Earth-Like Planets Right Next Door

Well, 13 light-years away, but that’s closer than researchers thought. From a Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics press release:

Using publicly available data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope, astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) have found that six percent of red dwarf stars have habitable, Earth-sized planets. Since red dwarfs are the most common stars in our galaxy, the closest Earth-like planet could be just 13 light-years away.

“We thought we would have to search vast distances to find an Earth-like planet. Now we realize another Earth is probably in our own backyard, waiting to be spotted,” said Harvard astronomer and lead author Courtney Dressing (CfA).

Chris

Calling thirteen light years “right next door” only excites people lacking a proper sense of cosmic scale. Voyager II is currently the most distant man-made object ever launched, and it is just now traversing the outer edge of our own solar system after being under way for thirty-six years.
Franklin

Not sure I agee, Chris. It’s problematic based on current life spans, but if ships could get to 5 or 10% of light speed, it opens the door to many possibilities.
Sure, achieving that speed is the problem, and it’s like the old Steve Martin joke on how to be a millionaire. How to travel at 10% of light speed? Well, first get a ship that can get to 10% of light speed. : )
But when we consider how far other galaxies are, it is quite exciting, and is, relatively(!), like a Thanksgiving sleigh ride to Grandma’s.
Brian

I tend to think the “Rare Earth” Hypothesis is accurate.

Which means that if we were to visit these nearby Earth-like planets, I think we would find that they likely won’t have the ability to sustain intelligent life in the way out planet does.
Franklin

Step by step. We make them hospitable.
The Earth, nor the earth, will sustain humanity forever. We’ll need to move on, even if it’s in a million years.
http://rosarynovice.stblogs.com/ Augustine

Translating the sensationalistic headline into common-sense language: there is a 6% chance that the closest red dwarf star has an Earth-sized planet around it.

Mind you, having the same size as the Earth means little with regards to its hospitality to life, since its distance to its star and the shape of its orbit could affect its climate wildly. Not to mention its make up of elements determined when it was formed and how the space environment was then.

IOW, just another headline-grabbing by a state agency fighting for its relevance and taxpayer dollars.
http://rosarynovice.stblogs.com/ Augustine

A ship that could travel at 5 to 10% of the speed of light would have to carry enough fuel and food for a small village for 130 to 260 years.

Until we get the space warp, no dice.
Franklin

Yes, at least that. And would include families who knew they would live their lives on that ship.
Half way to the destination, you’d be passed by another ship that was more technolgically advanced, and which was built a hundred years after you left. I think that was from one of the Coyote series books my son gave me, maybe? Or perhaps something else. Too lazy to look it up.
Space warp would be preferable, but I submit some folks would give the piece-of-a-two-hundred-year-pioineering journey the chance.
Anonymous

solar sails made from graphine .
Brian

What if the future warp ship has a power outage like the Carnival cruise ship? Poop and urine on the floors man! Adrift in space!

I think I would need an escape pod, an iPad 9000, some Mt. Dew and chips, and many Liberty Classroom videos to keep me busy as I figure out what to do next.
http://rosarynovice.stblogs.com/ Augustine

The question with solar sails is how to sail far from the Sun. Is that terminal velocity achieved at the heliopause? How to sail in the interstellar space?
Anonymous

Velocity is achieved way before heilopause of course. Much of the velocity would be picked up by a drive by the sun and additional velocity built up via slingshots. My understanding is sails would be “furled”. This is not my field, but conceptualizing for something related. Some of the math and ideas are here: http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=10534 read comments by J Essig.

I like the idea because no fuel is required for propulsion.. It also doesn’t make sense to send people unless you know something is there. I have proposed a multiple package for more than one target object and redundancy. .
http://rosarynovice.stblogs.com/ Augustine

Of course, one is free to dream up anything, as long as I don’t have to pay for one’s dreams. Especially under the threat of force because one has friends in the violence monopoly business…
Jim

Free Planet Project?
Dean

There are far too many fantasy loving sci-fi dreamers on this thread. Man will NEVER be able to travel 13 light years to the next POSSIBLE earth like planet. Its highly unlikely man will ever leave our solar system–forget the universe. Come back to earth guys. Its all we will ever have.