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First atmosphere found on Earth-like planet in habitable zone of distant star

First atmosphere found on Earth-like planet in habitable zone of distant star

neversaydie

Comments (155)

  • mekdoonggi
    We should build a solar lens telescope. By the time we're ready to use it, we'll have a bunch of candidates to point it at.
  • jimbokun
    48 light years is in our back yard.Close enough that we could probably develop a probe to get there in the next few centuries and check it out. What are the current popular candidates for propulsion systems capable of accelerating to near the speed of light?
  • kobelb
    let's send elon there.
  • kevthecoder
  • lucastamoios
    > The gas detected in the atmosphere is helium, which would not be able to support life, but other gasses may also be present.Yeah, but not that much.
  • techteach00
    What technology currently available combined with the best launch window, gravity assist etc exists? Might as well send a probe.
  • dempedempe
    > Researchers have found the first atmosphere surrounding an Earth-like, rocky planet orbiting within the habitable zone of a distant star.Well, if they observed not only a planet orbiting the star but also the planet's atmosphere, it must not be a very "distant" star.
  • quotemstr
    Keep in mind that Venus is also an Earth-like planet with an atmosphere in the habitable zone of a sun-like star.
  • danieltk76
    i do hope in my lifetime we find other animals on other planets
  • nobody9999
  • bilsbie
    Am I understanding right? They detected an atmosphere but don’t know what it’s made of?
  • astral_drama
    How far will we peer into the unknown? What will we find out there?
  • shevy-java
    This whole search for life outside planet Earth is ... stupid.Life is already on this planet. Why would it matter whether life exists outside of this planet or not? I mean, this is pointless. I understand that some have a financial motife to drive this narrative, but it is not logical. The counter argument is quite simple: IF there is no divine being, then ALL of life's complexity is logical and natural. So, it really does not matter WHERE it originates nor how many times. Why would it matter if it originated 10000x or only once? Now, I do not doubt that it has originated several times rather than once, but my point is that this extra-terrestrial search MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE AT ALL. That is not to say that research and exploration in space are pointless, but that it IS pointless to "search" for extraterrestrial life. Yet none in the media point that out. It's all as if it were some magical, mythical quest here.
  • ck2
    we talked about this in great detail yesterday on HN with some fantastic comments* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48939742NASA has a neat exoplanet catalog where you can also switch to its solar system view* https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanet-catalog/lhs-1140-b/Super-Earths are interesting but not technically habitable, at least not by humanoids, the gravity would be insaneThere are new telescopes and techniques coming online really soon that can potentially find closer to Earth-sized planets but they probably won't be within 50 light yearsadding: hmm maybe gravity not too horrible on 1140b but still INTENSE(assuming Google's "AI" is correct)> Gravity Formula: \frac{Mass}{Radius^2}\)Calculation: \(5.6 \div (1.73)^2 = 5.6 \div 2.9929 \approx 1.87\)> if you weigh 150 lbs on Earth, you would weigh roughly 280.5 lbs on 1140b
  • singpolyma3
    > The gas detected in the atmosphere is helium, which would not be able to support lifeNonsense. You mean not able to support terrestrial life.
  • mugivarra69
    [dead]
  • MattCruikshank
    Sure, but keep in mind that technically New Jersey is "habitable," so don't get too excited.