Did you hear that scientists found a new earthlike planet?

Question

they said it was an exoplanet at only 20 light years away?

What is an exoplanet? and how much time would it take a shuttle to get there? could humans travel to this new earthlike planet?
What are the probabilities of finding life there? since there are oceans and a surface similar to our planet.

Answer 1

"...What is an exoplanet?..."
'Exoplanet' is short for extra-solar planet, meaning that it's beyond our solar system.

"...how much time would it take a shuttle to get there?..."
The shuttle's velocity in space is about 18,000 mph. The planet is 20.5 light years away. 20.5 light years = 1.2^14 miles. At the shuttle's speed it would then take about 765,000 years to get to the planet.

"...could humans travel to this new earthlike planet?..."
Not at this time. We don't have the technology.

"...What are the probabilities of finding life there?..."
Unknown because we don't know very much about the planet. It could be nothing more than a gas giant similar to Jupiter or Saturn. All we can say is that the planet orbits its star in a zone that could allow life to begin and flourish.

Here's a summary of just about everything we do know about the planet --

NAME :: Gliese 581c

PARENT STAR :: Gliese 581, a small red dwarf star

DISTANCE FROM PARENT STAR :: 6-million miles

MASS :: 5 times greater than Earth's mass

DIAMETER :: 12,000 miles

SURFACE TEMPERATURE :: Might range from 32-degrees Fahrenheit to 102-degrees

LENGTH of YEAR :: 13 Earth days

Answer 2

The planet is far from earth-like. Of the exoplanets (planets orbitting other stars), it just happens to be the "most earthlike" one we have yet detected. Most of the 240 exoplanets are gas giants--not much like earth at all, but more like Jupiter.

The reason we find so many big planets is because those are the easiest to find. As we get better, we will find smaller and smaller planets.

Answer 3

Yes. The new planet discovered is Gliese 581c, named after its star, Gliese 581. An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet that exists outside our solar system. Because of its distance, it's impossible to travel there now. The distance, 20 ly, means that even if we had the ability to travel at the speed of light, it would take us 20 years to get there. Scientists theorize that one side it too hot and the other too cold, with a region that is habitable in the middle. Probably one of the first things scientists will look for is water, which is essential to life. As for life itself, it's really unknown until further technology develops and since no "intelligent" life is noticeable, there MIGHT be microbial life.

Answer 4

Dear Friend:

I am sorry to tell you that this discovery is old news, and hundreds and hundreds of people have already been to Yahoo Questions and Answers talking about this new planet, and possible life there.

It is called an exoplanet to distinguish it from planets which are within our Solar System, In other words, this new planet orbits around a star which is NOT out Sun. Others have called this planet an extrasolar planet, but that is a clumsy word to say over and over again.

To clarify things, our Sun is a Star. The Milky Way Galaxy contains some 200 Billion Stars, and each one of those stars has the possibility of having from 0 to 10 (or more) planets with their associated moons orbiting around it. Now, some stars are binary stars, some are Tri-nary stars (3 of them doing a close dance around each other in deep space, and some are in tight clusters. All of the rest are single stars like our Sun. It is not probable that the binaries and trinaries or clusters have successful planetary systems orbiting around them because of the confused pulls of gravity they (the possible planets) might experience. Most likely any planets orbiting those confused systems would have been drawn into the inferno at the center of the stars' masses a long, long time ago. But, the rest of them...no reason why they couldn't have well developed solar systems of their own.

Beyond the Milky Way Galaxy there are thousands and thousands of other galaxies with billions of stars in each one of them. Each one of those stars could have (again) from 0 to 10 (or more) planets with their associated moons orbiting around them. So there are many possiblities for additional extrasolar planets or exoplanets if you like that phrase.

20 light years is 20 times 186,000 Miles times 60 Sec/Min times 60 Min/Hour times 24 Hour/Day times 365 Days/Year.
That is a very long distance and so far in fact that any travel there is completely futile. There is no way to pack enough fuel and supplies for such an immensely long flight and return.

Answer 5

An exoplanet is a planet that is far away that goes around a sun, and it would take years for shuttles to get there, and humans couldn't travel there.

Answer 6

I think the possibilities of life are 45%. It would take a shuttle a VERY long time because if the star it orbit's is 20 light-years away then the shuttle can't contain enough fuel for the trip. Also the shuttle can't remain in good contact to mission control which means that if an asteroid on a collision course with it then it can't send a signal fast enough, and if the signal reaches to mission control on time then mission control can't send a command to the shuttle fast enough to turn away.

Answer 7

You only read the headlines. The rest of the story would tell you that the only things known about that planet are that it orbits a star 20 light-years away, and that its distance from that sun is such that it MIGHT have a temperature similar to that of the earth. Everything else is so much wishful thinking. Read the news more carefully.

Answer 8

national Geographic coated this subject count while the Hubble became into fastened & began somewhat working. One image I nevertheless remember at present is the place they aimed the telescope on what became into theory to be between the main distant areas of the known universe, and got here returned with a image of countless image voltaic structures. (to offer it attitude, this became into like taking a image of a grain of sand over 2 soccer fields away. To equate that out to how many galaxies there could be entirely could take centuries!!) So in different words, it may be incredibly not likely that life does not exist someplace.

Answer 9

I've heard thair may be many planets like earth.
Finding them is one thing, getting thair is another.
20 light years away, 2,000 years of traveling time for us.
If inhabited already, have they seen us.
Will they make it in time to stop us from killing each other.
If we go thair, will it still exist by the time we get thair.
How to find that neadle in the haystack.
How to get thair.