32 new planets found outside solar system

[Michael]

32 planets discovered outside solar system

(CNN) -- Thirty-two planets have been discovered outside Earth's solar system through the use of a high-precision instrument installed at a Chilean telescope, an international team announced Monday.

The existence of the so-called exoplanets -- planets outside our solar system -- was announced at the European Southern Observatory/Center for Astrophysics, University of Porto conference in Porto, Portugal, according to a statement issued by the observatory.

The announcement was made by a consortium of international researchers, headed by the Geneva Observatory, who built the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher, or HARPS. The device can detect slight wobbles of stars as they respond to tugs from exoplanets' gravity. That tactic, known as the radial velocity method, "has been the most prolific method in the search for exoplanets," according to the European Southern Observatory statement.


Source (http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/10/19/space.new.planets/index.html)

Wow! These things are way out there! Who know that planets were so bloody common things?

[andrewl]

Source (http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/10/19/space.new.planets/index.html)

Wow! These things are way out there! Who know that planets were so bloody common things?


It would be a bit strange if planets were not common i think.

Andrew

[SMadsen]

Now we only need to find life. Preferrably, of course, in our own solar system so that it can be more easily verified.

[dilettante]

Now we only need to find life. Preferrably, of course, in our own solar system so that it can be more easily verified.

I've seen life somewhere around here.... :)

[SMadsen]

I've seen life somewhere around here.... :)
There ya go, easily verifiable.

[Greendruid]

Now we only need to find life. Preferrably, of course, in our own solar system so that it can be more easily verified.

You still seem to be certain that we'll be able to recognise life in another form.

[SMadsen]

You still seem to be certain that we'll be able to recognise life in another form.
I have to admit that I can't remember having been certain of that but, sure, if we find life then I'm actually 100% certain that we have recognized it as being life. Regardless of life form. If it's life we've found but we don't recognize it as life then it's not like we'll say we've found life.

[The Drunk Guy]

You still seem to be certain that we'll be able to recognise life in another form.
I may be stretching, but are you referring to the planets and stars as forms of life? :ummm:

[Zarquon]

I may be stretching, but are you referring to the planets and stars as forms of life? :ummm:
I think he meant non-carbon based life

[The Drunk Guy]

I think he meant non-carbon based life
That always reminds me of an old Disney cartoon about potential life-forms. One was a silicon based form that simply grew in intricate crystal formations. Wouldn't that be the same as the planets themselves being life forms?

[Zarquon]

That always reminds me of an old Disney cartoon about potential life-forms. One was a silicon based form that simply grew in intricate crystal formations. Wouldn't that be the same as the planets themselves being life forms?
You wouldn't call the Earth 'alive', just because of grass now would you?

[The Drunk Guy]

You wouldn't call the Earth 'alive', just because of grass now would you?
The grass is a separate life. I would call Earth alive because, underneath the surface, there is a constant process of churning and pulsing which creates energy.

I suppose we would need to define life before we could actually continue this discussion, though. I feel that an object that takes one form of energy and converts it into another form of energy naturally is a lifeform.

[dilettante]

I suppose we would need to define life before we could actually continue this discussion, though. I feel that an object that takes one form of energy and converts it into another form of energy naturally is a lifeform.

I think you're right about the need to define "life". Though I admit I don't have a good definition off-hand.

However, I submit that a rock sitting in the sun would be "life" by your definition, since it's converting light energy into thermal energy.