Posted 16 October 2012 - 10:10 AM
With the current rate of discoveries it won't take long for these statistics to be updated.
Great to see that exo-planetology is rising, a fascinating and exciting subject!
Posted 16 October 2012 - 10:34 AM
Posted 16 October 2012 - 03:30 PM
Posted 16 October 2012 - 04:31 PM
Posted 17 October 2012 - 02:37 PM
In fact a world with 4 stars at a distance of 4000 lightyears in the constellation Cygnus.
KIC stands for Kepler Input Catalog
Multi-planet system around star KOI-500:
Discovered by Kepler space telescope at a distance of 1100 lightyears in the constellation Lyra.
KOI stands for Kepler Object of Interest
Earth-sized exoplanet around Proxima Centauri B:
At a distance of 4.3 lightyears in the Southern constellation Centaurus.
Posted 12 November 2012 - 12:42 PM
Although some exoplanets got nicknames (Bellerophon, Methuselah and Osiris), these were never used by professional astronomers as exoplanets are named after their host star followed by a b, c, d, and so on in order of discovery.
It might be confusing for some to see names such as Kepler-22b or WASP-17, exoplanets named after the research project... but i was amazed to see this:
What's the IAU gone think about this?
Posted 12 November 2012 - 05:54 PM
It would be great if there was a a habitable planet so close, we could actualy get there!
So close, in this instance (Proxima Centauri), is only about 26.4 trillion miles. But it's a lot easier to say 26.4 trillion than it is to comprehend the immensity of that number. So, consider this: with the cruise control set at a steady 75 MPH, it would take my Toyota Highlander a bit more than 40 million years to make that trip. Got a faster vehicle in mind -- a much faster vehicle? Pick a realistic velocity and do the math.
Posted 14 November 2012 - 03:03 AM
-TV ad guy voice-
We're obviously not interested in realistic velocity. We want to get there fast!
We need Ludicrous speed!
Realistic velocitys got you down? Not able to make it to your grandma's dinner party on 232 Zeta Aquaria within the next century?
You need to travel on,relativistic velocity Spacelines, the only sure fire way to get were your going and still be theoreticaly alive when you get there.
Posted 14 November 2012 - 11:59 AM
and the newly established Institute for Interstellar Studies
Posted 14 November 2012 - 12:22 PM
A thousand year long trip to a nearby star wouldn't look so long anymore, at least for them. Perhaps the theory of quantum computing will have made progress and these intelligent space probes could carry some sort of quantum computer entangled to a computer left on Earth and capable to transmit informations between each other instantaneously.
Travelling interstellar distances doesn't seem impossible for life 'in silico'.
Posted 14 November 2012 - 01:37 PM
Posted 14 November 2012 - 01:46 PM
Posted 14 November 2012 - 02:17 PM
Anyways, the new planets in Alpha Centauri hasn't change the rating in this site:
Alpha CentauriB b is rated non habitable, too hot
So Gliese 581 g in Libra is still the champion of habitability.
Personnaly i don't agree with a classification that ignores the distance to the star, and therefore that ignores the revolution period. 32 days for Gliese581g! to me it's a death sentence. They just assume that being closer to a fainter star is the same as being further to a brighter star? What about solar storms, solar winds, radiations, magnetism?
Posted 14 November 2012 - 03:11 PM
I'm all for conducting the searches and learning what we can with what we have, but my first priority would be mastering and colonizing our own solar system before we try to expand to others. If we do that, we'll have 90% of the infrastructure we need already in place.