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New un-confirmed data says Earth-sized planets are extremely common

Kepler Scientist: 'Galaxy is Rich in Earth-Like Planets'

While the data hasn't been confirmed by NASA yet, and the numbers are still being officially crunched, preliminary findings leaked by a Kepler scientist suggest that Earth-sized worlds are very common.

"The statistical result is loud and clear. And the statistical result is that planets like our own Earth are out there. Our Milky Way galaxy is rich in these kinds of planets." --Dimitar Sasselov

A graph of planet sizes:

X-posted in Atheists who love Science and the Origins groups.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by The Secular One on July 27, 2010 at 10:31pm

I'm excited to see some spectroscopic data on those planets...

Permalink Reply by Joseph P on July 28, 2010 at 11:29pm

I suspect that it is highly unlikely that anything even remotely like us even exists

Eh, I can't agree with you there. The sheer number of planets out there that are capable of forming life is staggeringly huge. There must be life on at least a few of them, and given the fact that our solar system is relatively new in terms of the galactic timescale ...

The problem is that galactically speaking, we're on the ass end of nowhere. We're out in bumfuck Alpha Centauri.

Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on July 29, 2010 at 8:29am

She isn't saying that life couldn't possibly exist. Just life that is like us. In other words, mirror images of us.

Permalink Reply by Joseph P on July 29, 2010 at 1:57pm

Hmm, if you read it like that, then yeah. I took her to mean intelligent life ... or carbon-based lifeforms that have something similar to our DNA structure, even. I'd say that given the sheer numbers, the odds of other carbon-based lifeforms being somewhere in our galaxy are pretty good. They're just very unlikely to find us, if they even care to.

If you're expecting it to be like Star Trek, though ... then yeah, not happening.

Permalink Reply by The Secular One on July 30, 2010 at 7:11am

Why Kwon do you think we have never been visited when there is actual evidence of just such visits, I guess it comes to whether one will believe their own eyes or ears. My point is that your assumption that we haven't had other intelligent life contact us, isn't really true either.

*cough*woo*cough*

Evidence of this drivel, please? Von Daniken has been debunked.

Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on July 30, 2010 at 6:30pm

What we have a problem with is your claim that we have been visited by aliens. Nobody is disputing that there could be other life in the universe.

Permalink Reply by The Secular One on July 30, 2010 at 6:34pm

Nobody is disputing that there could be life in the universe.

I know there is! I'm here and in the universe! =P

Anyways...

Heck I'd argue most of us here would bet that there is life elsewhere in the universe when it came down to it. But just because the chances are good doesn't mean it is a neccessity.

Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on July 30, 2010 at 6:36pm

I fixed the boo boo.

Permalink Reply by Joseph P on July 31, 2010 at 12:48am

Yes, I'd say the odds of us being alone in the universe are so small as to be effectively non-existent. With all of the stars and planets in our galaxy alone, there's damned near certain to be other life in our galaxy. Then, once you figure in the other 100,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe ... well, you get the picture.

But the odds of it finding us are insignificant, unless it just happens to be on the next couple of stars over. We're out in the boondocks.

Permalink Reply by The Secular One on July 30, 2010 at 6:32pm

we can not be the only intelligent life in this whole vast universe

Evidence please?

By the way, I think the most likely scenario is that there are other intelligent, technological civilizations in the universe. But to claim to KNOW something is something else entirely.

So, if you can stop your name-calling long enough to provide some evidence, I'd love to see it!

Permalink Reply by Joseph P on July 31, 2010 at 5:13pm

Huh? Which is evidence of?

Permalink Reply by The Secular One on July 31, 2010 at 7:01pm

An "we are here" is evidence of intelligent life visiting our planet how?

Or do you mean you are an intelligent extraterrestrial visitor?