Astronomers Find a Second Earth!

[FastFokker]

http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/nati...unt060125.html

Astronomers find tiny Earth-like planet
Last Updated Wed, 25 Jan 2006 15:06:31 EST
CBC News

The smallest Earth-like planet yet has been discovered outside our solar system, say astronomers who used a new method to find it.

The planet is 5.5 five times more massive than Earth. It orbits a star 28,000 light years away in the constellation Sagitarrius, near the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. (A light year is about 10 trillion kilometres, the distance light travels in a year.)

"This is an important breakthrough in the quest to answer the question, 'Are we alone?'" Michael Turner of the National Science Foundation said in a release.

Like Earth, planet OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb has a rocky core. Its atmosphere is likely thin, and the surface temperature is estimated at -220 C, probably too cold to support life.

Researchers used a method called gravitational microlensing to detect the planet, which may be a more sensitive way of finding habitable planets that aren't too hot or cold, Turner said.

In 1912, Albert Einstein identified the microlensing technique.

"With this method, we let the gravity of a dim, intervening star act as a giant natural telescope for us, magnifying a more distant star, which then temporarily looks brighter," said team member Andrew Williams of the Perth Observatory in Australia.

Since July 2005, the researchers used three networks of telescopes on Earth to look for the telltale magnifying effect and confirm the existence of the planet. It is the third planet to be uncovered using microlensing.

Astronomers have found more than 160 planets orbiting outside the solar system using an older technique that detects the wobble in stars caused by the planet orbiting them.

But planets need to be relatively large or close to their stars to be detected using the wobble technique.

Researchers want to study such "exoplanets" to try to understand how planets form.

[15-20_God]

does it have any oil?

[biosh]

Great! Let's get a team out there and start destroying that one too!

[FastFokker]

You guys crack me up.

[Truth]

I wonder if there are sexy female beings on that planet... waiting to get with us Humanoids...

[FastFokker]

Well immediate assumptions are that there is likely no life on it considering it's extremely low temperatures.

Obviously they can't rule out ALL life, so I suppose there could be hot humanoid women just waiting for you to travel 28,000 light years to hook up.

For some reason when I read this, I didn't get the same thoughts in my head (oil/destroying it/hot humanoids).

[biosh]

I wonder if there are sexy female beings on that planet... waiting to get with us Humanoids...

Have you already gone through all 3 billion Earth females?

[Madcatmk2]

ESTD's
Extraterrestrial Sexually Transmitted Diseases

[deep]

They've identified no intelligent life or signs of civilization....just empty Starbucks franchises waiting to be filled.

[FastFokker]

They've identified no intelligent life or signs of civilization....just empty Starbucks franchises waiting to be filled.

Sign me up!

Sounds like a great place to me, no people and lots of coffee.

[midg8]

Have you already gone through all 3 billion Earth females?

None of them will give me the time of day

[GTA_]

At -220 degrees its too cold, but then again what makes 'like earth' with kind of climate?

[corrupt123]

bahahahahahah the replies to this thread are AWESOME!

i like the name of the planet too. Why cant earth have a cool name like that?

[gman]

I wonder if there are sexy female beings on that planet... waiting to get with us Humanoids...

It is too cold for you to do anything for her.

[FastFokker]

At -220 degrees its too cold, but then again what makes 'like earth' with kind of climate?

Was earth's climate always the same as it is now? (I'd have to google that to find out an answer for myself)

I believe they claim it to be "earth-like" in that it's the closest to earth out of all the planets found to date. Some factors may be the composition of the core, the atmosphere, it's distance from it's star. The combination of size and orbit are near equivalent to that of earth.

Also, they don't actually know it's temperature, they're just guesstimating it's around -220C.

The planet is 28,000 light years away! It's friggggggggin far so I imagine it's difficult to judge anything, as we are still finding out details of planets within our own solar system.