140 earth size planets found by kepler?

[none123]

Some news sites reported today that over 100 Earth Size planets were found with Kepler in the last few weeks. Here are a few:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/space-probe-locates-earth-like-planets/story-e6frg6so-1225896747135
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1296841/More-100-Earth-like-planets-just-past-weeks.html
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/07/25/nasas-deep-space-camera-locates-host-earths/

Astronomer Dimitar Sasselov told a conference that a space telescope has uncovered 140 different planets which are around the same size as Earth.

Scientists celebrated Sunday after finding more than 700 suspected new planets -- including up to 140 similar in size to Earth -- in just six weeks of using a powerful new space observatory.

Early results from NASA’s Kepler Mission, a small satellite observing deep space, suggested planets like Earth were far more common than previously thought.

Past discoveries suggested most planets outside our solar system were gas giants such as Jupiter and Saturn -- but the new evidence tipped the balance in favor of solid worlds.

Astronomers said the discovery meant the chances of eventually finding truly Earth-like planets capable of sustaining life rose sharply.

NASA so far formally announced only five new exoplanets -- those outside our solar system -- from the mission because its scientists were still analyzing Kepler’s finds to confirm they are actually planets.

“The figures suggest our galaxy, the Milky Way [which has more than 100 billion stars] will contain 100 million habitable planets, and soon we will be identifying the first of them,” said Dimitar Sasselov, professor of astronomy at Harvard University and a scientist on the Kepler Mission. "There is a lot more work we need to do with this, but the statistical result is loud and clear, and it is that planets like our own Earth are out there."

So I searched because something that big should be everywhere, and I couldn't find it on a single credible science site, or a news website that I knew was a credible source. And instead found this:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/kepler-earth-like-exoplanets-100722.html

"What Dimitar presented was 'candidates,'" said David Koch, the mission's deputy principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "These have the apparent signature we are looking for, but then we must perform extensive follow-up observations to eliminate false positives, such as background eclipsing binaries. This requires substantial amounts of ground-based observing which is done primarily in the summer observing season."

In June the Kepler team announced the discovery of 706 planet candidates â€" objects that preliminarily have the right signature to be alien worlds.

The telescope looks for stars whose light appears to dim periodically, representing the time when a planet passes in front of the star and temporarily blocks some of its light. These findings were detailed in a scientific paper by Kepler's science principal investigator William Borucki, also of NASA Ames.

"In my TED talk I was simply repeating what was already announced by the Kepler team back [on] June 15, 2010 and is in the Borucki et al., paper," Sasselov told SPACE.com.

"So, no new news here â€" but more to come later in the year!" he said.

Koch confirmed that Kepler's official planet tally is still much lower. "Other than the 5 planets previously published, we have not announced anything else," he said.

However, Sasselov did say that what Kepler has learned so far about extrasolar planets offers tantalizing hints that our planet may not be unusual.

Among the hundreds of candidate planets, a large percentage of them appear to be Earth-like â€" that is, small and rocky, rather than large and gassy, like Jupiter.

"Even before we have confirmed the planets among these hundreds of candidates, we can see statistically that the smaller-sized planets will be more common than the large-sized (Jupiter- and Saturn-like ones) in the sample," Sasselov explained.

To confirm a planet, the Kepler mission requires that the planet passess in front of the Sun 3 times. So a planet in the habitable zone will take a long time to be officially announced, so these candidates I'm sure are ones that have made 1 or 2 passes, and just hasn't met the 3 pass requirement to be called. So it is still good news for the future, but no official Earth Size or habital planets announced yet.  (Kepler launched last April, so big discoveries won't be confirmed for a couple more years most likely)

I really want intelligent alien life to be discovered because if they are discovered, and look completely different which obviously they would, and don't religion, then I think it would prove god doesn't exist. Cause why would he create us in his image, but another species in a different image, and they are just as smart or smarter? It probably won't happen since life has been on this planet for a billion years, and has only sent radio waves in less than the last 100, and in the next 100 we could be wiped out by some religious zealot that gets his hands on nukes and wants to fulfill the bible's end of world prophecies. Anyways here are some religious posts on the foxnews.com article, pretty humorous.

Sigh ! What is there to say? There are planets "out there"? No doubt! Like our own Earth? In what respect? Size? Again, no doubt. Salt water or plain H2O over 3/4 of such planet? In your dreams! Able to support life? What sort of life do you mean .... like amoebas? Possibly, but not with the name amoeba. Oxygen atmosphere of 15-20 percent? Possibly! Even so .. what other gases make up the atmosphere? Just having the right percentage of oxygen won't cut it for "life as we know it". Face it, Folk! The chance of finding spiders, monkeys, ET .. or Archangel Michael on another planet are so infinitely remote that one has to scratch the head in wonderment in the shallowness of science. The only answer has to be a divine engineer conjured it all ... for us .. the one and the ONLY planet with intelligentsia.

it is quite ridiculous to assume that just because there are trillions of galaxies in the universe, that that is sufficient to somehow guarantee that intelligent life exists other than on earth. It doesn't matter how many galaxies and planets there are. What matters is if those galaxies and planets have the correct, necessary parameter characteristics. Astronomer Hugh Ross has calculated the probabilities for over 100 necessary design parameters occurring by chance, and has concluded that the probability of the existence of a planet like Earth is 1 chance in 10>99th power. There is only an estimated 10>23rd power number of planets in the universe. This means that 1. there shouldn't be even a single planet capable of being life sustainable and 2. if there is a life-sustainable planet, it would be a mathematical miracle. 3. there is one planet that is life-sustainable. Planet earth. Instead of asking "where are all the intelligent ETs?"...I suggest you first consider the amazingly fine-tuned design of our universe, galaxy, solar system and earth, made just right for intelligent life and for that intelligent life to make scientific observations of its galactic surroundings. This is not the work of chance, since chance does not "do" anything. It is the work of a Creator.

Humanistic scientists assume that life just happened. Consequently it can "just happen" anywhere. If they ever got their evolutionary "brains" out of their butts long enough to consider it, they'd "discover" that life CANNOT "just happen." There has to be a Creator. And there is a Creator. And He made THIS planet for His redemptive purposes -- not a whole bunch of them. SO, even though there are billlions of other planets, none of them are "like" Earth -- and none of them have life. However, I understand why evolutionists say what they say. They hate God and love their sin.

This is just more Junk Science from the anti-God/Commie/Global Warming crowd at NASA. They are just shilling for Obama and those Liberal Traitors to get more of the American tax payers money so they can waste it on rockets to nowhere. These people are worthless. Get them out of God's country and get NASA off the tax payers back. If I want my hard earned money to be wasted on some NASA Parasite's vision of the future he imagines from seeing some twinkling lights then I'll send the worthless animal a donation.. Otherwise... Get your stinking hand out of my pocket.. Commie.

As a Christian, I can assure you that discovering life on other planets wouldn't do anything to change the fact Jesus died for our sins. Science IS discovering God. Why are antheists so angry and why are they always trying to "prove" there is no God anyway? You can't prove there isn't one just like we can't prove there is one... you need to have faith!

[Tank]

Interesting post. Thanks for that.

[Squid]

I like how the first two people in the comments try and toss out what sounds as if it's based in scientific fact.  The first person seems to think that the current atmospheric conditions are the only configuration under which life can thrive - apparently they forget that life on this planet emerged BEFORE the atmospheric oxygen level reached 20%.  The second person quotes Hugh Ross's ridiculous calculations which are based upon his cherry picked information - but most people aren't going to check his work and those that do can see the BS right off the bat.  Such self-assuredness...at any cost I suppose.

[The Magic Pudding]

I really want intelligent alien life to be discovered because

Because there's bugger all down here on earth?
Sorry

I hope we don't meet any aliens before we get these believers sorted out.
That would be really embarrassing.
How would we explain it, lack of oxygen during the birth process?

[karadan]

it is quite ridiculous to assume that just because there are trillions of galaxies in the universe, that that is sufficient to somehow guarantee that intelligent life exists other than on earth. It doesn't matter how many galaxies and planets there are. What matters is if those galaxies and planets have the correct, necessary parameter characteristics. Astronomer Hugh Ross has calculated the probabilities for over 100 necessary design parameters occurring by chance, and has concluded that the probability of the existence of a planet like Earth is 1 chance in 10>99th power. There is only an estimated 10>23rd power number of planets in the universe. This means that 1. there shouldn't be even a single planet capable of being life sustainable and 2. if there is a life-sustainable planet, it would be a mathematical miracle. 3. there is one planet that is life-sustainable. Planet earth. Instead of asking "where are all the intelligent ETs?"...I suggest you first consider the amazingly fine-tuned design of our universe, galaxy, solar system and earth, made just right for intelligent life and for that intelligent life to make scientific observations of its galactic surroundings. This is not the work of chance, since chance does not "do" anything. It is the work of a Creator.

This response to the article seems to gloss over a really important point; how do they know intelligent life, or simple life for that matter, requires 100% the same parameters as that on Earth to exist? If the complex arrangement of various elements can sustain sentience and intelligence on Earth in hundreds of forms, then there will be myriad ways to do it elsewhere under radically different conditions. That makes the calculations that guy pulled out of his arse null and void.
If he meant the chances of there being an exo-planet with the same composition, geological history and biosphere as Earth practically nil, then i'd have to agree with him. But that isn't essentially what life requires to flourish - or so i'm hoping.

[Martin TK]

I like how the first two people in the comments try and toss out what sounds as if it's based in scientific fact.  The first person seems to think that the current atmospheric conditions are the only configuration under which life can thrive - apparently they forget that life on this planet emerged BEFORE the atmospheric oxygen level reached 20%.  The second person quotes Hugh Ross's ridiculous calculations which are based upon his cherry picked information - but most people aren't going to check his work and those that do can see the BS right off the bat.  Such self-assuredness...at any cost I suppose.

I love the way you use the term "cherry picked information" it is SO true, Christians are so desperate to find anything that remotely sounds scientific, that they will latch onto any faith-head with a degree as if Jesus himself had said it.

I like the way Dawkins explains it, something like if there are a billion-billion planets in the universe and life only occures at the rate of one in a billion, there would still be a billion planets in the universe with life.  I know that is somewhat simplistic, and certainly NOT as "complex" a reasoning as Hugh Ross, but come on, it makes pretty good statistical sense.  Dawkins goes on further to state that while life on any planet is a near impossibility, the very fact that we can prove that it happened on one, gives us reasonable insight that it can, and probably has, happened on many others.

I find it truly funny that Faith-Heads are so threatened by the possibility of life out there, because then it will mean that we aren't so special, at least not in god's eyes, as every 'Egotistical Faith-head" has been lied to in order to believe since childhood.  I am convinced that there is life out there, and one day science will be able to prove it, perhaps not in my lifetime, but one day.  Of course, if you had said that the US would have a Black President in my lifetime, I would have told you no way, too.

[none123]

I figured this probably didn't need to be a new topic, so posted this here. A solar system with 5-7 planets was detected and announced. This is the most planets detected outside of our solar system. One planet may be only slightly larger than earth (1.4 times as big) but is much too close to the star.  But is still pretty cool that just about as many planets. Of course when our detecting technique's are improved, earth size planet in the habitable zone should be detected, and I would think it would be common for multiple planet solar systems to be detected.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/alien-planets-solar-system-discovered-100824.html
http://skymania.com/wp/2010/08/new-solar-system-has-seven-planets.html
http://www.cosmicdiary.org/blogs/nasa/franck_marchis/?p=899

[karadan]

I figured this probably didn't need to be a new topic, so posted this here. A solar system with 5-7 planets was detected and announced. This is the most planets detected outside of our solar system. One planet may be only slightly larger than earth (1.4 times as big) but is much too close to the star.  But is still pretty cool that just about as many planets. Of course when our detecting technique's are improved, earth size planet in the habitable zone should be detected, and I would think it would be common for multiple planet solar systems to be detected.

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/alien-planets-solar-system-discovered-100824.html
http://skymania.com/wp/2010/08/new-solar-system-has-seven-planets.html
http://www.cosmicdiary.org/blogs/nasa/franck_marchis/?p=899

I read about that yesterday. I then saw how far away it was :yay: