Astronomers Find 3 "Super" Earths

[CoMoChief]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080616/sc_nm/space_planets_dc


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - European researchers said on Monday they discovered a batch of three "super-Earths" orbiting a nearby star, and two other solar systems with small planets as well.

They said their findings, presented at a conference in France, suggest that Earth-like planets may be very common.

"Does every single star harbor planets and, if yes, how many?" asked Michel Mayor of Switzerland's Geneva Observatory. "We may not yet know the answer but we are making huge progress towards it," Mayor said in a statement.

The trio of planets orbit a star slightly less massive than our Sun, 42 light-years away towards the southern Doradus and Pictor constellations. A light-year is the distance light can travel in one year at a speed of 186,000 miles a second, or about 6 trillion miles.

The planets are bigger than Earth -- one is 4.2 times the mass, one is 6.7 times and the third is 9.4 times.

They orbit their star at extremely rapid speeds -- one whizzing around in just four days, compared with Earth's 365 days, one taking 10 days and the slowest taking 20 days.

Mayor and colleagues used the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher or HARPS, a telescope at La Silla observatory in Chile, to find the planets.

More than 270 so-called exoplanets have been found. Most are giants, resembling Jupiter or Saturn. Smaller planets closer to the size of Earth are far more difficult to spot.

None can be imaged directly at such distances but can be spotted indirectly using radio waves or, in the case of HARPS, spectrographic measurements. As a planet orbits, it makes the star wobble very slightly and this can be measured.

"With the advent of much more precise instruments such as the HARPS spectrograph ... we can now discover smaller planets, with masses between 2 and 10 times the Earth's mass," said Stephane Udry, who also worked on the study.

The team also said they found a planet 7.5 times the mass of Earth orbiting the star HD 181433 in 9.5 days. This star also has a Jupiter-like planet that orbits every three years.

Another solar system has a planet 22 times the mass of Earth, orbiting every four days, and a Saturn-like planet with a 3-year period.

"Clearly these planets are only the tip of the iceberg," said Mayor.

"The analysis of all the stars studied with HARPS shows that about one third of all solar-like stars have either super-Earth or Neptune-like planets with orbital periods shorter than 50 days."

[petegz28]

Wonderful news! We are on the brink of discovering there is other life in the universe. As if we haven't already but it will beceome harder and harder for "the Man" to keep that fact treated as a fantasy.

[blueballs]

10-1 says Peterson hasn't sent the scout team
he's not even pretending to make this team better

[petegz28]

10-1 says Peterson hasn't sent the scout team
he's not even pretending to make this team better

Damn it Carl!!!

:cuss:

[chasedude]

Excellent, after we destroy this one we'll have another one to go to.

[Pasta Little Brioni]

10-1 says Peterson hasn't sent the scout team
he's not even pretending to make this team better

Heh. Dang it. I am sure there is a stud QB, some olineman, a number 2 wideout, and a DE somewhere in the universe, but Carl is too cheap to go get em :eek:

[MTG#10]

I bet the girls on these earth-like planets have 3 fun-bags.

[jiveturkey]

Excellent, after we destroy this one we'll have another one to go to.
And since they're bigger it will take a really long time to ruin the new one.

[ROYC75]

OK ET, we are going to find yur ass after all ..........

[stumppy]

I bet the girls on these earth-like planets have 3 fun-bags.


I'm hoping they are born with an extra appendage that looks exactly like a mattress attached to their back.

[Ultra Peanut]

Wonderful news! We are on the brink of discovering there is other life in the universe. As if we haven't already but it will beceome harder and harder for "the Man" to keep that fact treated as a fantasy.what

[petegz28]

what

If there was true, undisputable evidence of other life this planet would go crazy. Most of the religous people (no not just christians) will absolutely lose it I am sure. Chalk it up to some sort of witchcraft or trickery of the devil.

[MTG#10]

If there was true, undisputable evidence of other life this planet would go crazy. Most of the religous people (no not just christians) will absolutely lose it I am sure. Chalk it up to some sort of witchcraft or trickery of the devil.


Im sure even Christians would be okay with women equipped with 3 mammary mounds.

[petegz28]

Im sure even Christians would be okay with women equipped with 3 mammary mounds.

Are we talking catholic male priests?

[tooge]

Imagine if the first radio signal they received at teh alien planet was that one containing a Herm Edwards presser?

[Pasta Little Brioni]

Imagine if the first radio signal they received at teh alien planet was that one containing a Herm Edwards presser?

ROFL Get over it!!!

[FAX]

I hate Big Planet.

FAX

[FAX]

By the way, they're saying that one superplanet X year is only 10 days long. Are they talking about Earth days or superplanet X days?

FAX

[tooge]

So how much sleep does one require on superearth? Do they say that you should get a quarter year of sleep every night?

[afchiefs]

Im sure even Christians would be okay with women equipped with 3 mammary mounds.

:thumb:

[FAX]

For some reason, I find superboobs somewhat disturbing.

FAX

[seclark]

For some reason, I find superboobs somewhat disturbing.

FAX

same here...maybe if we had 3 hands.
sec

[007]

They spin so fast that we couldn't even exist on them.

[FAX]

They spin so fast that we couldn't even exist on them.

SuperEarth people use lots of hair gel. There's a market there.

FAX

[Baby Lee]

By the way, they're saying that one superplanet X year is only 10 days long. Are they talking about Earth days or superplanet X days?

FAX

And are those days corrected for the time space distortion occasioned by the speed at which our systems are moving apart?

[Donger]

They spin so fast that we couldn't even exist on them.

Why?

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

I hope those fuggin planets can grow corn!!!!!

[Baby Lee]

Why?

It has to do with our inner ear.

[Donger]

It has to do with our inner ear.

If we were born on these planets, I don't think we'd have a problem (inertia). Just like we are spinning right now at ~1,000 mph and revolving around the Sun at something like 200,000 mph. We just aren't accelerating or decelerating much.

[noa]

It has to do with our inner ear.

It would also mess with my desire to stay sedentary. If I jumped in the air in Planet X's version of Kansas, I might end up landing in Planet X's version of California because it was spinning so fast.

[007]

Why?
As fast as they are rotating around the sun, I can only assume that their planet axis rotation is insanely fast. The gravity generated would be unbearable to us.

[Baby Lee]

If we were born on these planets, I don't think we'd have a problem (inertia). Just like we are spinning right now at ~1,000 mph and revolving around the Sun at something like 200,000 mph. We just aren't accelerating or decelerating much.

I was being facetious, but if you're gonna go there, you spin too fast and you're going to disperse any atmosphere and negate the possibility of magnetic fields, leaving you at the mercy of direct solar rays, for a start.

Thanks for squashing teh funnah, KThankBai.

[Baby Lee]

As fast as they are rotating around the sun, I can only assume that their planet axis rotation is insanely fast. The gravity generated would be unbearable to us.

Axis rotation generates centrifugal, not centripedal forces. Surface to surface, gravity can only be generated by mass. The only way to simulate gravitational effects by rotation is to be inside the sphere being pushed onto it's inner surface wall.

[FAX]

Living on SuperEarth would probably be akin to riding the Chair-O-Planes at the Cambridge Midsummer Fair all day every day.

There would be loose change lying everywhere.

FAX

[Donger]

As fast as they are rotating around the sun, I can only assume that their planet axis rotation is insanely fast. The gravity generated would be unbearable to us.

No, it wouldn't. Rotational speed does not = gravity.

[Baby Lee]

No, it wouldn't. Rotational speed does not = gravity.

Keep up Limey.

[tooge]

Everyone would look like those test pilots with the blown back facial look. Willem Dafoe would score well there with the three boobed chicks

[Stewie]

What's the rent?

[Donger]

I was being facetious, but if you're gonna go there, you spin too fast and you're going to disperse any atmosphere and negate the possibility of magnetic fields, leaving you at the mercy of direct solar rays, for a start.

Thanks for squashing teh funnah, KThankBai.

Is that right? We're talking about orbital speeds around their sun, not planetary rotational speeds.

[Donger]

Keep up Limey.

Bloody Yanks. Always in a hurry.

[007]

Axis rotation generates centrifugal, not centripedal forces. Surface to surface, gravity can only be generated by mass. The only way to simulate gravitational effects by rotation is to be inside the sphere being pushed onto it's inner surface wall.

I don't know enough about the subject to go further on it.

I found this interesting though.

http://starryskies.com/articles/2003/09/earth.rotation.html

[Baby Lee]

Is that right? We're talking about orbital speeds around their sun, not planetary rotational speeds.

An orbit isn't a spin. A spin is on an axis defined within the spinning body.

[Donger]

An orbit isn't a spin. A spin is on an axis defined within the spinning body.

Right. And we don't know how fast they are spinning.

[Baby Lee]

Right. And we don't know how fast they are spinning.

Guru wrote they were spinning fast [I didn't question the source of that assertion]
You asked why too fast a spin would affect habitability
I explained
You asked about orbit
I differentiated
Countless were confused.

[Donger]

Guru wrote they were spinning fast [I didn't question the source of that assertion]
You asked why too fast a spin would affect habitability
I explained
You asked about orbit
I differentiated
Countless were confused.

LMAO

[Zebedee DuBois]

If Kal El and all his kin can hang on, I 'spect we can.

[listopencil]

If there was true, undisputable evidence of other life this planet would go crazy. Most of the religous people (no not just christians) will absolutely lose it I am sure. Chalk it up to some sort of witchcraft or trickery of the devil.

Nah. I think Thomas Aquinas already covered that.

[Ebolapox]

I'm fairly sure they'd have a uniboob. 'superboobs' for 'superearths'

[listopencil]

What I'm more worried about is weighing in at over 800, 1300 or 1800 pounds.

[BigOlChiefsfan]

What I'm more worried about is weighing in at over 800, 1300 or 1800 pounds.

We can send Oprah and Star Jones. Those two are already used to weighing in at all 3 tonnages at one time or another.

Hey, speaking of giant sized celestial hoohaw, tomorrow night...The Moon will be appear to be LARGER than Al Gore's head! (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25212851/)!!1!!1

Finally, regarding the orbit vs. spin...simply send O'Reilly with Oprah/Star. Heft Queens Plus No Spin Zone = problems solved w/Yankee ingenuity.