What is Digg?223 Comments
- seanmx, on 06/16/2008, -3/+132so if super man went there, would he just be ....man
- inactive, on 06/16/2008, -2/+58Super-earth? They think they better than us? *snaps*
- suckaPU, on 06/16/2008, -3/+46we are not alone
- ahawks, on 06/16/2008, -2/+40This needs to be pointed out:
http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2008/06/16/astr ...
The Bad Astronomer points out that these stars are *not* habitable. They are "super-earth"s because they are probably too small to be a gas giant, and therefore are rocky such as us.
However, they are extremely close to their sun (having orbits of just a few days), and are very very hot as a result.
They also have roughly between 4 and 9 times the mass of the earth, which would make you 4-9 times heavier.
(Sorry if my numbers/math are off. I didn't double check anything, but Phil is very good about being accurate with data) - cerealjynx, on 06/16/2008, -2/+31So what makes them Super-Earths? Like, from the article it sounds like they're just new planets. What makes them Earths?
- APer3Caper, on 06/16/2008, -0/+28I guess it's the same thing if Spider-man went to spider-earth.
- Kronos6948, on 06/16/2008, -0/+27Even if we did find a way to get there, the gravity of these huge planets would be crushing.
- Ph0biA, on 06/16/2008, -11/+36I hate the words "Near by" when it comes to space. Near by is still so far away that we wouldnt have enough food and oxygen to reach it. Near by is much like calling Paris Hilton a virgin by how wrong it is.
- Lososaurus, on 06/16/2008, -0/+19When you think of how big space and the universe really is, 42 lightyears isn't very far, you may even call it 'nearby'.
- Kenzan, on 06/16/2008, -2/+20I know it would have no benefit in my lifetime, but I suggest:
Send a probe.....NOW. - evilesttoast, on 06/16/2008, -2/+19***** yeah, super earth!
- Lonecow, on 06/16/2008, -0/+1742 Light years away
42 as in the answer to the Ultimate Question!
Don't Panic! - fuhcough, on 06/16/2008, -0/+16hold your hand out in front of you. now do it while holding 100 lbs.
now imagine your body having to "adapt" to doing that 24/7.
yes, even while sleeping it will feel like someone is sitting on your face - and not in a good way. - iet2004, on 06/16/2008, -0/+17I know we have a lot of amateur (and perhaps some professional?) astronomers on digg. could someone maybe kinda tell me what effects there would be on life/weather/geography if the earth were to travel around the sun at such speeds? I mean fast enough to finish orbit in 9.5 days? would we even be able to tell? would the earth spinning around its axis faster have a more drastic effect than how fast the planet orbits the sun? i guess so since ocean currents kinda are the way they are due to the earth's spin right?
- ahawks, on 06/16/2008, -0/+16Just their mass. They are 4.2, 6.7, and 9.4 times the mass of the Earth. But that's too small to be gas giants, so they're still earth-like... meaning, made of solids.
- ahawks, on 06/16/2008, -0/+16No... you're looking at it all wrong.
In this case, even though the store might be a mile down the road, you call it "near by", because it isn't all the way across the continental US.
42 light years is extremely close.
The milky way galaxy is a large spiral disc shape, 12,000 light years thick, and 100,000 light years in diameter.
That means the distance between us and these planets is 0.047% the diameter of the milky way.
By comparison, the continental US is roughly 2600 miles across. 0.047% of that is 122 miles
We may not be able to physically get there in a life time, but the fact that we could send a radio transmission there, and receive a reply within 1 lifetime (if there were life) makes it very, very close. - zephyr42, on 06/16/2008, -2/+16I think it's selfish and quite pompous of we humans to think that we are alone or the most intelligent beings in our universe.
- inactive, on 06/16/2008, -1/+16If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain
- McShr3dd3r, on 06/16/2008, -0/+13We just need the LHC to create a wormhole, or "stargate" if you will and 'poof,' New worlds to invade and take resources from!
- DougieD, on 06/16/2008, -2/+15Sensational title!
- SirvenomItsac, on 06/16/2008, -2/+14don't they call it "Krypton"?
- Andrwmorph, on 06/16/2008, -1/+12"To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today. " Isaac Asimov
- BeforeSputnik, on 06/16/2008, -1/+11I would work-out there, and get super strong in the increased gravity, and then come back to earth and spend my days jumping over tall stuff and punching stupid people, really hard.
- LLLSecretChimp, on 06/16/2008, -0/+11Yeah, and when you think about how many men there are, Paris Hilton is really kind of a virgin.
- Pittance, on 06/16/2008, -1/+1242 light years isnt that far. Its way out of our leage of travel for now. But once we get FTL drives, it'd probably be just a jump or two away. (someone correct me here, I'm sure they've mentioned how far they can jump)
- erichw1504, on 06/16/2008, -0/+9and if Batman went to Bat Earth
- Andrwmorph, on 06/16/2008, -0/+9Its better than nothing
- strictnein, on 06/16/2008, -0/+9Why? According to Wikipedia, Voyager 1 has traveled 14.62 light-hours over the past 30 odd years, which is a little over 0.0016 light years. So, a light year at that rate would take 18750 years.
Now, let's just say we can do 1000 times better with today's technology. That means it would take 18.75 years to go a light year or about 750-800 years to get a probe to the one 42 light years away. - teh_techie, on 06/16/2008, -0/+9Not really sure... but our bodies have evolved with this level of gravity being optimal. No reason why organic matter somewhere else can't evolve under higher or lower amounts of gravity.
- friarcrazy, on 06/16/2008, -0/+8"Super-Earth"? That's the best name they could come up with? Pitiful "Regular-Earth" brains!!
- MacEnvy, on 06/16/2008, -2/+10That would suck. The conservatives would invade and ruin our liberal utopia after short-sightedly using up their natural resources.
- Pittance, on 06/16/2008, -0/+9Ocean tides are because of the moon. Currents are due to local and global weather patterns, and I guess maybe some due to the moon.
iet, if our planet was going that fast at current orbit distance, we would be travelling at 1/268th the speed of light. I'm sure that we would see some relativistic effects at that speed. If we were at a closer distance, the earth would get much hotter. These planets orbit so close they are at 1000C, or 1832F. That is hot enough to ensure there is nothing resembling life like ours, ever. - ronintetsuro, on 06/16/2008, -0/+8Finally, the search for the 12 Colonies can begin.
- suckaPU, on 06/16/2008, -1/+9well if water can exist, so can life... life just evolves to fit that environment. just because humans, who are highly adapted to earth, can't live there doesn't mean other lifeforms also can not.
- kipmartin, on 06/16/2008, -1/+10what effects there would be on life/weather/geography if the earth were to travel around the sun at such speeds?
dogs would hang there heads out of house windows with their mouths open and their tongues out. - MacEnvy, on 06/16/2008, -0/+8Absolutely, something could evolve and live there ... but not us. I thought we were talking about humans traveling there, which would pose some problems unless we had mech suits.
- MammasMilk, on 06/16/2008, -0/+7They were all like " Our earth is bigger and faster than your earth."
And we were all " Oh no you didn't!" - ahawks, on 06/16/2008, -1/+8Do not ***** this thread up with creationist videos.
There very likely IS life out there, in fact the recent findings of organic chemicals in meteorites highly suggests that life on earth may have been sparked by outside sources, or that life can develop elsewhere.
For anyone else, his link is to "The Privileged Planet" by Guillermo Gonzalez.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Privileged_Planet - inactive, on 06/16/2008, -0/+7If you weighed one ton, how well could you move around? How hard would that be on your heart? Could you even breathe?
- noahhoward, on 06/16/2008, -0/+7Thousands of people on earth are outsmarted by squirrels every day... we're probably not even the most intelligent things on our planet.
- Enfenestrate, on 06/16/2008, -0/+7Perpetual motion machine, obviously
- Andrwmorph, on 06/16/2008, -1/+8Superman + super-earth = super-superman
- InfiniteNothing, on 06/16/2008, -0/+7Too close to their star for water.
- Albear89, on 06/16/2008, -1/+8I wonder if there are Super Walmarts?
- Surefly, on 06/16/2008, -0/+6Earth 2.0 TBD.
- Greengoo, on 06/16/2008, -2/+8and if ___man went to ___earth.
- Andrwmorph, on 06/16/2008, -0/+5Wrong.
"Solar System" is a song written by Brian Wilson for the American pop band The Beach Boys. It was released on their 1977 album Love You. - noahhoward, on 06/16/2008, -1/+6I don't seen anything in there that says they have have high temperatures. It only mentions the size and speed of orbit. They wouldn't exactly be earth-like if they were mercury-like now would they.
- suttercain, on 06/16/2008, -0/+5This can't be Krypton. Sadly Krypton blew up back in 1939 after the isolationist silenced Jor-El from warning others about the soon to be extinct planet. My theory, this may not be Krypton, but instead Apokolips.
- TheWebSwinger, on 06/16/2008, -1/+6I guess DC comics called it.
-
Show 51 - 100 of 227 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is