-type star. Its color is white to yellow and its surface temperature is one of 5,000 to 6,000 degrees Kelvin (around 4,800 to 5,800 degrees Celsius / 8,500 to 10,400 degrees Fahrenheit).As for its age, astronomers estimate that Kepler 452 came into being about 6 billion years ago. This makes it about as old as the Sun, said to have formed 4.6 billion years back. Interestingly, Kepler 452 is also similar in size to our parent star.The new planet might just be Earth 2.0The Earth 2.0 candidate that the Kepler space observatory found orbiting Kepler 452, named Kepler 452b, is believed to be about 1.6 times the size of our planet. Its orbit, estimated to be one of 384.84 Earth days, puts it in the habitable zone of its star.Thus, astronomers say that, although it sits about 5% farther away from Kepler 452 than Earth from the Sun, it is nonetheless close enough to its parent star for liquid water to form on its surface. Besides, its size and its location in the Kepler 452 system hint that it is a rocky world.True, another Earth analogue, i.e. Kepler 186f, was identified only last year some 500 light-years away. Still, since this other planet orbits a red dwarf star considerably smaller and cooler than the Sun, it's the newly discovered Kepler 452b that is the best guess for finding alien life.“The Kepler exoplanet explorer has discovered a planet and star which most closely resemble the Earth and our Sun,” said NASA researcher John Grunsfeld. “We can think of Kepler 452b as an older, bigger cousin to Earth,” added scientist Jon Jenkins.The quest for alien life is far from overMind you, the fact that Kepler 452b very much resembles Earth and its parent star is not very different from our Sun does not necessarily mean that the orb hides alien lifeforms. It just means that, at least for now, this orb is our best shot to find extraterrestrial creatures.“It’s awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star; longer than Earth. That’s substantial opportunity for life to arise, should all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet,” researcher Jon Jenkins said in an interviewFrom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballistic Gelatin Posted July 24, 2015 Share Posted July 24, 2015 Packing my bags. Hope to get there before Donald Trump does and stinks up the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
212eta Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Just around the corner...It is only 1,400 light-years away... :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dMog Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Packing my bags. Hope to get there before Donald Trump does and stinks up the place.leave the donald alone...we need more comic relief during American election campaigns...quite sure he does not know knows he looks and acts and sounds exactly like a buffoon...and it seems his advisers and close friends and family know they cannot tell him so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballistic Gelatin Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Packing my bags. Hope to get there before Donald Trump does and stinks up the place.leave the donald alone...we need more comic relief during American election campaigns...quite sure he does not know knows he looks and acts and sounds exactly like a buffoon...and it seems his advisers and close friends and family know they cannot tell him soFrankly, I've had enough 'comic relief' from the Buffoon-in-Chief that currently occupies The White House.U.S. presidential elections -- particularly the next one -- are serious business. We don't need a scandalous American 'Rob Ford'. (We already have Hillary Clinton filling that role nicely.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dMog Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 Packing my bags. Hope to get there before Donald Trump does and stinks up the place.leave the donald alone...we need more comic relief during American election campaigns...quite sure he does not know knows he looks and acts and sounds exactly like a buffoon...and it seems his advisers and close friends and family know they cannot tell him soFrankly, I've had enough 'comic relief' from the Buffoon-in-Chief that currently occupies The White House.U.S. presidential elections -- particularly the next one -- are serious business. We don't need a scandalous American 'Rob Ford'. (We already have Hillary Clinton filling that role nicely.)I certainly see the value of your comment but have you ever noticed the love affair people have with any new president is very short lived .. the new era of instant information prevents any sitting president from hiding things from the public eye.... before radio, tv and now the internet ...it has taken a very long time for reporters to realize the power they hold. Up until very recent times it was very easy for most politicians,if they were not doing their jobs well, or were just plain dishonest, to hide the facts and the proof from the public...i still holed the that the biggest problems in democratic societies is the fact that politicians lie and really do not hold the best interests of their country and people as the foremost and right thing to do at all times but rather that they practice partisan politics just because they must at all costs discredit the opposition even when the opposition, at times, is doing the correct thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ballistic Gelatin Posted July 25, 2015 Share Posted July 25, 2015 ^^^I should know: I hold a degree in Journalism and worked in the news media as a wire services reporter in the mid-70s.Our country hasn't had a truly representative democracy for decades.A major problem today is that anyone with a WordPress site can call themselves a 'journalist.' Yet there are today few means of truly enforcing the traditional and time-honored standards of the journalism profession as I learned and practiced it. Media outlets are more focused on 'infotainment,' a major reason why Trump is enjoying the limelight at the moment. After Labor Day (Sept. 7), Trump's antics will likely have faded from memory, and I don't expect he will be a major presence in the presidential campaign for very long after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
info999 Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 1,400 light years, that means we are seeing the planet as it was 1,400 years ago !it may not already exist now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VileTouch Posted August 9, 2015 Share Posted August 9, 2015 at least that's what it looked 1400 years ago. a lot of things can happen in 1400 years. for all we know it might not even be there any more. and then what? turn around? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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