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SCIENTISTS HAVE FOUND two Earth-sized planets orbiting a star outside the solar system, an encouraging sign for prospects of finding life elsewhere.
They are the smallest planets found so far that orbit a star resembling our sun.
Scientists are seeking Earth-sized planets as potential homes for extraterrestrial life, said Francois Fressin of the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in Massachusetts, who reports the new findings in a paper published online Tuesday by the journal Nature. One planet’s diameter is only 3 per cent larger than Earth’s, while the other’s diameter is about nine-tenths that of Earth. They appear to be rocky, like our planet.
But they are too hot to contain life as we know it, with calculated temperatures of about 700 degrees and 400 degrees centigrade, he said.
Any life found on another plant may not be intelligent; it could be bacteria or mould or some completely unknown form.
This NASA video offers a handy explainer on the new planets:
Video: NASA Ames Research Centre. Additional reporting by Michael Freeman.
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Maybe they have an Intergalactic Monetary Fund and can lend us a few space dollars….Come on Enda get to them first!
Absolutely everything is related to the financial crisis in some peoples’ minds it would seem.
Now, I’m not sure, but I think that may have been a… Joke
I’m sick of seeing these type of comments under every single story.
If they have a drop of oil stick a tricolour on lively.
Kepler is doing some ground-breaking work.
Amazing stuff alright. Nearly as amazing, given the week that’s in it, that so many people believe all of this wonderful universe was created a few days before Adam and poor Eve were created.
While you bring that up, why in all pictures of both Adam and eve, how come they have belly buttons?
Don’t forget the talking snake. Amazing what nonsense people believe
Just because people believe they can live forever if they think symbolically eating flesh and telepathically accepting a cosmic Jewish zombie as their eternal master because a rib woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magic tree doesn’t make them stupid or gullible, right??
I hope you enjoy their hypercritical Christmas!
*your
Construction workers needed , only those interested in travelling need apply ! Seriously , tho this is amazing news . How clever do you have to be to discover these planets. Fantastic stuff.
Interesting stuff. Mind Blowing when u think about it!
Giving the serpent the gift of speech was a last ditch effort by the almighty bearded one in the sky. The snake was only supposed to guide them towards the temptation of a big juicy red apple, but he had wasted days trying to point at it with his tail/head, and couldn’t tap his tummy and make the “yum, yum” sounds. So he says to the man upstairs, “God these are awful eejits, you’ll have to give me the gift of the gab to explain it to them, or you’ll never get this off the ground.” So, God agreed and the serpent went on to have a long and happy career in Wanderley Wagon!
To honestly think that we are the only life in the universe when there is at least 80 billion stars in our own galaxy is feckin crazy. Us sending only radio wave’s out there to contact anyone is like trying to receive massages from a iPhone 4 on a Motorola mini call!
Too*
You would think being outside the solar system would render them cold… That’s one hot star they orbit
The
They are only outside our solar system. They are contained within their own solar system, orbiting their own sun/star. There are potentially millions of these systems in our galaxy and billions across the expanding universe. so odds are that there more than likely is some form of life out there. The day this life is detected is the day we’ll truly be enlightened and the day all religions will end.
I don’t think religion will end,they always have another very open to interpret answer for these things…..nice thought though! Have you read the ‘rama’ series? Excellent books
@vectorspector. Even that won’t be enough for some people. The enlightenment should have happened over 100 years ago with the publication of the origin of species.
And this affects us how…..
Doesn’t affect you at all. Keep watching X Factor.
ha nice one shane
Hahaha brilliant Shane
Excellent Comment Shane!
Have they names yet? Planet Bertie & Enda the World as We Know It…
have your say