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#1 2007-04-24 17:30:38
- Number04
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- From: Calgary Alberta Canada
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Re: Major Discovery: Earth-like planet only 20 ly away
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/0 … lanet.html
http://story.malaysiasun.com/index.php/ … 3780/cs/1/
Well, this could change everything.
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#2 2007-04-25 01:12:25
- maxie
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Re: Major Discovery: Earth-like planet only 20 ly away
Oh yes ! Finally. Some very good news. 
LE: I edited the title to make it more obvious.
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#3 2007-04-25 07:24:32
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Re: Major Discovery: Earth-like planet only 20 ly away
Maybe time for NASA to stop sitting on it's hands and get the planet finder in space before some other country does.
NASA and the USA space program could find themselves playing catchup in very short time if they don't.
I guess NASA and the USA could just pay for information from whatever country decides to be the first to take pictures of earth2.
Some things are more important than shuttling things to the space station, in fact almost all other things in space are 
Science facts are only as good as knowledge.
Knowledge is only as good as the facts.
New knowledge is only as good as the ones that don't respect the first two.
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#4 2007-04-26 13:45:13
- C M Edwards
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Re: Major Discovery: Earth-like planet only 20 ly away
The estimated age of Gliese 581 is 4.3 billion years - slightly younger than our own sun. Fow all we know, there could be a native civilization there.
"We go big, or we don't go." - GCNRevenger
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#5 2007-04-27 02:06:22
- maxie
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Re: Major Discovery: Earth-like planet only 20 ly away
Now the question is: how quick can we get there ? At least with some probes... :cry:
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#6 2007-04-27 03:23:22
- noosfractal
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Re: Major Discovery: Earth-like planet only 20 ly away
If we can build something that averages 1/10th the speed of light ( maybe an antimatter-driven sail ), then the trip time will be 200 years ( +20 years to get back the first signals ).
For now, we are going to have to be satisfied with better instruments to study it. Remember to lobby your local politician for the lunar telescope array.
Fan of [url=http://www.red-oasis.com/]Red Oasis[/url]
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#7 2007-04-27 11:00:54
- Number04
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Re: Major Discovery: Earth-like planet only 20 ly away
I started to talk about this subject in another thread but I find it more appropriate here.
Obliviously this new discovery opens the floor for a million different questions.
The most pressing being does the planet have water? If so, then could we live there? If yes, do things already live there?
The problem I was discussing in the other thread was the religious implications of life on other planets. Currently, fundamental Christians are fighting the idea of evolution to the level of outright abolishment of the theory.
Now, say we find traces of bacteria on this planet? How is the church going to explain why God did that? Will they just turn a blind eye? I can’t see them embracing this at all.
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#8 2007-04-27 11:47:20
- noosfractal
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Re: Major Discovery: Earth-like planet only 20 ly away
the religious implications of life on other planets ... I can’t see them embracing this at all.
You're way underestimating theologians. They will do whatever it takes to enslave people's minds.
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#9 2007-04-27 14:55:04
- Number04
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Re: Major Discovery: Earth-like planet only 20 ly away
whatever it takes to enslave people's minds.
Right, and they pick and chose what's real. Evidence doesn’t even enter into the equation.
I have really high hopes for this planet. If nothing else it will spark imagination and hopefully increase the drive to explore into space.
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#10 2007-04-28 01:03:42
- noosfractal
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Re: Major Discovery: Earth-like planet only 20 ly away
Right, and they pick and chose what's real. Evidence doesn’t even enter into the equation.
They would rather redefine black as white than admit their pretense.
I have really high hopes for this planet. If nothing else it will spark imagination and hopefully increase the drive to explore into space.
I didn't realize the effect the discovery would have on people. I guess to me it was a sure thing that such planets existed, so the confirmation was less thrilling than for some.
BTW, under panspermia assumptions, Gliese 581 c, being so close, has had ample time to be seeded by single-celled life evolved on Earth & possibly vice versa (but probably not because the Earth had a 300 million year head start & single-celled life appeared 600 million years after the surface cooled).
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