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Thread: Possible habitable planet - right next door

  1. #1

    Default Possible habitable planet - right next door

    Only 40 trillion km's away, make a planet orbiting Proxima Centaurti your next vacation destination!:

    http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37167390

    http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...rth-next-door/
    Ja-mata TosaInu

  2. #2
    Moderator Moderator Gregoshi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Possible habitable planet - right next door

    Pretty awesome discovery. Now we have a good "close" target to start building and testing some of the proposed interstellar propulsion methods.
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    master of the wierd people Member Ibrahim's Avatar
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    Default Re: Possible habitable planet - right next door

    That assumes the planet is even habitable.

    There's every chance it's more like Venus than Earth.
    I was once alive, but then a girl came and took out my ticker.

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    the angry, angry elephantid Member wooly_mammoth's Avatar
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    Default Re: Possible habitable planet - right next door

    Quote Originally Posted by Gregoshi View Post
    Pretty awesome discovery. Now we have a good "close" target to start building and testing some of the proposed interstellar propulsion methods.
    Such things are just fairy tales for now. It's still a hardcore challenge to get to a much closer and proven to be decent planet: Mars. And even if we get there, we still don't really have a clue what to do with it, at least if you leave the fairy tales aside. As vital as space travel and expansion is for the survival of our species, to be honest I don't think we'll make it in time. We're still at the level of dreaming about mining nearby asteroids and processing the raw ore in orbit, mostly with robots. Transporting human beings in safe conditions over such distances, with the equipment needed to survive the journey and establish a home elsewhere, that's just blue sky dreaming.

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    master of the pwniverse Member Fragony's Avatar
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    Default Re: Possible habitable planet - right next door

    Journy of a lifetime. A few hundreds. But eventually it will be possible some people are rediculously intelligent.

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    Illuminated Moderator Pogo Panic Champion, Graveyard Champion, Missle Attack Champion, Ninja Kid Champion, Pop-Up Killer Champion, Ratman Ralph Champion GeneralHankerchief's Avatar
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    Default Re: Possible habitable planet - right next door

    I call dibs.
    "I'm going to die anyway, and therefore have nothing more to do except deliberately annoy Lemur." -Orb, in the chat
    "Lemur. Even if he's innocent, he's a pain; so kill him." -Ignoramus
    "I'm going to need to collect all of the rants about the guilty lemur, and put them in a pretty box with ponies and pink bows. Then I'm going to sprinkle sparkly magic dust on the box, and kiss it." -Lemur
    Mafia: Promoting peace and love since June 2006

    Quote Originally Posted by TosaInu
    At times I read back my own posts [...]. It's not always clear at first glance.


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    Moderator Moderator Gregoshi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Possible habitable planet - right next door

    Quote Originally Posted by wooly_mammoth View Post
    Such things are just fairy tales for now. It's still a hardcore challenge to get to a much closer and proven to be decent planet: Mars. And even if we get there, we still don't really have a clue what to do with it, at least if you leave the fairy tales aside. As vital as space travel and expansion is for the survival of our species, to be honest I don't think we'll make it in time. We're still at the level of dreaming about mining nearby asteroids and processing the raw ore in orbit, mostly with robots. Transporting human beings in safe conditions over such distances, with the equipment needed to survive the journey and establish a home elsewhere, that's just blue sky dreaming.
    I was thinking of just a Voyager-like probe to 1) test the feasibility and potential unknown issues with interstellar flight, and 2) should it get there, to get a closer look at the planet. Transporting people comes after we know more about how to get to another star. Proxima b is just the first reasonable target for such an effort. And dreams are the seeds of future reality.
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    the angry, angry elephantid Member wooly_mammoth's Avatar
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    Default Re: Possible habitable planet - right next door

    Well, I agree that it's nice to dream, but between ourselves and these dreams there's the real world with very real and difficult problems. High energy cosmic radiation is one of them. One trip to Mars alone would expose you to a dose of radiation comparable to what some astronauts take in their whole career.

    This is one of the many reasons why I can't be that overly excited about the discovery of a seemingly nice planet several light years away. There's a decent one right next door that is yet way out of reach.

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    Moderator Moderator Gregoshi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Possible habitable planet - right next door

    Very true wooly, but unfortunately, Mars hasn't ignited our imagination (or doesn't anymore). However, perhaps Proxima b might just do that - and Mars is a good first step towards b with regards to humans getting out of the Earth-Moon system.
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    Iron Fist Senior Member Husar's Avatar
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    Default Re: Possible habitable planet - right next door

    Also consider that at the rate we're ruining this planet, we better reach a new one soon...


    "Topic is tired and needs a nap." - Tosa Inu

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    master of the pwniverse Member Fragony's Avatar
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    Default Re: Possible habitable planet - right next door

    It ain't that bad and getting better, in London Museum you can find and iconic protest-letter that was written with water from the Thames instead of inkt.

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    master of the wierd people Member Ibrahim's Avatar
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    Default Re: Possible habitable planet - right next door

    Quote Originally Posted by Fragony View Post
    It ain't that bad and getting better, in London Museum you can find and iconic protest-letter that was written with water from the Thames instead of inkt.
    Well, in Europe and North America it's getting better, but no so much elsewhere (look up the state of Chinese rivers, the Niger river delta, etc).
    I was once alive, but then a girl came and took out my ticker.

    my 4 year old modding project--nearing completion: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=219506 (if you wanna help, join me).

    tired of ridiculous trouble with walking animations? then you need my brand newmotion capture for the common man!

    "We have proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that if we put the belonging to, in the I don't know what, all gas lines will explode " -alBernameg

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    Iron Fist Senior Member Husar's Avatar
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    Default Re: Possible habitable planet - right next door

    Quote Originally Posted by Fragony View Post
    It ain't that bad and getting better, in London Museum you can find and iconic protest-letter that was written with water from the Thames instead of inkt.
    I was talking about large parts around the equator becoming uninhabitable due to irreversible warming of the climate and us running out of fossil fuels and other materials anyway. Did you know that oil is also used for a lot of medicines? And for the plastic that we try to replace the water in the oceans with before we eat it with all the fish that we completely overfish everywhere.


    "Topic is tired and needs a nap." - Tosa Inu

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    master of the pwniverse Member Fragony's Avatar
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    Default Re: Possible habitable planet - right next door

    Quote Originally Posted by Husar View Post
    I was talking about large parts around the equator becoming uninhabitable due to irreversible warming of the climate and us running out of fossil fuels and other materials anyway. Did you know that oil is also used for a lot of medicines? And for the plastic that we try to replace the water in the oceans with before we eat it with all the fish that we completely overfish everywhere.
    My trust in the inguinity of mankind is almost limitless, there aren't many of them but some people are rediculously smart. i'm not one of them mind you

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    Default Re: Possible habitable planet - right next door

    it will be possible some people are rediculously intelligent.

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    Praefectus Fabrum Senior Member Anime BlackJack Champion, Flash Poker Champion, Word Up Champion, Shape Game Champion, Snake Shooter Champion, Fishwater Challenge Champion, Rocket Racer MX Champion, Jukebox Hero Champion, My House Is Bigger Than Your House Champion, Funky Pong Champion, Cutie Quake Champion, Fling The Cow Champion, Tiger Punch Champion, Virus Champion, Solitaire Champion, Worm Race Champion, Rope Walker Champion, Penguin Pass Champion, Skate Park Champion, Watch Out Champion, Lawn Pac Champion, Weapons Of Mass Destruction Champion, Skate Boarder Champion, Lane Bowling Champion, Bugz Champion, Makai Grand Prix 2 Champion, White Van Man Champion, Parachute Panic Champion, BlackJack Champion, Stans Ski Jumping Champion, Smaugs Treasure Champion, Sofa Longjump Champion Seamus Fermanagh's Avatar
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    Default Re: Possible habitable planet - right next door

    To quote one of my favorite singing philosophers, Eric Idle:

    "And pray that there's intelligent life, somewhere up in space...cause there's 'bugger-all' down here on Earth."
    "The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom.” -- Milton Friedman

    "The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." -- H. L. Mencken

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