life on other planets? | The Coffeehouse

jason818_253.33
Yippi skippy

NASA is planning the launch of the first mission capable of finding earth-size planets. The Kepler mission will focus on one point of the Milky Way galaxy for the duration of its function in search of planets that might sustain life.
http://www.kepler.arc.nasa.gov/

Do you think there is life on other planets?

Edit:

The technology is impressive. It can detect an earth like planet passing in front of a star. By measuring the brightness of that star it will be able to detect the dim in brightness on a scale of 1 part per 10 thousand. It uses a ccd like in a camera. A really good camera might have 10 megapixels. The Kepler has 96 million megapixels.

alwaysmc2
It's not stupid; It's advanced!

Life on other planets wouldn't conflict with anything I know or believe, so I don't see why there couldn't be. That doesn't mean there is or isn't though, just that it's possible.

Of course, a planet's ability to sustain life doesn't imply that it contains life... It's all so indefinite.

PaoloM
Hypermediocrity

The Kepler has 96 million megapixels

Well, a bit less actually... 84MP combined in a mosaic of 42 2MP sensors Smiley

jason818_253.33
Yippi skippy

In reply to PaoloM

#Feb 25th @ 11:33 AM

Thanks PaoloM. I took the information on the 96 million MP from a video they had up on the NASA site. But your number sounds more realistic.

but here is another link that sais it creates a 95million mp image. http://kepler.nasa.gov/pdf_files/95_Million_Pixel_FPA.pdf

I wonder what the algorithms are like for parsing and tracking the information for some 6 and a half million stars it will have in its view.

Charles
Welcome Change

Stunning technology, indeed. I hope they find that rocky planet formation is a typical byproduct of stellar evolution. That would be a welcome fact to support the notion of a universe brimming with life (at least life like ours, which may be the achilles heal of this thinking).

C

PaoloM
Hypermediocrity

In reply to jason818_253.33

#Feb 25th @ 11:43 AM

Yup, 42 sensors for imaging (84MP) and 4 for guidance control (8MP).

They do some "blurring" to flat out the noise curve, after all they're interested mostly in spectral data and occlusions, so the resolution is a bit lower than the max achievable (in a pure imager they'd go flat out for max resolution, but this is a different experiment).

Hrm. One day I'd like to go back doing these things Smiley

Charles
Welcome Change

In reply to PaoloM

#Feb 25th @ 12:51 PM

The Microsoft Planetary Spectral Analysis Developer Studio Software plus Services USS Enterprise Suite Star Date 8600.21 Team is looking for a PM, dear Paolo.

Smiley

C

evildictaitor
if( !succeed( try() ) ) { while(true) try(); }

Do I think there is life on other planets?

Almost certainly.

Do I think there is intelligent life on other planets?

Probably.

Do I think the human race will come into contact with other life forms during its short time in the universe?

Probably not.

Do I think the human race will come into contact with other intelligent life forms during its short time in the universe?

Almost certainly not.

Harlequin
http://twitter.com/TrueHarlequin

In reply to Charles

#Feb 25th @ 12:29 PM

Well even our own planet goes against the "life like ours" in a few places. We have lifeforms living in almost zero ozygen environments, some living in acids. And they're the ones we know about, who knows what else is on our own planet that defies science Smiley

bureX
Always a step ahead in stupidity.

In reply to evildictaitor

#Feb 25th @ 1:42 PM

What makes you think the human race donesn't have much time left?

There are other planets besides Earth, you know...

Koogle
I'm a Terminator - Astalavista, Vis7a!

what an advert to see after a comedy show.. aack, bad bbc!

life on other planets? //sure why not

Charles
Welcome Change

In reply to Harlequin

#Feb 25th @ 1:59 PM

Yes, but all life on Earth appears to be carbon based, with DNA.
C

cheong

In reply to Charles

#Feb 25th @ 3:44 PM

I remember a book I read when I was < 12 years old say that the only possible candidate for another life element is silicon, another "carbon group" element.

Btw, had anyone heard about any new findings from the SETI project?

Minh
WOOH! WOOH!

In reply to cheong

#Feb 25th @ 6:31 PM

Btw, had anyone heard about any new findings from the SETI project?

Yes, there has been a new development...

Late last year, the SETI guys found an interesting signal from nearby star Epsilon Eridani

The signal was so interesting that it was dubbed wow II

It was immediately disseminated for analysis and UC Berkley announced that it was a extra terrestrial TV broadcast... The decoded picture is below:

The broadcast seems to be some sort NASCAR like race. Scientists universally agree this proves there is extra terrestrial life, but not necessarily intelligent life.

Dr Herbie
Horses for courses

In reply to Minh

#Feb 25th @ 7:29 PM

Eric Idle said:

Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving,
And revolving at 900 miles an hour,
That's orbiting at 19 miles a second, so it's reckoned
A sun that is the source of all our power.

The sun and you and me and all the stars that we can see,
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at 40,000 miles an hour
Of the Galaxy we call the Milky Way.

Our Galaxy itself contains 100 billion stars
It's 100,000 light years side to side
It bulges in the middle, 16,000 light years thick
But out by us it's just 3,000 light years wide

We're 30,000 light years from galactic central point,
We go round every 200 million years
And our Galaxy is only one of millions and billions
In this amazing and expanding Universe
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light you know,
12 million miles a minute, and that's the fastest speed there is.

So remember when you're feeling very small and insecure
How amazingly unlikely it is your birth
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
Because there's bugger all down here on Earth.

Herbie

May28th2018
May 28th, 2018

In reply to Dr Herbie

#Feb 25th @ 10:30 PM

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/news/marsmethane.html

We'll definitely find life. It just won't be the kind from Star Trek or Aliens.
It's more likely than not that we'll all be dead by the time we would have evolved enough to venture into other solar systems which can support life, and where life has evolved to the same point as ours.

Our only real hope is for such life to find us, and for our governments not to hide it from us if that does happen.