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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
 Posted - 03/06/2009 : 20:59:09
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http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/03/06/nasa.kepler.launch.planets/index.html
Now this is one puppy I've been waiting for to get into orbit and start working. And, it's on its way!
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"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 03/06/2009 : 23:28:29 [Permalink]
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| That certainly is exciting... |
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2009 : 00:11:45 [Permalink]
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Damned exciting! Keeping my fingers crossed that one or more extrasolar "earths" with oxygen and water can be identified in my lifetime. (Extra points for worlds inhabited by races of Amazons.)
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Maverick
Skeptic Friend
Sweden
385 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2009 : 03:35:10 [Permalink]
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| If Kepler does find Earth-like planets, perhaps it would be a good idea for the various SETI projects to focus more on those stars? |
"Life is but a momentary glimpse of the wonder of this astonishing universe, and it is sad to see so many dreaming it away on spiritual fantasy." -- Carl Sagan |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2009 : 09:42:04 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by HalfMooner
Damned exciting! Keeping my fingers crossed that one or more extrasolar "earths" with oxygen and water can be identified in my lifetime. (Extra points for worlds inhabited by races of Amazons.)
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Yeah, I hope so, too (drool).
| If Kepler does find Earth-like planets, perhaps it would be a good idea for the various SETI projects to focus more on those stars? |
I'm sure that SETI has this in at least the planning stage. But I must remind; we have only had electronic communications for something like 200 years, give or take, out of 4.5 billion years. And I wonder: if the KT Event had not occurred, would "sentient" life have evolved?
No guarantees, baby -- damn, but I do love being a wet blanket! 
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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| Edited by - filthy on 03/07/2009 09:44:40 |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2009 : 10:20:45 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by filthy
Yeah, I hope so, too (drool).
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You know, finding an Earth-like cartoon planet really would be something special, with or without the giant Amazonians.
I'd move there just for the pockets of unlimited holding. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Randy
SFN Regular
USA
1990 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2009 : 10:21:46 [Permalink]
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Maybe we should be more careful where we point ourselves, they may stop by for a visit.  .....
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"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."
"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2009 : 13:43:56 [Permalink]
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| The instrument is so precise that it can register changes in brightness of 20 parts per million in stars that are thousands of light years away. |
Being able to detect the minuscule light variations that Kepler be able to discern would be akin to this:
Imagine having a satellite looking down at 100,000 Christmas trees, each of them visible only as a point source. Now imagine that each tree has 50,000 lights on it. The satellite would be able to detect the flickering of just one bulb on any of those trees.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 03/07/2009 13:44:26 |
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Zebra
Skeptic Friend
USA
354 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2009 : 14:58:07 [Permalink]
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| Great, just what we need. A planet with 100,000 Christmas trees on it. |
I think, you know, freedom means freedom for everyone* -Dick Cheney
*some restrictions may apply |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2009 : 16:18:34 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Zebra
Great, just what we need. A planet with 100,000 Christmas trees on it.
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Yeah, that would be a sad sight, with so few.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Spacecraft blasts off in search of 'Earths'
