Have scientists found "a new earth"???

Nathan Natas

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/science/story/0,12996,1293976,00.html

Earth-like planet could harbour life

Tim Radford, science editor
Tuesday August 31, 2004
The Guardian

European scientists have found a planet circling a distant star that could be home to life.

The planet, the first detected so far that is enough like Earth for life to develop, orbits a star called mu Arae in the southern constellation Altar. The planet - astronomers call such things exoplanets - is only 14 times the mass of Earth and, like Earth, could be composed of rock and support an atmosphere.

No planet beyond the solar system has been seen by optical telescopes. But astronomers can infer the presence of a dark orbiting companion. Almost all the 120 exoplanets discovered so far have been Jupiter-sized or bigger: gas giants far too big to support life.

But the planet that orbits mu Arae every 9.5 days lies at the threshold of the largest possible rocky planets. The discovery, across a distance of 50 light years, was possible only because of the accuracy of an instrument called Harps, a spectrograph on the European Southern Observatory's 3.6m telescope at La Silla in Chile.

With this tool, researchers can measure changes in the radial velocity of a star to an accuracy of a metre a second. Any such cyclical changes are evidence of the gravitational tug of an invisible companion.

Researchers had already detected one Jupiter-sized companion to mu Arae, and a closer look with their new instrument showed an additional planet.

Francois Bouchy, one of the observing team, said: "This new planet appears to be the smallest yet discovered around a star other than the sun. This makes mu Arae a very exciting planetary system."

Terry

I'd weigh 2,800 pounds on that exoplanet!

Life would have to be itty bitty to be mobile; wouldn't it?

Elsewhere

Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE for life to be found on another planet, but I have to bring up the mass issue too.

Life on that planet would have to be VERY exotic. I doubt anything could live on the surface, however it could live underwater where buoyancy would cancel out the crushing weight.

Maybe microorganisms.

Big Tex

Okay, help me out -- my single digit IQ is showing.

If the planet revolves around mu Arae every 9.5 days, it would have to be incredibly close to the star. How could it support life if it is closer than Mercury is to our sun?

If it is 14 times the mass of the Earth, would that make it 14 times larger? Or does that mean 14% the size of Earth?

Elsewhere

If the planet revolves around mu Arae every 9.5 days, it would have to be incredibly close to the star. How could it support life if it is closer than Mercury is to our sun?

This would mean that both the planet and the star had MUCH more mass than our system... or as you pointed out, the planet was MUCH more close to the star than earth is to the sun

If it is 14 times the mass of the Earth, would that make it 14 times larger? Or does that mean 14% the size of Earth?

Excellent question!!!

This brings up something called the Square-Cube law. Basically, as an object's size increases to the cube (something 100 feet wide becoming 1000 feet wide) it's mass will increase to the cube (something 100 pounds will become 100,000 pounds).

With a bit of simple math (Square Root of 14) we find that the diameter of the new planet would be 3.74 times that of earth.

This is why the huge monsters in movies would be impossible... they could never support their own weight.

http://www.b2streamlines.com/SquareCube.html

Big Tex

This is why the huge monsters in movies would be impossible... they could never support their own weight.

Exactly. That's why we know the dinosaurs never existed, thus proving Jehovah created the earth in six days.

No wait . . .

Balsam

Yikes being on a plant like that would be impossible for humans to move around on. Perhaps as the planet and system evolves, the gravity will change. All is possible is it not. Space is an exciting place, but then so is our plant, especially exploration of the oceans. Too bad our lives are so short, we run out of time before we run out of interesting things to explore.

Ruth

ezekiel3

*** g04 11/8 p. 3 A New Planet? ***
Please disregard what you read above, for "even all their wisdom proves confused."-Psalm 107:27 This great planet orbiting the star mu Arae, along with the planets in our own solar system, have a specific purpose as designed by the Master Designer, Jehovah God. (Romans 1:20) How grateful we are, that with eyes of faith, we can have a foregleam of what it may be like to explore the universe. At that time we will be able to apply Paul's words at Ephesians 6:11, "Put on the complete suit of armor from God" literally! Yes, at that time lovers of righteousness will be able to don space-suits and leave their acre parcels in Paradise, experiencing the fulfillment of David's prophecy, "I see your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have prepared."-Psalm 8:3 Will you be among the meek that inherit, not only the earth, but the whole universe? By getting to know Jehovah through the pages of this magazine, you can be convinced of anything!

Nathan Natas

Of course there's no guarantee that this exoplanet supports any lifeforms - the questions about atmospheric pressure and surface temperatures are good ones. ...

If the planet revolves around mu Arae every 9.5 days, it would have to be incredibly close to the star. How could it support life if it is closer than Mercury is to our sun?

Consider the lifeforms - bacteria - that we find on earth in exotic locations - deep sea thermal vents, acid ponds in volcano craters, etc. It has been estimated that the surface temperature of this planet may be 1000 degrees. It seems reasonable to expect that lifeforms are unlikely at temperatures that exceed the temperature of a self-cleaning oven, but perhaps life exists a few meters under the surface of the planet, where the temperature is not as extreme.

If it is 14 times the mass of the Earth, would that make it 14 times larger? Or does that mean 14% the size of Earth?

If the planet has the same density as earth, it would be less than 2.5 times the diameter (2.5^3=15.7) of earth. Earth is about 7,918 miles in diameter, that suggests the new planet is less than 19,800 miles in diameter. Mass wise, it's similar to Uranus, but it is rocky, and Uranus is gas.

Have scientists found "a new earth"???

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