First Super-Earth Atmosphere Analysed

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First Super-Earth Atmosphere Analysed
OP - December 06, 2010, 05:56 AM

http://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1047/

This is awesome! However, given the close orbit of the planet it isn't likely that there is any water on the surface -until we find out otherwise. But there could be rainfall on the darker and cooler side of the planet. I think, given the proximity of the planet to the star it is probably tidally locked to the star (having the same side face the star at all times) this could be interesting.

There's lots of water out there, it is quite common we just don't see it in liquid form. The exoplanet count is up to 500ish now. So, it's just a matter of time before we find what we're looking for. This gives me hope.
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Re: First Super-Earth Atmosphere Analysed
Reply #1 - December 06, 2010, 06:30 PM

Yeah hopefully it does, the recent article which was released in Nature; doesn't limit out the possibility of life.

The problem is how we are going to find it out. It won't be hundreds of years before we will be able to actually travel, to these parts; if we actually can.

Exciting nevertheless
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Re: First Super-Earth Atmosphere Analysed
Reply #2 - December 07, 2010, 02:46 AM

Quote from: abzm94 on December 06, 2010, 06:30 PM
Yeah hopefully it does, the recent article which was released in Nature; doesn't limit out the possibility of life.

The problem is how we are going to find it out.

The techniques are getting better as time passes by. If there is liquid water on an exoplanets we can find it through spectroscopy. The same goes for life. If life is rampant on an exoplanet we'd see a chemical signature of it in the atmosphere which can easily be picked up by spectroscopy.

Quote from: abzm94 on December 06, 2010, 06:30 PM
It won't be hundreds of years before we will be able to actually travel, to these parts; if we actually can.

It's impractical at the moment. And yes, it's going be a while before we send some monkeys to these exoplanets. Even if we had the technology to send someone to some distant exoplanet, we'd have to wait. We'd want to know as much about it as we can before we use our limited resources to send someone there, we wouldn't want to go out on a wild-goose chase.

Venturing out into our own solar system is a far more fruitful endeavour. Places like Europa and Enceladus are well within our reach, and they're literally spewing water.

You can see water spewing out from geysers on Enceladus' south pole. The image was taken by the Cassini space probe on August 13, 2010.
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Re: First Super-Earth Atmosphere Analysed
Reply #3 - December 07, 2010, 03:06 AM

Quote from: J. on December 07, 2010, 02:46 AM
It's impractical at the moment. And yes, it's going be a while before we send some monkeys to these exoplanets.

Why send monkeys? Why not send space rovers?

Thanks for the interesting topic. I've read about Europa before, do you think humans will be able to colonize it in the near future?

Also, do make an intro post telling us about yourself

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Re: First Super-Earth Atmosphere Analysed
Reply #4 - December 07, 2010, 03:55 AM

Quote from: donatelo on December 07, 2010, 03:06 AM
Why send monkeys? Why not send space rovers?

Well, we can send monkey space rovers.

Quote from: donatelo on December 07, 2010, 03:06 AM
Thanks for the interesting topic. I've read about Europa before, do you think humans will be able to colonize it in the near future?

It depends on a lot of stuff. But mostly it depends on money. The budget cuts are not going to help. It's been almost 4 decades since we stepped out of our planet and there hasn't been much since. So, the drive is there to move out. NASA is planning to send people back on the moon again by 2020. I think they're going to miss that deadline, but that's another topic. As for humans colonising Europa, again, we'd have to wait. We'd have to send a probe there first to find more about the conditions. It's quite possible to set up a colony in one of the many trenches on Europa and so far, we know that there's a lot of water there. Before we go there we'd have to go to the moon first. If we can sort that out in the next three decades and funds become readily available, it's very likely that we'll send people to Europa and colonise it. So, yes, if by near future you mean the end of the century, I do see people colonising other places. And Europa is one of the most eligible candidate.
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Re: First Super-Earth Atmosphere Analysed
Reply #5 - December 07, 2010, 10:01 AM

Very interesting J.
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Re: First Super-Earth Atmosphere Analysed
Reply #6 - December 07, 2010, 03:41 PM

Cool.. thanks for the info

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