Tuesday, December 6, 2011

A Planet to Call Home?

This undated handout artist rendering provided by NASA shows Kepler-22b, a planet known to comfortably circle in the habitable zone of a sun-like star.


Read the following article and watch the video:
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/1205/New-earth-like-planet-discovered-by-NASA-spacecraft-Video

What parameters do astrobiologists look for when looking for a planet that is like Earth and could possibly support life as we know it?
What are five interesting ideas that you read about or watched in the video?

8 comments:

  1. I think this is acutally really cool that there could be a planet that is similar to earth and there could be even life of that planet. It is even 2.4 times bigger than earth. They just need to look for if it is gas, liquid, or so like and see if it is livable. it is really interesting that there are planets that are that far away that we didnt even know about. Like in the video i hope some of us get a chance to visit that planet with the right technology and safety.

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  2. It is very interesting to finally see a planet that has many of the right conditions for life to survive. i have seen many reports on planet that were close to perfect but were missing one key element like atmospheric composition. it seems optimistic to call this planet a second earth but i am very interested in seeing if any further research will prove weather or not this planet can be colonized by humans sometime in the future.
    David Townsend Block 2

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  3. When looking to see if another planet is Earth like they look for if it gas like, rock like, or liquid like. For example Earth is liquid like because it is made up of mostly water. Kelper is at least twice the size of Earth and is many light years away. I hope in the future we will be able to learn more about this planet and or even be able to visit it.
    Savanna Snyder Block 2

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  4. This is very interesting. I think it is really cool that this information came in just yesterday. This NASA spacecraft Kepler is making new discoveries about planets that are orbiting a sun just like our Earth is. But many of the planets it has found are burning hot and to hot for any life. But Kepler did find a planet similar to ours just yesterday. It is crazy that it is 600 million light years away. I am very excited to learn more about this new Kepler-22b planet when new news and information comes out.
    Kayla Garcia Block 1

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  5. This article and video were both very interesting to learn about. Finding out that we discovered a new planet is amazing. What also is really cool is uncovering that life could possibly live on it. Because of its maybe correct gases on there and the mild temperature, it would be interesting to see how a visit would be. Even thought it takes many lights years away to get there from Earth, I hope one day we can visit it. Hopefully more information will come out from this new planet because I am excited to learn more.

    Brittany Thomas
    Block 2

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  6. This article and video contained some pretty crazy stuff! After first reading the article I was pretty flaborghasted at the numbers presented pertaining to how many other canidates like Earth are outised our galaxy. The idea that there are over 1,000 other planets out there that could possibly sustain life is quite intriging. Then, after watching the video I got a better idea as to what the article was talking about as the Canadian guy explained it. He said that a few of the things that scientists look for when looking for a planet like Earth is its ability to sustain gases needed for life, and also its make-up. For example if it is rocky, or mostly liquidy, or somewhat gassy. They then look to see what the average temperature on the planet is and if it has any greenhouse affect to go with it. The idea of living on other planets with "little green men" is pretty exciting. But if it takes over a few thousand years to get there, due to the fact that these planets are 600 lightyears away, I hope these scientists figure out a way to either successfully freeze people, like in the movie Star Wars, or figure out a way to make us humans live a lot longer. Because otherwise, this whole idea is kind of a useless and very unrealistic.

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  7. Personally I don't think that there could be another planet that similar enough to Earth to sustain life. It just seem so unrealistic because Earth is practically the perfect environment for the living, to recreate that would be nearly impossible it seems. The idea is really cool and interesting to hear and study about; but until someone actually discovers another planet that is like that, I don't agree.
    -Alysia L.
    1st block

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  8. Obviously, we as a people, have excelled in space technology. we have found out that no other planet in our solar system sustains life. it seems unreal to think that there is another planet out there that has a species or even a human race inhabiting it. If there is proof of a planet like that out there in the universe then i will believe it. I do think that it is possible though
    Kelly Beach 1st block

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