Planet GJ1214B 'Super Earth' discovered

[turbobloke]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/spac...

[Martial Arts Man]

Sorry for asking a dumb question, but how do we know that this planet's temperature is too hot to sustain life?

Do they mean life like on Earth or life in general?

If the latter; do we know for sure? If so, how?

[patmahe]

Pretty cool discovery to make as a student. Interesting article too, thanks.

[turbobloke]

patmahe said:

Pretty cool discovery to make as a student. Interesting article too, thanks.

It's a fascinating area to work in, and yes great for the student.

Martial Arts Man said:

Sorry for asking a dumb question, but how do we know that this planet's temperature is too hot to sustain life?

Do they mean life like on Earth or life in general?

If the latter; do we know for sure? If so, how?

Not having read the full paper, I would suggest that the temperature is derived from spectroscopy as there are techniques that allow an effective temperature to be determined, the existence of certain species for example or line broadening or even a black body profile.

As to life, it could be too hot for 'life as we know it' which is what I took that comment to mean, simply by being above a temperature that would denature enzymes. That happens well below the boiling point of water at a fair range of pressures.

Life unlike terrestrial life is another matter

[turbobloke]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

[JakeS]

Martial Arts Man said:

Sorry for asking a dumb question, but how do we know that this planet's temperature is too hot to sustain life?

Do they mean life like on Earth or life in general?

If the latter; do we know for sure? If so, how?

This really baffles me too - How do the "know" it is too hot to sustain life, It is perfectly possible for life to have evolved on that planet differntly to here all of which are perfectly able to deal with the heat on that planets surface. Just because they are not the exactly same conditions as earth does not mean there is not life on there

[Eric Mc]

It orbits it's parent star every 1.6 days - so it's certainly whizzing around. I bet the weather is a bit complicated.

[V88Dicky]

Eric Mc said:

It orbits it's parent star every 1.6 days - so it's certainly whizzing around. I bet the weather is a bit complicated.

Good. They're probably experts on climate change over there then. Maybe they should have been invited to Hoaxenhagen?

[Eric Mc]

JakeS said:

Martial Arts Man said:

Sorry for asking a dumb question, but how do we know that this planet's temperature is too hot to sustain life?

Do they mean life like on Earth or life in general?

If the latter; do we know for sure? If so, how?

This really baffles me too - How do the "know" it is too hot to sustain life, It is perfectly possible for life to have evolved on that planet differntly to here all of which are perfectly able to deal with the heat on that planets surface. Just because they are not the exactly same conditions as earth does not mean there is not life on there

That is a valid point. However, scientists have to work on the basis of what they currently know and understand. Speculating about forms of life outside our current levels of knowledge is not science - it's speculation.

We do know that some life can withstand very high and low temperatures (extremophiles) here on earth and who's to say that life elesewhere hasn't evolved strategies to deal with even more extreme conditions. But until we come across genuine examples of real biology which functions in such conditions, scientists will refrain from guessing.

[JakeS]

Eric Mc said:

JakeS said:

Martial Arts Man said:

Sorry for asking a dumb question, but how do we know that this planet's temperature is too hot to sustain life?

Do they mean life like on Earth or life in general?

If the latter; do we know for sure? If so, how?

This really baffles me too - How do the "know" it is too hot to sustain life, It is perfectly possible for life to have evolved on that planet differntly to here all of which are perfectly able to deal with the heat on that planets surface. Just because they are not the exactly same conditions as earth does not mean there is not life on there

That is a valid point. However, scientists have to work on the basis of what they currently know and understand. Speculating about forms of life outside our current levels of knowledge is not science - it's speculation.

We do know that some life can withstand very high and low temperatures (extremophiles) here on earth and who's to say that life elesewhere hasn't evolved strategies to deal with even more extreme conditions. But until we come across genuine examples of real biology which functions in such conditions, scientists will refrain from guessing.

That is a good point I didn't consider. I am no scientist But to me it just seems the chances of finding life that is identical to ours is far slimmer that looking for life that can live in what we call a harsher enviroment.

[turbobloke]

Organisms withstanding high radiation levels are also known (radiobacter durans) but yes outside of known parameters and data it's speculation not science, echoes of agw.

[AndrewW-G]

fking fantastic, now were going to be hit with a climate change tax for planet GJ1214B

[FourWheelDrift]

Times said:

Although it is too hot to sustain life, the discovery shows that even very basic ground-based technologies are capable of finding almost-Earth-sized planets in warm, life-friendly orbits.

So they it's too hot to sustain life but proves planets can be found in life friendly orbits? I wouldn't say that was a life friendly orbit myself.

I hope the hand wringers don't claim it once did but MMGW caused it to die.

[Eric Mc]

With current techniques, the vast bulk of exo-planets discovered so far (over 300) have tended to be either very large planets or largish planets orbiting smallish stars - often very close to the star as well. That's what makes them more easily detectable.

As the techniques get better and the technology improves, smaller planets (of earth size, for example) will be more easily detectable even if they are further out from the parent star. I reckon a genuine earth-like planet will be discovered before 2015.

[Parrot of Doom]

Hopefully then we can use technology to determine what gasses are present in the atmosphere of such planets. Oxygen = life.

[Halb]

Parrot of Doom said:

Hopefully then we can use technology to determine what gasses are present in the atmosphere of such planets. Oxygen = life.

Our kind of life.I wonder if there would be other kinds?

[Eric Mc]

Halb said:

Parrot of Doom said:

Hopefully then we can use technology to determine what gasses are present in the atmosphere of such planets. Oxygen = life.

Our kind of life.I wonder if there would be other kinds?

There are thousands of species here on earth for which Oxygen is a deadly poison. These are known as anerobic organisms and are mostly single celled. However, for the fisrt billion years or so of life on earth, all life on earth was like this.

The first crisis for life on earth was when the first single celled plants began releasing a deadly toxin as a by-product of their photosynthesis. That deadly toxin was Oxygen. It was those organisms that adapted to Oxygen and began making use of it that survived.

[superlightr]

Halb said:

Parrot of Doom said:

Hopefully then we can use technology to determine what gasses are present in the atmosphere of such planets. Oxygen = life.

Our kind of life.I wonder if there would be other kinds?

hopefully there will be some intelegent life found who can tell our govenments that they are being ass-holes with regards to MMGW

[Lefty Two Drams]

The Times said:

Any star whose brightness dims for about an hour, and repeats that dimming at regular intervals over the course of days and weeks, probably has an orbiting planet crossing briefly in front of it, blocking a fraction of the star’s light. The planet's size can be determined through the amount of dimming.

I thought they detected planets by analysing the gravitational "wobble" of a star caused by an orbiting object...?

[Eric Mc]

Lefty Two Drams said:

The Times said:

Any star whose brightness dims for about an hour, and repeats that dimming at regular intervals over the course of days and weeks, probably has an orbiting planet crossing briefly in front of it, blocking a fraction of the star’s light. The planet's size can be determined through the amount of dimming.

I thought they detected planets by analysing the gravitational "wobble" of a star caused by an orbiting object...?

There are a number of different techniques being used.