Alpha Centauri ’should have an Earth-like planet’
Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to our own but with a bonus: there are three stars rather than one. It’s also one of the best chances we know in the local area to have a planet similar to Earth capable of developing life like ours.
If any planet were to harbour earth-like life in the three-star system, it would likely be around Alpha Centauri A, which is most similar to the sun. However astronomer Javier Guedes and his coauthors believe that Alpha Centauri B is likely to have terrestrial planets in its habitable region. Based on computer simulations of planet formation, Guedes and his team found that no matter what starting conditions, a terrestrial planet always formed around the star. By studying the ‘wobbles’ the planet causes on its parent star, the team reckon they could find any potential planets within a few years.
[story via Daily Galaxy, image via Solstation]
March 11th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
And so, I ask, why are we not immediately dispatching probes to this star system to confirm? Although I live down in the Louisiana bayou’s, and thus a ‘primitive’, I find it difficult to beleive that there is not more enthusiasm and immediancy toward this discovery. Our grandchildren will look porely on us for delaying this opportunity. Meaux
March 16th, 2008 at 6:56 am
Hello, Manoa.
May 14th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
“”And so, I ask, why are we not immediately dispatching probes to this star system to confirm? Although I live down in the Louisiana bayou’s, and thus a ‘primitive’, I find it difficult to beleive that there is not more enthusiasm and immediancy toward this discovery. Our grandchildren will look porely on us for delaying this opportunity. Meaux”"
The Bible does not say that there is Life outside of Earth…so, why bother looking for what is not to be found ?
May 15th, 2008 at 12:26 am
There’s a lot of things the Bible doesn’t say, John, many of which are true, some of which are not. One of many reasons that I personally don’t bother using a retrospectively collated work of allegorical fiction as a constraint upon my own ability to think for myself. Your mileage, of course, may vary.
Incidentally, I don’t remember the bit in the Bible that talked about about leaving comments on websites, either. That said, I wasn’t paying very close attention at the time.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:50 am
Do not confuse Aliens with Angels.
2 Kings 19:35
“And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.”
If there ever does appear to ‘truely’ be extraressial beings visiting the earth, then i guarantee it is not ‘Alien’ life. But either a Satanic attack being launched on Planet Earth OR The rapture.
As for your snide comments calling religion ‘fiction’…well ignorance is bliss isnt it ?
have a nice day
May 15th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Chill John, it’s now OK for Catholics to believe in aliens:
http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0514/aliens.html
Although I don’t quite see where angels come into any of this.
May 15th, 2008 at 10:38 am
Precisely - which is why I only get annoyed with persons of faith when they evangelise at me. Believe what you will - I’m a pluralist, it makes no difference to me. But wave it in my face, and I’ll call it how I see it.
May 15th, 2008 at 11:59 am
Anyway… about Alpha Centauri: I could have sworn that, only a couple of years ago, the conventional wisdom was that trinary systems were too inherently unstable - in terms of gravitational perturbations, crazy comet orbits and such - to harbor a viable Earth-like world. What’s changed?
June 11th, 2008 at 10:44 am
the bible has nothing to do with any sort of extra solar discoveries. simply put, why are there not more comprehensive efforts underway to discover planets? i seem to remember something about a discovery of other planets orbiting alpha centauri b. why is there only speculation about this instead of solid info? we have the means and the drive… so what the heck is going on here? oh and come on… there isnt even solid reference to dinosaus in the bible besides the mention of leviathans. how could you quote that passage mr john? they found bacteria on mars which would be alien, would it not? go back to church
June 11th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Six centuries ago religious people tried to shut up Galileo when he said the sun didn’t revolve around the Earth but I assume you’ve come to terms with that scientific discovery? If you didn’t like this post about a planet around our neighbouring star, John, I’m guessing you’re going to hate today’s post in which evolution is proved to be true…
I think religion has its place. But science has its place too and God or Gods can be just as impressively powerful with science as against it. In fact, is a God who has created intricate physical laws for how the universe began, expanded with the slightest quantum variations being inflated into large-scale structure that condensed into galaxies and stars and planets, that then evolved life and intelligent life on at least one of these planets, is that God not more impressive than one who clicked his fingers and made everything happen in seven days?
June 17th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Correction: the author is a woman and her name is Javiera Guedes, not Javier!
June 17th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
A suggestion to those of you “Christians” who are at war with science: Read “The World’s Sixteen Crucified Saviors” by Kersey Graves (A classic first published around 1875)