What do you think? Could there be another Earth that supports human life?



http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/313005_planet25.html




Life in a galaxy not so far, far away?

Astronomers discover new, Earth-like planet

By SETH BORENSTEIN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- European astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our solar system, and here's what it might be like to live there:

The "sun" wouldn't burn brightly. It would hang close, large and red in the sky, glowing faintly like a charcoal ember. And it probably would never set if you lived on the sunny side of the planet.

You could have a birthday party every 13 days because that's how fast this new planet circles that sunlike star. But watch the cake -- you'd weigh a whole lot more than you do on Earth.

You might be able to keep your current wardrobe. The temperature in this alien setting likely will be a lot like Earth's -- not too hot, not too cold.

That "just right" temperature is one key reason astronomers think this planet could conceivably house life outside our solar system. The planet is also as close to Earth-sized as telescopes have ever spotted, might have water in liquid form and in galactic terms is relatively nearby -- all elements that make it the first potentially habitable planet besides Earth or Mars.

Why is this under "Conspiracy Theories?"

Why is this under "Conspiracy Theories?"

Conspiracy theory:

The phrase is also used dismissively to label hypothetical speculation as being untrue or outlandish.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theory

Why is this under "Conspiracy Theories?"

Gravity wouldn't be a big problem if that rock has oceans, other than increased pressure. Human life might be tough but there could be some other version of life there, like executives.

I wonder if there's a climate generated from its temp range that the article states?

If it's sun was able to glow continuous around the clock just enough to produce long-wave infrared light, would that not also help grow vegetation?

Water would have to be available to substain life. Unless..... that galaxy created it's own form of major life source different than water.

For example, undersea volcanic vents may have kept the ball rolling here. With that in mind... if that rock is geologically active and has liquid anything the odds for life increase. Recent news from Chernobyl, that radiation seems to be increasing the accuracy of genetic replication, makes me wonder if a magnetosphere (or a planet!) is required. However, in the final analysis, the real question is how well those potential lifeforms do in televised debates.

It seems apparently essential that radiation be present for lifeform development.

Your enlightening question reflects another real question that should ask if aggression remains a lifeform's achilles heel. I tend to believe so.

Exploration of alternatives via mutation doesn't require radiation (not simply heat), does it?

In any struggle the label of aggression is applied by the victor to the victim, no? Everything living eats something, often something that would rather not be eaten, unless you're at the restaurant at the end of the universe...

http://www.riskworld.com/nreports/1999/jaw...ki/NR99aa01.htm


We are all immersed in naturally occurring ionizing radiation. Radiation reaches us from outer space and it comes from radionuclides present in rocks, buildings, air, and even our own bodies. Each flake of snow, each grain of soil, every drop of rain—and even every person on this planet—emits radiation. And every day, at least a billion particles of natural radiation enter our bodies.

The individual dose rate of natural radiation the average inhabitant of Earth receives is about 2.2 mSv per year. In some regions—for example, parts of India, Iran, and Brazil—the natural dose rate is up to a hundred times higher. And no adverse genetic, carcinogenic, or other malign effects of those higher doses have ever been ob­served among the people, animals, and plants that have lived in those parts since time immemorial.4,5


Three and a half billion years ago, when life on Earth began, the natural level of ionizing radiation at the planet’s surface was about three to five times higher than it is now.6 Quite possibly, that radiation was needed to initiate life on Earth. And it may be essential to sustain extant life-forms, as suggested by experiments with protozoa and bacteria.7

At the early stages of evolution, increasingly complex organisms developed powerful defense mechanisms against such adverse radiation effects as mutation and malignant change. Those effects originate in the cell nucleus, where the DNA is their primary target. That evolution has apparently proceeded for so long is proof, in part, of the effectiveness of living things’ defenses against radiation.

What do you think? Could there be another Earth that supports human life?



http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/313005_planet25.html




Life in a galaxy not so far, far away?

Astronomers discover new, Earth-like planet

By SETH BORENSTEIN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- European astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our solar system, and here's what it might be like to live there:

The "sun" wouldn't burn brightly. It would hang close, large and red in the sky, glowing faintly like a charcoal ember. And it probably would never set if you lived on the sunny side of the planet.

You could have a birthday party every 13 days because that's how fast this new planet circles that sunlike star. But watch the cake -- you'd weigh a whole lot more than you do on Earth.

You might be able to keep your current wardrobe. The temperature in this alien setting likely will be a lot like Earth's -- not too hot, not too cold.

That "just right" temperature is one key reason astronomers think this planet could conceivably house life outside our solar system. The planet is also as close to Earth-sized as telescopes have ever spotted, might have water in liquid form and in galactic terms is relatively nearby -- all elements that make it the first potentially habitable planet besides Earth or Mars.

As immense as the universe it, it would be most unlikely that there would not be more earth like planets out there.

The question is, would the inhabitants be more humanitarian than human beings on earth?