Comments on: Another Earth? http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/ Sun, 12 Oct 2008 08:49:49 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: gautham http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-110936 gautham Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:09:42 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-110936 its really foolish we (human being)should not be commit to surprised its really foolish we (human being)should not be commit to surprised

]]> By: Prajwol Gautam http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-66324 Prajwol Gautam Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:07:57 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-66324 it would bw nice if we could know the much more information than we have right now. i cant wait to get more surprised.:-) it would bw nice if we could know the much more information than we have right now. i cant wait to get more surprised.:-)

]]> By: Otherworldly Top Ten! - Asymptotia http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-53164 Otherworldly Top Ten! - Asymptotia Tue, 12 Jun 2007 07:05:45 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-53164 [...] 1: Gliese 581 C, the first one found that is getting close to earth-like characteristics (only five times the size), and in the “Goldilocks” zone (not too hot, not too cold), from our perspective. (See the blog post I did here.) [...] [...] 1: Gliese 581 C, the first one found that is getting close to earth-like characteristics (only five times the size), and in the “Goldilocks” zone (not too hot, not too cold), from our perspective. (See the blog post I did here.) [...]

]]> By: TBB http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-41443 TBB Fri, 27 Apr 2007 22:23:27 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-41443 Flying cars! Where's my <i>Jetpack</i>? C'mon, physicists, let's get going with these avionic ideas; I've got places to go.... ;-) Flying cars! Where’s my Jetpack? C’mon, physicists, let’s get going with these avionic ideas; I’ve got places to go….

;-)

]]> By: Clifford http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-41420 Clifford Fri, 27 Apr 2007 20:06:23 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-41420 Great! This is just after (according to Bladerunner) everyone will have flying cars in LA, which I'm also looking forward to a lot! ;-) -cvj Great! This is just after (according to Bladerunner) everyone will have flying cars in LA, which I’m also looking forward to a lot! ;-)

-cvj

]]> By: T http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-41415 T Fri, 27 Apr 2007 19:21:31 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-41415 According to the Mayan calendar, which dates back thousands of years and predicted all previous major changes in societal mindsets, we will meet our ancestral neighbours in 2011-can't wait! According to the Mayan calendar, which dates back thousands of years and predicted all previous major changes in societal mindsets, we will meet our ancestral neighbours in 2011-can’t wait!

]]> By: Stephen Uitti http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-41399 Stephen Uitti Fri, 27 Apr 2007 16:41:07 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-41399 So do we beam messages that way? We could get a reply in 41 years. I might live that long. The paper mentions missions to the star. They're talking about near space telescopes to study it. Current tech is Voyager I. At that speed, it's about 370,000 years, one way. We could do better if we tried harder. Perhaps solar photon or electric sails, better Juptier assist, etc. So do we beam messages that way? We could get a reply in 41 years. I might live that long.

The paper mentions missions to the star. They’re talking about near space telescopes to study it.

Current tech is Voyager I. At that speed, it’s about 370,000 years, one way. We could do better if we tried harder. Perhaps solar photon or electric sails, better Juptier assist, etc.

]]> By: Aaron F. http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-41254 Aaron F. Fri, 27 Apr 2007 01:43:24 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-41254 Andy -- according to Blake Stacey, above, anyone aboard the ship would enjoy a short, 3.6-year trip. Andy — according to Blake Stacey, above, anyone aboard the ship would enjoy a short, 3.6-year trip.

]]> By: andy http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40957 andy Wed, 25 Apr 2007 21:43:49 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40957 Professor Johnson or anyone else who is good at this, if the space ship traveled very fast and experienced time contraction, would it still be 20 years of their time to take the trip? -Andy Professor Johnson or anyone else who is good at this,
if the space ship traveled very fast and experienced time contraction, would it still be 20 years of their time to take the trip?
-Andy

]]> By: Lab Lemming http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40956 Lab Lemming Wed, 25 Apr 2007 21:39:48 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40956 Is life not as we know it really life? According to whom? Is life not as we know it really life? According to whom?

]]> By: spyder http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40920 spyder Wed, 25 Apr 2007 18:04:37 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40920 Oh, come on, there must be all sorts of humanoids walking around who really are aliens from that planet; because, well you know, they have advanced technologies and have been 'watching" and "among" us for a long time. All we need to do is just ask, right? Oh, come on, there must be all sorts of humanoids walking around who really are aliens from that planet; because, well you know, they have advanced technologies and have been ‘watching” and “among” us for a long time. All we need to do is just ask, right?

]]> By: Aaron F. http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40917 Aaron F. Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:55:50 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40917 Ugh! The energy problem is worse than I thought... naively calculating the work required to accelerate a (constant-mass) 2000 kg spacecraft at 1 g over 20 light years by just multiplying gives around 4*10^21 joules, or about 40,000 kg of fuel converted entirely to energy! Even if that number is an order of magnitude too high, it's still completely ridiculous for a 2000 kg ship. :( But maybe the relativistic calculation is much different... Ugh! The energy problem is worse than I thought… naively calculating the work required to accelerate a (constant-mass) 2000 kg spacecraft at 1 g over 20 light years by just multiplying gives around 4*10^21 joules, or about 40,000 kg of fuel converted entirely to energy! Even if that number is an order of magnitude too high, it’s still completely ridiculous for a 2000 kg ship. :( But maybe the relativistic calculation is much different…

]]> By: Aaron F. http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40914 Aaron F. Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:43:25 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40914 <i>At 1g shipboard acceleration, unless I made an arithmetic mistake, you’d spend 3.6 years ship time getting there (if you didn’t bother to slow down to visit) and about 20.5 years Earth time.</i> Hmmm... I'm not the adventurous type, and unfortunately your numbers don't look so good for an automated mission. 40 years to get there plus 20 years to get the postcards back is kind of a long time... most of the people who worked on the project would be dead before any interesting signals made it back. Not to mention the enormous energy needed to maintain a 1g acceleration for 20 light years, and the difficulty of programming a robot to fly 20 light years and then explore an uncharted solar system without any human guidance!!! Oh well... there's always our own solar system... At 1g shipboard acceleration, unless I made an arithmetic mistake, you’d spend 3.6 years ship time getting there (if you didn’t bother to slow down to visit) and about 20.5 years Earth time.

Hmmm… I’m not the adventurous type, and unfortunately your numbers don’t look so good for an automated mission. 40 years to get there plus 20 years to get the postcards back is kind of a long time… most of the people who worked on the project would be dead before any interesting signals made it back. Not to mention the enormous energy needed to maintain a 1g acceleration for 20 light years, and the difficulty of programming a robot to fly 20 light years and then explore an uncharted solar system without any human guidance!!! Oh well… there’s always our own solar system…

]]> By: JC http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40910 JC Wed, 25 Apr 2007 17:37:35 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40910 Another planet to move to, once our sun becomes a red giant? ;) Another planet to move to, once our sun becomes a red giant? ;)

]]> By: Science After Sunclipse http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40885 Science After Sunclipse Wed, 25 Apr 2007 14:40:27 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40885 <strong>A Wet World Far Away?...</strong> I was just hopping over to Bad Astronomy to check out Phil Plait’s site layout. Focusing on the margin widths, I didn’t see the text for several heartbeats. When I did, my heart stopped. The European Southern Observatory has let forth a y... A Wet World Far Away?…

I was just hopping over to Bad Astronomy to check out Phil Plait’s site layout. Focusing on the margin widths, I didn’t see the text for several heartbeats. When I did, my heart stopped.
The European Southern Observatory has let forth a y…

]]> By: Blake Stacey http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40883 Blake Stacey Wed, 25 Apr 2007 14:31:47 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40883 Someone at Bad Astronomy asked how long it would take to get there, so I ran through the <a href="http://www.sunclipse.org/?p=54" rel="nofollow">relativistic rocket calculations</a>. At 1g shipboard acceleration, unless I made an arithmetic mistake, you'd spend 3.6 years ship time getting there (if you didn't bother to slow down to visit) and about 20.5 years Earth time. Someone at Bad Astronomy asked how long it would take to get there, so I ran through the relativistic rocket calculations. At 1g shipboard acceleration, unless I made an arithmetic mistake, you’d spend 3.6 years ship time getting there (if you didn’t bother to slow down to visit) and about 20.5 years Earth time.

]]> By: Aaron F. http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40872 Aaron F. Wed, 25 Apr 2007 13:53:39 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40872 Uh oh... wait a minute! If their day were <i>really</i> long, like 12 Earth days, that could be trouble. I'd hate to live on a planet that got beaten by the sun 169 (?) Earth days in a row. There is such a thing as too much sunshine! Uh oh… wait a minute! If their day were really long, like 12 Earth days, that could be trouble. I’d hate to live on a planet that got beaten by the sun 169 (?) Earth days in a row. There is such a thing as too much sunshine!

]]> By: Aaron F. http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40870 Aaron F. Wed, 25 Apr 2007 13:48:38 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40870 Ha! If their year is 13 of our days, I wonder how long a day there is? What would it be like to be a civilization growing up in a place where the day and the year were almost the same amount of time? The seasons would sure seem a lot less important... :P Ha! If their year is 13 of our days, I wonder how long a day there is? What would it be like to be a civilization growing up in a place where the day and the year were almost the same amount of time? The seasons would sure seem a lot less important… :P

]]> By: astromcnaught http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40850 astromcnaught Wed, 25 Apr 2007 11:07:10 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40850 Someone's updated the wikipedia already! The star is a red dwarf, which is the most common form of star. Standing under alien trees, feeling rather heavy. I look up at a swollen red orb in the sky, full of gloomy spots. A few days makes a year here so not long 'til my 1,320 birthday, how nice! Maybe tho, I should wait for some spectroscopic oxygen first :) Someone’s updated the wikipedia already!
The star is a red dwarf, which is the most common form of star.
Standing under alien trees, feeling rather heavy. I look up at a swollen red orb in the sky, full of gloomy spots. A few days makes a year here so not long ’til my 1,320 birthday, how nice!

Maybe tho, I should wait for some spectroscopic oxygen first :)

]]> By: Yvette http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40821 Yvette Wed, 25 Apr 2007 06:49:41 +0000 http://asymptotia.com/2007/04/24/another-earth/#comment-40821 Lovely. Isn't it odd how commonplace stories like this are which would have been the realm of the fantastic just a few years ago? Personally, I'm still waiting for the detection of free oxygen in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star. I'm thinking it will happen sooner than we dare think. :) Lovely. Isn’t it odd how commonplace stories like this are which would have been the realm of the fantastic just a few years ago?

Personally, I’m still waiting for the detection of free oxygen in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star. I’m thinking it will happen sooner than we dare think. :)

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