Scientists spot nearby 'super-Earth'

[[SCUM] McPhil]

(CNN) -- Astronomers announced this week they found a water-rich and relatively nearby planet that's similar in size to Earth.


The rest of the story here:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/16/supe ... index.html

[[SCUM]-Tommee Gunn]

all we need is a 'warp drive' or 'stargate' to get there :)

[[SCUM] Leroy]

Why bother Tommee when we can let "them" come to us

[[SCUM] Speedy]

Man this is cool

[[SCUM] McPhil]

But then we can't mine the planet of all of it's natural resources and destroy it's ecosystem too Leroy...

[[SCUM] McPhil]

We've only known about Super-Earths for 3 years. Super-Earths found in 2009 are:

Planet COROT-7b, with a mass estimated at 4.8 Earth masses and an orbital period of only 0.853 days, was announced on 3 February 2009. The density estimate obtained for COROT-7b points to a composition including rocky silicate minerals, similar to the four inner planets of Earth's solar system, a new and significant discovery.

The discovery of Gliese 581 e with a minimum mass of 1.9 Earth masses was announced on April 21, 2009. It is the smallest extrasolar planet discovered around a normal star and the closest in mass to Earth. Being at an orbital distance of just 0.03 AU and orbiting its star in just 3.15 days, it is not in the habitable zone, and may have 100 times more tidal heating than Jupiter’s volcanic satellite Io.

Additionally, Gliese 581 d, at 0.2 AU with a 67 day orbital period, has been confirmed to be within the habitable zone of the red dwarf star, making it the first exoplanet where the existence of liquid water is a real possibility.

A planet found in December 2009, GJ 1214b (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GJ_1214_b), is 2.7 times as large as Earth and orbits a star much smaller and less luminous than our sun. "This planet probably does have liquid water," said David Charbonneau, a Harvard professor of astronomy and lead author of an article on the discovery.

By November 2009, a total of 30 Super-Earths have been discovered, 24 of which were first observed by HARPS.

[[SCUM]-Tommee Gunn]

it is all fascinating
how many decades b4 they send probes out to them :(
which cant be done as we dont have the technology to get between systems :(





..... yet :P

[[SCUM] McPhil]

I think the next step is to get the new and improved Hubble telescope involved. Hubble can easily handle the job from only 13 parsecs away!