Planet K2-18b "best candidate for habitability"

[Stevicus]

Water vapor found on an ‘Earth-sized’ exoplanet 110 light-years from home

This week, astronomers announced new hope for extraterrestrial habitability: an exoplanet some 110 light-years away from Earth that harbors water in its atmosphere.

The discovery, published in two independent papers published in Nature Astronomy and on the pre-print server arXiv.org, marks the first time researchers have detected an Earth-like planet orbiting a distant star that supports liquid water—a crucial ingredient for life as humans understand it.

Well, this sounds cool. Let's all pack up our spaceships and get going.

But don’t pack your bags just yet.

Oh darn...

While it’s offered up some tantalizing tidbits, the planet, called K2-18b, likely harbors many foreign features, and is 2.5 times larger and eight times more massive than Earth. Such intermediate sized planets don’t always look like Earth, and may actually more closely resemble Neptune—the icy planet that’s one size up in our own solar system.

“K2-18b is not ‘Earth 2.0,’” Angelos Tsiaras, an astronomer at University College London and author of the Nature Astronomy paper, said in a statement. “However, [this] brings us closer to answering the fundamental question: Is the Earth unique?”

 

[Spirit of Light]

In my view there is no need to find a "new home" because if we do as we did on earth we just destroy the next planet too. So better to find solution here on earth and fix what we done wrong so far here.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Gravity there might be just a little uncomfortable.

 

[Shad]

In my view there is no need to find a "new home" because if we do as we did on earth we just destroy the next planet too. So better to find solution here on earth and fix what we done wrong so far here.

Reminds me of Firefly and the Alliance. Same core problems but with more "area" (moons, planets, etc) to draw resources from before critical mass is reached.

 

[Spirit of Light]

Reminds me of Firefly and the Alliance. Same core problems but with more "area" (moons, planets, etc) to draw resources from before critical mass is reached.

I can not stop others from going, but i see no reason to leave this planet. And yes we do destroy earth, so we need to fix it insted of running away

 

[Subduction Zone]

Actually not that bad, gravity wise. Though the planet has 8 Earth masses its gravity would only be 1.3 times Earth's acceleration. It also has a diameter about 2.5 times that of Earth. The square cubed law is in our favor for once.

 

[sun rise]

How do we know that we did not live on other planets in other lives before this one. We just forgot about those lives.

 

[ChristineM]

Actually not that bad, gravity wise. Though the planet has 8 Earth masses its gravity would only be 1.3 times Earth's acceleration. It also has a diameter about 2.5 times that of Earth. The square cubed law is in our favor for once.

Even a constant extra 1/3 body weight would take a lot of getting used to. But think of the workout, putting on muscle mass would be easy.

 

[Subduction Zone]

Even a constant extra 1/3 body weight would take a lot of getting used to. But think of the workout, putting on muscle mass would be easy.

No doubt all sorts of diseases would increase, heart disease especially, it is not as bad as I first thought that it would be. It would not be a pancake world.

 

[Mock Turtle]

In my view there is no need to find a "new home" because if we do as we did on earth we just destroy the next planet too. So better to find solution here on earth and fix what we done wrong so far here.

No reason why we can't do both, since we know the Earth has a limited life (along with our Sun), but perhaps the priority should be in dealing with Earthly problems first.

And according to this article, radiation might be a problem too:

HST finds water vapor in atmosphere of habitable zone exoplanet – Astronomy Now

 

[Spirit of Light]

No reason why we can't do both, since we know the Earth has a limited life (along with our Sun), but perhaps the priority should be in dealing with Earthly problems first.

And according to this article, radiation might be a problem too:

HST finds water vapor in atmosphere of habitable zone exoplanet – Astronomy Now

If the earth go down in the time i living on it, then that is something i accept. But i want to help the earth by living as green/eco friendly as possible. And yes just since the industrial revolution we humans have destroyed this planet almost to the none returnable

 

[Twilight Hue]

Gravity there might be just a little uncomfortable.

But if you came from there, and came here you would be Superman!

 

[Subduction Zone]

No reason why we can't do both, since we know the Earth has a limited life (along with our Sun), but perhaps the priority should be in dealing with Earthly problems first.

And according to this article, radiation might be a problem too:

HST finds water vapor in atmosphere of habitable zone exoplanet – Astronomy Now

I wonder why they make that claim. Just being closed to the star is not a good reason. The star is a red dwarf so it should be putting out less ionizing radiation.

 

[Polymath257]

I wonder why they make that claim. Just being closed to the star is not a good reason. The star is a red dwarf so it should be putting out less ionizing radiation.

I'm curious about that claim also. A red dwarf should be producing *less* UV radiation, for example, than our sun.

Given the hydrogen in the atmosphere, I doubt there is much free oxygen, which means no ozone, which means more radiation gets through the atmosphere.

On the other hand, the Earth didn't have much free oxygen for quite a while, yet bacterial life existed during that time. In fact, free oxygen is one of the markers they plan to use to say there could be life on another planet since it is made primarily by living things.

 

[Revoltingest]

How do we know that we did not live on other planets in other lives before this one. We just forgot about those lives.

I remember.
And you still owe me $5 from a prior life.

 

[Polymath257]

I remember.
And you still owe me $5 from a prior life.

Don't forget to include interest!

 

[Revoltingest]

Don't forget to include interest!

Speaking of which...
Where's that atlatl you borrowed?

 

[Polymath257]

Speaking of which...
Where's that atlatl you borrowed?

Oh that? Well, that's how I died in my previous life. The spear I was trying to throw hit *me*.

 

[Revoltingest]

Oh that? Well, that's how I died in my previous life. The spear I was trying to throw hit *me*.

That can happen with those.
Use a longer spear next time.

 

[ChristineM]

No doubt all sorts of diseases would increase, heart disease especially, it is not as bad as I first thought that it would be. It would not be a pancake world.

Falling from what you would assume was a reasonably safe height would make it a pancake world