Y'know, I'm surprised that with the amount of geeks people fascinated by such things, like me, around here, nobody's posted this yet. x3 But, I found it pretty cool.
A new planet discovered within the habitable zone of star system Kepler 22. (http://austin.ynn.com/content/top_stories/281852/nasa-discovers-new-habitable-planet)
Go ahead, start the discussion alien jokes. :B I'll actually be geeking out on the possibilities like a good dabbler of evolutionary biology. x3
Homosapiens are oggling our planet, invasion is imminent, break out the koolaid.
Quote from: SquirrelWizard on December 11, 2011, 02:00:10 PM
Homosapiens are oggling our planet, invasion is imminent, break out the koolaid.
Don't be like that Wiz. I, for one, welcome our New Alien Overlords. And when they arrive, I would like to let them know my knowledge of Earth would be very useful for enslaving the rest of my race.
All I ask is my own penthouse office in the Citadel and a nice title to go with my new role in subjugating this planet.
Kepler 22-b doesn't excite me as much as one would think. For instance, its estimated surface temperature is dependent on its atmospheric density and composition.
In general, I would expect a larger-than-Earth planet to have a very dense atmosphere. Even if if it's only 2-3 times as dense as Earth's, that vastly increases its thermal retention, raising the temperatures far too high.
Plus, given that such a planet would also certainly have a large, active core and mantle, the volcanic activity could potentially be intense and spew vast amounts of CO2 and sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, turning it into a massive Venus analogue.
Super-earths are much more likely to support life if they are in an orbital position comparable to Mars. Even Mars would be a perfectly pleasant, temperate world if it possessed an Earth-type atmosphere. It is a virtiually airless, cold world today because it lacks a magnetic field to prevent the solar wind from ionizing and stripping away its atmosphere.