715 newly discovered planets!

[StealthySlicer]

Hi all,

 

I read the below article recently and was blown away by the number of new planets found (715!!).  I remember years ago when the first planet was discovered outside of our solar system.  And now we have nearly found 2,000 of them, within just our own galaxy.  And they seem to be getting smaller and smaller as our detection methods increase.

 

http://seattle.cbslocal.com/2014/02/27/nasa-announces-mother-lode-of-new-planets/

 

When do you think we'll find another Earth like planet in the hospitable zone, with water, etc?  I'm starting to feel like it's going to be a real possibility soon.

[LazyHippo]

The other day I found an article on space.com talking about this, on how close we are to find a planet that could allow life as we know it.

In my opinion I think we could find a decent planet like ours in about 5-10 years.

[CheepHeep]

Imagine what those planets might be rich in. Minerals that may be harvested in the future, an unlimited supply Great finds!

[S3ti]

Finding planets isn't a big problem anymore, getting there is impossible and will probably always be. At least until we discover some kind of warp- or hyperdrive thingy

[StealthySlicer]

The other day I found an article on space.com talking about this, on how close we are to find a planet that could allow life as we know it.

In my opinion I think we could find a decent planet like ours in about 5-10 years.

 

I agree.  The article also touches on this, and as I recall, smaller planets require more data so even though we are only half way through the data we aren't half way through the "small" planets.

 

Finding planets isn't a big problem anymore, getting there is impossible and will probably always be. At least until we discover some kind of warp- or hyperdrive thingy

 

I'm going to go out on a limb here: I don't think a "warp or hyperdrive thingy" is impossible.

[S3ti]

I'm going to go out on a limb here: I don't think a "warp or hyperdrive thingy" is impossible.

 

Yes, I think so too. We know that space can be bent and a lot of other stuff so it should be theoretically possible at least...The bigger problem is that we need a lot of time to develop technologies (millenia+) which we probably don't have. Be it humanity wiping out itself or we get hit from some asteroids or other space stuff.

 

I'm not so sure in which direction manking will head, but today it seems more interesting to pump shitloads of money, work and people into war- and military shit than using that money to explore space and develop those technologies. I'm pretty sure we could already have outposts on the moon or even mars if we focused all that potential on that. It's a shame since I think that stuff is way more interesting

[RENEGADE*]

Finding planets isn't a big problem anymore, getting there is impossible and will probably always be. At least until we discover some kind of warp- or hyperdrive thingy

Tractor beam.

[StealthySlicer]

And what do ya know?  An Earth-like planet was found orbiting in the habitable zone of a distant star.  All using the same data as the original story.  I bet we find a lot more once all of the data is collected and compiled.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2588005/Has-Nasa-new-Earth-Astronomer-discovers-sized-planet-Goldlocks-zone-host-alien-life.html

[MaKy]

Maybe we don't need to develop the technology to reach those planets ourselves. Maybe with some form of radio/satellite communication we can call a space taxi that already exists.

[StealthySlicer]

And they keep coming.

 

http://www.space.com/25530-earthsize-exoplanet-kepler-186f-habitable-discovery.html