Light Detected from Alien Planets

[OneFinger]

Light from two worlds far from our solar system has been detected for the first time. The planets that emit it are too hot to be inhabited, at least by intelligent beings, but an Earthly satellite has gotten the best views yet of planets orbiting other stars like the sun.

 

"It's an awesome experience to realize we are seeing the direct glow of distant worlds," says David Charbonneau of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. "When I first saw the data, I was ecstatic."

 

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2005/03.24/photos/1-planetlight1-450.jpg

 

Read the entire story at:

 

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2005/03.24/01-planet.html

[Guest ReturnOfS]

>"It's an awesome experience to realize we are seeing the

>direct glow of distant worlds,"

 

Can we say geeeeek?

 

lol Just kidding. :+

 

I found this find interesting too when I first heard about it.

The picture looks cool but it isn't what the scientists are actually seeing. Its an artist's rendition.

[OneFinger]

>Can we say geeeeek?

 

<raises hand with one finger clearly extended> :+

[joel304]

Why's it always guys in Utah, trailers, fields in Iowa :-)

[Guest ReturnOfS]

>Why's it always guys in Utah, trailers, fields in Iowa :-)

 

Well, what else is there to do in Utah? lol

[+ friendofsheila]

It's weird to think that the light emitted from those planets probably left about a zillion years ago. The planets might be long dead by now....

 

(cue Twilight Zone Theme here)

[Guest skrubber]

Where are you guy's thirst for knowledge?

[eastbayguy]

>Light from two worlds far from our solar system has been

>detected for the first time. The planets that emit it are too

>hot to be inhabited, at least by intelligent beings, but an

>Earthly satellite has gotten the best views yet of planets

>orbiting other stars like the sun.

 

Life elsewhere in the universe likely won't resemble life here. Conditions here are different than all 9 of the planets orbiting our sun. While earth creatures wouldn't be able to live there without asbestos suits (or whatever), remember Star Trek: "It's life Jim, but not as we know it". Thank you Dr. McCoy.

 

EBG is soon to have a major paper published in a widely regarded, peer-reviewed scientific journal on SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, in which an opinion is offered that searching radio waves for life is unlikely to ever succeed and offering a novel explanation as to why. The paper will likely be published late this fall.

 

--EBG

[+ Hoover42]

Oh no! You mean I wasted 40,014 hours of CPU time on seti@home?

 

Doh! :-)

 

...Hoover

[eastbayguy]

>Oh no! You mean I wasted 40,014 hours of CPU time on

>seti@home?

 

Success isn't impossible. Just improbable. Less probable than first thought.

 

I run SETI@Home myself, and plan to continue doing so. If you stop listening and doing data analysis, the odds of success are forced to zero. The various SETI projects need to outlive us all.

 

--EBG

[Juan Vancouver]

I always thought that the middle finger totally extended meant something totally different...

(But again, maybe I am not familiar with geek's sign laguage.):-(

[+ friendofsheila]

Personally, based on my pseudo-pop (not "pop" but "PSEUDO-pop") knowledge of such things, I think the time differences will make for the biggest barrier to us being in contact with the little green men out there. But then, you were talking about finding them, not contacting them.

 

Maybe they are already among us... Uhh, where do YOU hail from EBG?

 

[eastbayguy]

>Personally, based on my pseudo-pop (not "pop" but

>"PSEUDO-pop") knowledge of such things, I think the time

>differences will make for the biggest barrier to us being in

>contact with the little green men out there. But then, you

>were talking about finding them, not contacting them.

 

Call it receipt of a signal from out there somewhere. Time, time differences along with the progress of technology is precisely the issue. The question of whether we're alone in the universe is

 

>Maybe they are already among us... Uhh, where do YOU hail

>from EBG?

 

Lots of places. Some quite alien indeed. Don't rile the aliens. Many of those stories you hear about anal probes are true.

 

Wish I could come back with a wittier comeback, but right now, I just can't.

 

--EBG

[+ Hoover42]

Time differences, yes, as well as the huge distances involved...

 

If we assume that any radio-capable civilization survives for only a few hundred years, chances are that any radio signal we receive will have originated from a civilization long-dead by the time we even know they exist.

 

...Hoover

[eastbayguy]

>Time differences, yes, as well as the huge distances

>involved...

 

Time and distance become the same thing.

 

>If we assume that any radio-capable civilization survives for

>only a few hundred years, chances are that any radio signal we

>receive will have originated from a civilization long-dead by

>the time we even know they exist.

 

While a civilization may last longer, the need for big radio transmitters seems to begin declining pretty rapidly. Here on our little planet, we are already seeing a marked decline in use of big transmitters. Things like short wave are disappearing, being replaced by packet networks, cable TV and so on. Using optical means for transmission, via fiber optics, is cheaper and gets you a much larger channel. There are no spurious signals to leak in to space.

 

The image of aliens on some distant planet picking up "I Love Lucy" and wondering if there is intelligent life here is amusing but inaccurate. Any signal sent across inter-steller space would have to be transmitted specifically for that purpose.

 

This whole SETI thing is enormously complex. Quite a challenge for the ole brain.

 

--EBG

[+ Charlie]

EBG, I knew that you were handsome, charming and witty, but never realized that you were also a natural philosopher (as Newton understood the term).

[eastbayguy]

>EBG, I knew that you were handsome, charming and witty, but

>never realized that you were also a natural philosopher (as

>Newton understood the term).

 

Ah Charlie, leave it to you to capture me in one succinct sentence.

 

--EBG

 

P. S. Ya ain't so bad yerself... (as New Yorkers might say)

[FourAces]

>Maybe they are already among us... Uhh, where do YOU hail

>from EBG?

 

I had the opportunity to meet EBG and aside from the slight green hue and his uncanny ability to moonwalk he seemed like a pretty tpyical human being to me :7

 

RT

[+ friendofsheila]

Don't rile the

>aliens. Many of those stories you hear about anal probes are

>true.

>

>Wish I could come back with a wittier comeback, but right now,

>I just can't.

>

Nope, sorry, the "anal probe" line is already a winner.

[JDXXX]

After watching this - think you'd still wanna go try outer space?

 

This is how demented you can be when your brains are fried to a crisp like Harry Caray here.

 

Must admit - Jeff Goldbulm is hot in this clip with Will Ferrell. He's so adorable. :rolleyes:

 

Sorry for the quality. Only one on you tube I can find. .

 

Enjoy!!!