Posted: 7/24/2012 11:49:42 PM EDT
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"As the search progresses and technology improves, smaller-sized rocky worlds like Earth are now starting to be found. This is exciting because it is primarily these planets where extraterrestrial life of some kind could possibly exist." |
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Quoted: "As the search progresses and technology improves, smaller-sized rocky worlds like Earth are now starting to be found. This is exciting because it is primarily these planets where extraterrestrial life of some kind could possibly exist." only a matter of time. sometime soon well have cameras with teh resolution to see the surface from here.. maybe.. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
"As the search progresses and technology improves, smaller-sized rocky worlds like Earth are now starting to be found. This is exciting because it is primarily these planets where extraterrestrial life of some kind could possibly exist." only a matter of time. sometime soon well have cameras with teh resolution to see the surface from here.. maybe.. I wonder if that's physically possible. Would be pretty cool though. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
"As the search progresses and technology improves, smaller-sized rocky worlds like Earth are now starting to be found. This is exciting because it is primarily these planets where extraterrestrial life of some kind could possibly exist." only a matter of time. sometime soon well have cameras with teh resolution to see the surface from here.. maybe.. I wonder if that's physically possible. Would be pretty cool though. That would be a massive step forward from where we are now. As it is we can't see these planets at all. The only reason we know they exist is because we can observe and measure the tiny affect their gravity has on nearby stars. I don't know about being able to study the surface, but I believe NASA is working on a telescope that's even more powerful than the Hubble. Supposedly it will be powerful enough to allow us to actually see some of these exoplants. |
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Quoted: Quoted: "As the search progresses and technology improves, smaller-sized rocky worlds like Earth are now starting to be found. This is exciting because it is primarily these planets where extraterrestrial life of some kind could possibly exist." only a matter of time. sometime soon well have cameras with teh resolution to see the surface from here.. maybe.. I'm not sure that we'll ever have telescopes with the angular resolution necessary to see any detail on the surface of extra-solar planets (this is why we can't image the Apollo landing sites from Earth), but I think that we will be able, before too long, to infer a lot about a planet through spectrographic analysis of its atmosphere. |
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As already stated, spectro analysis will be front and center for analyzing distant worlds.
And as it improves, along with our understanding of such things, we should be able to detect with a reasonable accuracy what the likelihood of life on a planet really is. Knowledge on this topic is proceeding at a truly remarkable pace. In 2010, I remember a scientist stating "in five to ten years, we should find our first extra-solar planet". By 2012, we have found hundreds. |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
"As the search progresses and technology improves, smaller-sized rocky worlds like Earth are now starting to be found. This is exciting because it is primarily these planets where extraterrestrial life of some kind could possibly exist." only a matter of time. sometime soon well have cameras with teh resolution to see the surface from here.. maybe.. it would be a big step in tech for us, we cannot even make out detail on pluto |
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Quoted: As already stated, spectro analysis will be front and center for analyzing distant worlds. And as it improves, along with our understanding of such things, we should be able to detect with a reasonable accuracy what the likelihood of life on a planet really is. Knowledge on this topic is proceeding at a truly remarkable pace. In 2010, I remember a scientist stating "in five to ten years, we should find our first extra-solar planet". By 2012, we have found hundreds. I'm pretty sure the first such planets were discovered in the 20th century. |