I read recently about a star we can live on. This is great news and if we can work out how to travel at the speed of light then the journey bit might only take a few days.
Exoplanet near Gliese 581 star 'could host life' The Gliese star hosts four confirmed planets and may host as many as six Continue reading the main story
A red dwarf star 20 light-years away is again providing hints that it hosts the first definitively habitable planet outside our Solar System.
The planet Gliese 581d is at the colder outer edge of the "Goldilocks zone" in which liquid water can be sustained.
Now a study in Astrophysical Journal Letters suggests its atmosphere may keep things warm enough for water.
The solar system also hosts another contender for habitability, unconfirmed planet Gliese 581g announced in 2010.
However, the existence of that planet has since been called into question.
Gliese 581d is less controversial; it was discovered along with the planet Gliese 581c in 2007, occupying the outer and inner edges of the Goldilocks zone, respectively.
Gliese 581c was soon determined to be too close to its host star to sustain water, with a surface temperature exceeding 1,000C.
Continue reading the main story
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Start Quote
With future generations of telescopes, we'll be able to search for life on Gliese 581d directly"
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Robin Wordsworth
Institut Pierre Simon Laplace
Conversely, the outlying planet 581d - with a mass about six times that of the Earth and twice its size - was initially taken to be too cold to have liquid water.
Now, French researchers have run computer simulations of the planet's atmosphere, arguing that it is likely to contain high concentrations of carbon dioxide.
They contend that conditions could be suitable for oceans of liquid water as well as clouds and rainfall.
However, Gliese 581d's denser air and dim red light from its host star would make for a murky environment that would be toxic to humans.
Robin Wordsworth, a member of the team from the Institut Pierre Simon Laplace in Paris, said that the findings were further evidence that the sheer variety of planets and environments far outpaced that which we see in our own Solar System.
Dr Wordsworth said that the simulations are tantamount to a first definitive claim for a habitable exoplanet.
"This discovery is important because it's the first time climate modellers have proved that the planet is potentially habitable, and all observers agree that the exoplanet exists," he told news agency PA.
"The Gliese system is particularly exciting to us as it's very close to Earth, relatively speaking. So with future generations of telescopes, we'll be able to search for life on Gliese 581d directly."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-13423085
thats great another place for the queen to stick on her must visit list
According to the paper at the weekend the judgement day is on Saturday 21st May , 2011. On On October 21st, the world will be destroyed by fire (http://www.ebiblefellowship.com/outreach/tracts/may21/) (7000 years from the flood; 13,023 years from creation).
At least I'll get full use from my season ticket, but there won't be time to head to off to other planets.
Quote from: armaghniac on May 17, 2011, 03:12:35 PM
According to the paper at the weekend the judgement day is on Saturday 21st May , 2011. On On October 21st, the world will be destroyed by fire (http://www.ebiblefellowship.com/outreach/tracts/may21/) (7000 years from the flood; 13,023 years from creation).
At least I'll get full use from my season ticket, but there won't be time to head to off to other planets.
pity you didn't post that last month armaghniac i wouln't have bothered paying my mortgage
Quotepity you didn't post that last month armaghniac i wouln't have bothered paying my mortgage
The would make you a sinner, not a good plan in the run up to Judgement day.
Quote from: armaghniac on May 17, 2011, 03:22:37 PM
Quotepity you didn't post that last month armaghniac i wouln't have bothered paying my mortgage
The would make you a sinner, not a good plan in the run up to Judgement day.
good point. will it be before or after the heinken cup final ?
Quote from: armaghniac on May 17, 2011, 03:22:37 PM
Quotepity you didn't post that last month armaghniac i wouln't have bothered paying my mortgage
The would make you a sinner, not a good plan in the run up to Judgement day.
Unfortunately it has been discovered this week that religion is pointless. Stephen Hawking, the disabled genuis who fell off a horse before filming Superman and has never been proven wrong for anything has said this -
Stephen Hawking: 'heaven is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark'The 69 year-old physicist, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease at the age of 21, insisted that he is "not afraid of death".
Shortly after being diagnosed with the incurable illnes many expected the author of A Brief History of Time to die.
But he said it has instead led him to enjoy life more.
In an interview with The Guardian, ahead of key note speech on Tuesday, Prof Hawking discusses his thoughts on death.
He rejected the idea of life beyond death and emphasised, what he described as the need to fulfil our potential on Earth by making good use of our lives.
"I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years," he told the newspaper.
"I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first.
"I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail."
He added: "There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark."
Asked how we should live he replied: "We should seek the greatest value of our action."
He is due to speak at the Google Zeitgeist meeting in London, in which he will address the question: "Why are we here?"
He will argue that tiny "quantum fluctuations" in the very early universe became the seeds from which galaxies, stars, and ultimately, human life began.
He will join other speakers including George Osborne, the Chancellor and Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel prize-winning economist.
In A Brief History of Time, Prof Hawking's most famous work, he did not dismiss the possibility that God had a hand in the creation of the world.
He wrote in the 1988 book: "If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason — for then we should know the mind of God."
In his new book he rejects Sir Isaac Newton's theory that the Universe did not spontaneously begin to form but was set in motion by God.
In June last year Prof Hawking told a Channel 4 series that he didn't believe that a "personal" God existed.
He told Genius of Britain: "The question is: is the way the universe began chosen by God for reasons we can't understand, or was it determined by a law of science? I believe the second.
"If you like, you can call the laws of science 'God', but it wouldn't be a personal God that you could meet, and ask questions."
In his latest book, The Grand Design, Prof Hawking claimed that no divine force was needed to explain why the Universe was formed.
It led to a backlash from Religious leaders.
Prof Hawking was previously Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, a post previously held by Newton.
He fell seriously ill after a lecture tour in the US in 2009, sparking grave fears about his health.
He has since returned to his Cambridge department as director of research.
QuoteThe planet Gliese 581d is at the colder outer edge of the "Goldilocks zone"
We'll be sorry when you go back Olly.
May God take mercy on our souls...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uqIqQIi6O0
Hope I can get my round of Golf finished tomorrow before the end comes...
Hows this going? Does it follow timezones?
Quote from: thejuice on May 21, 2011, 09:20:34 PM
Hows this going? Does it follow timezones?
We've another hour and half or so left before it hits, but its a nice sunny 70 degrees fahrenheit in NYC and no sign of any extreme tectonic activity yet!
Apparently the Reverend Camping has been keeping a low profile so far, as has his website and radio station!
Seriosuly though, there are lots of posters around NYC warning of this thing - there were even some in the subway on the 7 train this morning. I can only imagine what its like in the more "christian" parts of the US! Must have cost a fortune for the advertising. You'd wonder what the gullible idiots who filled this guy's coffers and abandoned their mortgages and children's college funds, quit their jobs and became estranged from their families are going to do after this?
Quote from: J70 on May 21, 2011, 09:33:09 PM
Quote from: thejuice on May 21, 2011, 09:20:34 PM
Hows this going? Does it follow timezones?
We've another hour and half or so left before it hits, but its a nice sunny 70 degrees fahrenheit in NYC and no sign of any extreme tectonic activity yet!
Apparently the Reverend Camping has been keeping a low profile so far, as has his website and radio station!
Seriosuly though, there are lots of posters around NYC warning of this thing - there were even some in the subway on the 7 train this morning. I can only imagine what its like in the more "christian" parts of the US! Must have cost a fortune for the advertising. You'd wonder what the gullible idiots who filled this guy's coffers and abandoned their mortgages and children's college funds, quit their jobs and became estranged from their families are going to do after this?
I'm sure there'l be plenty more apocalypses after this one. Don't worry if you miss it this time.
Am I in heaven?
Everything still looks the same around here.
Quote from: Hardy on May 22, 2011, 12:39:39 PM
Everything still looks the same around here.
Maybe not heaven then. The other place?
Olly, you do come up with some great inner thoughts. My only observation on this one after yesterday is that
the planet Gliese 581d and Laois have something in common, one is 20 light years from earth and the other is twenty light years from winning an All-Ireland !
Quote from: Bud Wiser on May 23, 2011, 02:28:13 PM
Olly, you do come up with some great inner thoughts. My only observation on this one after yesterday is that
the planet Gliese 581d and Laois have something in common, one is 20 light years from earth and the other is twenty light years from winning an All-Ireland !
That's harsh Bud. Gliese 581d have had a few good under 21 teams there. I'd say they are close enough to challenging for an All Ireland.
Whether they find life on Gliese 581d is unclear but NASA has confirmed that they expect to find at least 1 Irish pub.