Ice Queen Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 I've never started a thread here, but I just had to. This is too good to pass up. NASA has announced the discovery of a solar system with seven planets. Three of those planets were announced last year but they've discovered four more. The star is so small and the system so compact that all seven planets could fit inside the orbit of Mercury. What's so exciting is that three of the planets are Earth sized and in the habitable zone, and may have conditions conducive to life including liquid water. (The star itself is only 500 million years old, so any current life is probably microbes, but still.) The James Webb telescope launches next year, and it may be powerful enough to detect biological activity in the form of atmospheric oxygen. We'll see! https://www.nasa.gov/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theda Baratheon Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 times like this i want to cry because science is so cool and im so stupid lmao Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clueless Northman Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 From a very selfish human point of view, that the star is so young is actually a good thing. Having that system so close to us means we can genuinely consider colonization. Another awesome bit is that: The planets also are very close to each other. If a person was standing on one of the planet’s surface, they could gaze up and potentially see geological features or clouds of neighboring worlds, which would sometimes appear larger than the moon in Earth's sky. Still, let's hope they're not all tidally locked, otherwise this would significantly reduce the attractiveness of the system. But whatever turns out eventually, this is amazing news. We're progressing at a great pace in this field Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drawkcabi Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 I propose the first ship we send there be named the Gulliver. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toth Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Wow, this is really cool. Two other fun facts: First, Trappist-1 is only 39 lightyears away, which is basically nothing. The Centauri System with its three stars is a little more than 4 lightyears away. On the other hand, Wikipedia lists 56 star systems that are 15 ly or closer to earth, our galaxy is absurdly dense. Second: Due to the youth and weird nature of Trappist's sun, the system will probably exist till the very end of the universe. Which is awesome in a lot of ways. Regarding the density of the system messing up the tides: Was my first thought as well. Those planets are ridiculously close. I wouldn't be surprised if the weather is utterly insane despite the amazing view. I want to remind you guys that a year on Trappist D, E and F is only 4, 6 and 9 days long, respectively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JGP Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 Yah, I tuned into the press conference. It's pretty damned cool. Was chatting via another format with another boarder (whom I'm not sure posts here anymore) and it sounds like we could have measurements on atmospheric compositions and surface temperatures as early as 2020. So we have a space-bux bet on which of the three is likeliest to have conditions conducive to organic life haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Pepper Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 2 hours ago, Theda Baratheon said: times like this i want to cry because science is so cool and im so stupid lmao Ditto. News like this takes my breath away and makes me wish I'd become a scientist instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 1 hour ago, Toth said: Wow, this is really cool. Two other fun facts: First, Trappist-1 is only 39 lightyears away, which is basically nothing. The Centauri System with its three stars is a little more than 4 lightyears away. On the other hand, Wikipedia lists 56 star systems that are 15 ly or closer to earth, our galaxy is absurdly dense. Second: Due to the youth and weird nature of Trappist's sun, the system will probably exist till the very end of the universe. Which is awesome in a lot of ways. Regarding the density of the system messing up the tides: Was my first thought as well. Those planets are ridiculously close. I wouldn't be surprised if the weather is utterly insane despite the amazing view. I want to remind you guys that a year on Trappist D, E and F is only 4, 6 and 9 days long, respectively. Yes the planets are tidally locked, so even if some of them may have the right ingredients for life, the climate will be insane. And being so close to each other, those tidal forces will have major effects. I wonder with the system being so compact and so young, if some orbits will change and some of the planets will collide sometime within the next billion years. It is exciting. Now we need a warp ship or a stargate to get there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Anti-Targ Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 I want to welcome our new alien overlords. They are either going to be benevolent and help us fix our crazy mixed up world, or they will be malign and will get us to put aside our petty differences and become a united world standing against a common external threat. So the sooner they take over the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felice Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 12 minutes ago, Corvinus said: It is exciting. Now we need a warp ship or a stargate to get there. A generation ship is more feasible in the near future. Though we'll probably have warp drive before it arrives at Trappist-1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theda Baratheon Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 1 hour ago, Dr. Pepper said: Ditto. News like this takes my breath away and makes me wish I'd become a scientist instead. Yep. Lol. I just feel so small and insignificant and am in AWE of scientists working on stuff like this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 1 hour ago, felice said: A generation ship is more feasible in the near future. Though we'll probably have warp drive before it arrives at Trappist-1. Feasible for mankind, not for our generation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
felice Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 4 minutes ago, Corvinus said: Feasible for mankind, not for our generation. Good point. I'd bet on cryogenics over FTL in our lifetimes. Though that won't get reports back to those of us who stay behind any faster, unless we go into suspended animation on Earth too, and you'd have to be really keen on exoplanet news for that to look like a sensible option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Anti-Targ Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 1 hour ago, felice said: Good point. I'd bet on cryogenics over FTL in our lifetimes. Though that won't get reports back to those of us who stay behind any faster, unless we go into suspended animation on Earth too, and you'd have to be really keen on exoplanet news for that to look like a sensible option. I don't see FTL as in linear spaceflight being a thing, ever. But wormholes, maybe. At least wormholes are something serious physicists talk about. I don't know of anyone who is seriously thinking that the speed of light isn't still a max speed limit. Wormholes through which large physical objects can travel are probably a long way off. But a wormhole that can transmit information which would allow real-time communication regardless of distance might be doable in a shorter time frame. But still you will need to travel by conventional means to get a ship and people from here to there. If you want to get the travellers to that star system within their lifetimes they will need to travel at about 0.9c for most of the time, and they will only age about 17 years. So if they are all in their 30s when they leave they will still be middle aged when they arrive and will have a good 20 years at least of useful lifetime to do work and send back information. But if you can do wormholes for instant communication the first ship to go should probably be a drone because we'd be able to do everything we would want in real time. And at 0.9c travel speed, time passed back here probably won't be of sufficient length that we will have developed a way for a manned ship to get there before the drone arrives. I'd like to think that we will launch a drone expedition to our nearest star in my lifetime. But I don't think things will go beyond that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clueless Northman Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 2 hours ago, The Anti-Targ said: I want to welcome our new alien overlords. They are either going to be benevolent and help us fix our crazy mixed up world, or they will be malign and will get us to put aside our petty differences and become a united world standing against a common external threat. So the sooner they take over the better. Our new "alien overlords" are probably bacteria, amoeba, and possibly some basic kind of moss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Anti-Targ Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 17 minutes ago, Clueless Northman said: Our new "alien overlords" are probably bacteria, amoeba, and possibly some basic kind of moss It's no bad thing to celebrate have a simple life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 I'm wondering if the announcement NASA is making today is related to this or if we get some other cool shit today too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corvinus85 Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 7 minutes ago, larrytheimp said: I'm wondering if the announcement NASA is making today is related to this or if we get some other cool shit today too Another announcement? What time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry of the Lawn Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 6 minutes ago, Corvinus said: Another announcement? What time? Nevermind, I can't read a calendar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ice Queen Posted February 23, 2017 Author Share Posted February 23, 2017 36 minutes ago, larrytheimp said: Nevermind, I can't read a calendar Darn it, you had me all excited for a minute. In related news, I just found out that the Apollo 11 capsule will be at my local museum in 2018-2019! I'm such a nerd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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