NASA cries planetary 'bonanza' with 715 new worlds.
NASA on Wednesday announced a torrent of new planet discoveries, hailing a "bonanza" of 715 worlds now known outside the solar system thanks to the Kepler space telescope's planet-hunting mission.
A new method for verifying potential planets led to the volume of new discoveries from Kepler, which aims to help humans search for other worlds that may be like Earth.
"What we have been able to do with this is strike the mother lode, get a veritable exoplanet bonanza," Jack Lissauer, a planetary scientist at NASA, told reporters.
"We have almost doubled just today the number of planets known to humanity," he said.
The 715 newly verified planets are orbiting 305 different stars
The latest announcement brings the number of known planets to nearly 1,700.
Not much is known about the composition of these distant planets and whether they would truly have the conditions that would support life, such as a rocky surface, water and a distance from their stars that leaves them neither too hot nor too cold.
Four of them are potentially in the habitable zone of their stars and are about the size of Earth, NASA said.
Most of the new discoveries are in "multiple-planet systems much like our own solar system," and 95 percent are between the size of Earth and Neptune, which is four times larger than our planet, said the US space agency.
Most are also very close to their stars.
"The Kepler team continues to amaze and excite us with their planet hunting results," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
The new method for verifying planets relies on a statistical technique that can be applied to multiple planets at once.
http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-cries-planetary-bonanza-715-worlds-200707552.html
Quote715 newly verified planets are orbiting 305 different stars
QuoteFour of them are potentially in the habitable zone of their stars and are about the size of Earth, NASA said.
Very cool. Fantastic things are out there waiting for us. Just need to develope a drive system far better than what we have.
Yes that is very interesting Wartoad...
It is surprising now how many the new technology has allowed Nasa to detect them. I wonder if Matrix has visited any ...
It would be fascinating if we could build a craft to venture to them..
Here is another article with quite a good video worth watching that show some interesting things..
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..Nasa Telescope Finds 'Mother Lode' Of Planets
Nasa's planet-hunting Kepler telescope has discovered more than 700 new worlds outside the solar system.
Scientists say the latest results push the number of planets discovered in the galaxy to about 1,700.
Just 20 years ago, astronomers had not found any planets circling stars other than the ones revolving around the sun.
"We almost doubled just today the number of planets known to humanity," Nasa planetary scientist Jack Lissauer said.
Nasa scientist Douglas Hudgins called the discovery a major step towards Kepler's ultimate goal: "finding Earth 2.0".
Astronomers used a new technique to come up with the largest single announcement of a batch of exoplanets - what planets outside our solar system are called.
All the new planets are in systems like ours where multiple planets circle a star.
The 715 planets were nearly all similar in size to Earth and four orbit their stars in "habitable zones" where conditions would support liquid water which is crucial for life to exist.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/nasa-telescope-finds-mother-lode-planets-024938549.html?vp=1
Quote from: WarToad on February 27, 2014, 03:38:23 PM
Very cool. Fantastic things are out there waiting for us...
Indeed.
Copernicus, Giordano Bruno, and Galileo all dared to challenge conventional wisdom and alert us to the likely possibility that is now coming into focus... now that we have a new pair of glasses to peer around the galactic neighborhood.
The press conference 'NASA's Kepler Mission Announces a Planet Bonanza, 715 New Worlds' with all the details on the astounding findings can be seen here -
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/44255543 (http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/44255543)
And also we now have 'NASA's Kepler Discovers First Earth-Size Planet In The Habitable Zone of Another Star'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlidbLyDnPs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlidbLyDnPs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlidbLyDnPs)
And so what conclusions can we surmise from these new discoveries?
That Copernicus, Bruno, and Galileo were all more on target than even they suspected?
Hmmm... 8)