

Newfound Planet a Top Contender to Host Life - vinny2020
http://news.yahoo.com/newfound-alien-planet-top-contender-host-life-134126368.html

======
JoeAltmaier
Cool. Strange they show an 'enlarged photo' of it. Also strange to say 'Alien'
every time they say 'planet'. What else could it be - a planet right here on
Earth?

~~~
jere
>Also strange to say 'Alien' every time they say 'planet'. What else could it
be - a planet right here on Earth?

To be fair, it could simply mean an exoplanet, a planet outside of our solar
system. I suppose "alien planet" is more intuitive than "exoplanet."

We've grown quite accustomed to the planets in our backyard, so I think the
word alien is quite evocative here. I was born about 2 decades after the first
moon landing, but the first confirmed exoplanets weren't discovered until my
lifetime. That's pretty fricking amazing to me.

~~~
cryptoz
Yes! I agree. Here's a graph of the number of exoplanets discovered by year:
[http://exoplanet.eu/diagrams/?t=h&f=&x=discovered...](http://exoplanet.eu/diagrams/?t=h&f=&x=discovered&xmin=&xmax=&y=raw&ymin=&ymax=)

I consider it the most exciting graph I have ever seen.

~~~
jere
:)

Somewhat related, it's frustrating when I read about the history of computer
science and am blown away that many of the best algorithms/languages we have
today were developed 40-60 years ago. It's always nice to be reminded that
there are unsolved problems and unlocked mysteries.

~~~
derekp7
And yet we have continuously greater numbers of software patents filed every
year. So obviously innovation is happening -- right? After all, Bubble sort
was good, but Bubble sort on a web enabled device with rounded corners is
defiantly the cat's meow.

------
6ren
It's x7 earth mass. The reason we've only discovering huge planets is because
that's all our equipment can detect, so far (by wobbling/obscuring their sun).

For our solar system, only Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus would be
massive enough to detect.

------
ChuckMcM
Was the debate settled on whether or not this planet exists? [1].

[1] [http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-01-31-goldilocks-
plan...](http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2011-01-31-goldilocks-planet_N.htm)

~~~
fhars
That is about Gliese 581g, this article is about Gliese 163c. That is a
different planet circling around a differnt star.

------
TheSOB88
I find it strange how the writers assume only Earth-like life would evolve on
another planet. They speak in terms of bacteria, plants, animals... It doesn't
make any sense to me. Out of the 3.5 billion years that the planet has
sustained life, animals (first sponges, then cnidaria, etc.) have only been
around for 630 million. Evolution didn't happen according to some goal;
organisms evolved to suit their habitats.

So saying that plants/animals wouldn't exist on a planet significantly hotter
than ours is really strange to say - they'd have no -reason- to. Because the
evolutionary tree on that planet would be completely different from ours, the
organisms' forms and internal structures will be very different in many ways.
The same things won't have happened in their evolutionary history.

And of course, life would be adapted to the planet itself. You might say,
"Enzymes don't function at those temperatures." Well, the life on hotter
planets will have evolved to use different enzymes that -do- work at those
temperatures.

~~~
mbell
The main reason for the temperature constraint isn't actually temperature but
rather the presence of liquid water. We currently know of no life form that
can exist without it. I believe the 'goldilocks zone' is more specific in that
its looking for liquid water on the surface. There could be liquid water
underground in bodies well outside the goldilocks zone and there are some
indications that this is true of some moons in our own solar system.

'Planet temperature' doesn't completely rule out the possibility of life.
Venus for example is hot as hell on the surface but there is actually a band
of the atmosphere which humans could hangout unprotected in, its breathable,
the pressure is about what it is on Earth, etc. There have been some attempts
to send a probe to hang out there and look for bacterial life but I don't
think any have been funded.

~~~
uvdiv
_Venus for example is hot as hell on the surface but there is actually a band
of the atmosphere which humans could hangout unprotected in, its breathable,_

The atmosphere is carbon dioxide with an aerosol of liquid sulfuric acid. (?)

~~~
mbell
Hm, went back a reread where I originally saw that and I completely mis-
interpreted. Its not breathable, rather from ~50-65km off the surface it is
roughly 1 bar in pressure with temperatures from 0-50C and breathable air
would 'float' at this height due to the density of the atmosphere. Sorry for
the foul up.

