Astronomer Dimitar Sasselov and his colleagues search for Earth-like planets that may, someday, help us answer centuries-old questions about the origin and existence of biological life elsewhere (and on Earth). How many such planets have they found already? Several hundreds.
- Log in to post comments
More like this
More than one-third of the giant planet systems recently detected outside our
solar system may harbor Earth-like planets, according to a new study by
scientists associated with NASA's Astrobiology Institute. Many of these planets
may be covered in deep global oceans, with abundant potential for…
"You can spend too much time wondering which of identical twins is the more alike." -Robert Brault
You've of course heard by now the news that Kepler, the most successful and prolific planet-finding mission of all time, has probably reached the end of its useful lifespan.
Image credit: NASA /…
Having complained about the lack of recognition for good physical science writing recently, it would be bad form for me not to note Dennis Overbye's story about the Kepler spacecraft in today's New York Times:
Presently perched on a Delta 2 rocket at Cape Canaveral is a one-ton spacecraft called…
"Laws of nature mixed with evolutionary/historical contingencies allow for a range of diversity... [t]hat diversity, within the laws of nature, when I step back a bit from the desk or the computer, still surprises me to no end." -Adrian Lenardic
When it comes to the habitability of a planet, there…
Now we only need to identify oxygen and water vapor in their atmospheres and we'll know it's fairly likely that it's a planet with life on it. There's the humdinger.
There's a bit of a controversy about this talk on astronomy blogs & forums. An example (a bit on the extreme end) is the coverage at NASAWatch.
The important thing to remember is that the planets found by Kepler so far are "Earth-sized", outside the habitable zone (their transit time is too short - and that's why Kepler found them for such a short time).
See the follow-up on Kepler's blog:
http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/kepler/posts/post_1280268721769.html
"Now we only need to identify oxygen and water vapor in their atmospheres and we'll know it's fairly likely that it's a planet with life on it."
Water vapor is rather common even in non biotic ambients, I think that what would be telling is oxygen and methane, since they're reactive they can be together only is there is a source for one of them, and life is a strong candidate.