They found a planet!

posted on September 30th, 2010, 6:42 pm

It's number 3 for me (after Bottom and Only Fools and Horses). Don't find many shows like that anymore.

posted on September 30th, 2010, 6:45 pm

red dwarf rocks along with black adder not really that keen on bottom kindda too silly for my taste

posted on September 30th, 2010, 6:46 pm

i loved black adder too.

posted on September 30th, 2010, 7:10 pm

I've heard about Gliese 581c and Gliese 581d, the fact that they've discovered several planets in one system does appear promising (more planets indicates more stable orbits, and a wider variety of materials.)

posted on September 30th, 2010, 7:32 pm

I wouldn't count on life being found there.  The planet would have to meet certain criteria before life would even be remotely possible.  So far, the planet has only been confirmed to meet one of the hundreds of criteria that it has to meet to support life.  We should be looking for those criteria and look for water last.  So far, there is one of those criteria that we know it doesn't meet.  This alone is enough to prohibit life.  Even if there is water on the planet, because the planet doesn't seem to be meeting certain criteria, I wouldn't get my hopes up on it supporting life.  I'll keep an eye on it, but so far, it doesn't look good.  Plus, it's about 20.4 light-years away.  It would take centuries for us to get there without warp drive.

I wouldn't be surprised if the orbits were stable, but it is more likely that later, they'll find that the orbits are not stable enough.

posted on September 30th, 2010, 7:41 pm

Which criteria does it supposedly not have? If you're talking about the day/night cycle, that isn't required for life as we know it.

posted on September 30th, 2010, 7:45 pm

And who says life has to meet our criteria? We don't decide how non-humans evolve.

posted on September 30th, 2010, 8:17 pm

The rotation helps creates weather systems on a planet.  Which is essential to support life.  The differences in temperature caused by the day/night cycle is one of the primary cause of the weather and helps bacteria clean the atmosphere of pollutants.

Also, if the planet has as much mass as they say it has for it's relatively small size, it would have way too much gravity to support life.  And the extra gravity would be more likely to create an atmosphere like the one on Venus, having way too much pressure, and as a result, too much heat.  It also needs a magnetic field to help the organisms to carry out vital functions like cell division.  And to protect the planet from solar radiation.  But if it's too strong, it'll break organic matter apart.  Plus, there needs to be a way to protect the planet from UV radiation.  Plus, if the eccentricity of the orbit is too high, it would be enough to prohibit life.  Either by freezing, or baking.

Until we get more information on that planet, saying that there could be life on it is premature.  There have clearly been false alarms about planets possibly being able to support life that, in the end, didn't even come close.  There is an extremely high probability that this planet could be yet another false alarm.

posted on September 30th, 2010, 9:19 pm

So TCR, now you're an expert on planetary geology too huh . I think you should update your antediluvian knowledge - if you don't know something, don't go spewing out 'home-grown facts'. It's unsettling to say the least.

posted on September 30th, 2010, 10:42 pm

Tcr, of course we dont know everything about the planet cus its so far away, but there is the possibility that it could support life.

posted on September 30th, 2010, 11:13 pm

And like Tyler said, who says it has to be identical to life on Earth? Different conditions could create a completely different form of life or one which has adapted in a completely different way.

posted on October 1st, 2010, 5:51 am

Like Jovian lifeforms that have been proposed by sci-fi writers or crystalline entities.  Sure, a lot of them are far fetched but we should never presume life has to conform to our standards.

For example, you can say that a planet is too hot or too cold for life, but look at extremophiles living happily in conditions that even cockroaches couldn't stand.  Weather, planetary rotation, etc have not been proven to be required for life to form, simply we know it was a component of our formation.

It's life Jim, but not as we know it. 

Anyway, TCR, what are you doing arguing over what is required life to arise?  You believe that god did everything and that only god can create life.  Seems a little silly for you to even be discussing this.

posted on October 1st, 2010, 6:30 am

Not to mention that if God is the creator of all life, the presumption that he could not/would not create more life is a massive display of hubris.

Therefore, I'm expecting to eventually find something roughly analogous to an evolved form of every type of lifeform we've ever seen, and a few dozen we haven't.

And based upon all the crap we beam into space, I expect that we'll be wiped out in an orbital bombardment before our xenophobic, violent, nuke-having asses can do it to them.

[Atlantisbase]

posted on October 1st, 2010, 4:42 pm

Last edited by Atlantisbase on October 1st, 2010, 11:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yeah, humanity doesn't deserve to touch space before we consider ourselves citizens of Earth. No countries, no national affiliations, or any of the crap we have now. If we go out into space with all that baggage, it will be a disaster.

posted on October 1st, 2010, 5:28 pm

i wonder how many people here watch red dwarf. its personally my favourite comedy show 

I love red dwarf,I remeber watching some episode with giant flies on my first trip.That was so unreal,good times