. Military Space News .




.
EXO WORLDS
Earth-like planets feature in new survey
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Dec 5, 2011


Tired of life on Earth? There may be other options, according to a catalog released on Monday of planets and moons that could have the right conditions to support life, planetary scientists said.

A total of 47 exoplanets and exomoons are potential habitable candidates, according to the online ranking of bodies outside our solar system by the Planetary Habitability Laboratory (PHL) of the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo.

Two of the exoplanets are confirmed to have the right distance from their star to support water, plus a suitable temperature and atmosphere to support life.

But be warned, it would take Earthlings quite a long trip to get there.

One of the "marginally Earth-like" planets, Gliese 581d, is 20 light years from Earth, and the other, HD 85512b, is 36 light years away.

They are among the 700 exoplanets that have been detected and confirmed by missions such as NASA Kepler space telescope.

The Habitable Exoplanets Catalog (HEC), available online at http://phl.upr.edu, is the first to classify exoplanets and exomoons them according to their habitability in a somewhat user-friendly format.

The rankings give scientists "the ability to compare exoplanets from best to worst candidates for life," said says Abel Mendez, director of the PHL and principal investigator of the project.

Proposed future missions, such as the NASA Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF), would be needed to confirm the suitability for life of the other 45 candidates identified in the catalog.

"I hope this database will help increase interest in building a big space-based telescope to observe exoplanets directly and look for possible signatures of life," said Jim Kasting, an expert on planetary habitability science from Penn State.

Kepler is NASA's first mission in search of Earth-like planets orbiting suns similar to ours.

It launched in 2009, equipped with the largest camera ever sent into space -- a 95-megapixel array of charge-coupled devices -- and is expected to continue sending information back to Earth until at least November 2012.

The space telescope is searching for planets as small as Earth, including those orbiting stars in a warm, habitable zone where liquid water could exist on the surface of the planet.

Related Links
Lands Beyond Beyond - extra solar planets - news and science
Life Beyond Earth




.
.
Get Our Free Newsletters Via Email
...
Buy Advertising Editorial Enquiries






.

. Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle



EXO WORLDS
Habitable Does not Mean 'Earth-Like'
Seattle WA (SPX) Nov 24, 2011
Within the next few years, the number of planets discovered in orbits around distant stars will likely reach several thousand or more. But even as our list of these newly discovered "exoplanets" grows ever-longer, the search for life beyond our solar system will likely focus much more narrowly on the relatively few of these new worlds which exhibit the most Earth-like of conditions. For mu ... read more


EXO WORLDS
Medvedev to talk missile shield in Prague

Romania ratifies US missile shield agreement

NATO allies to meet amid Russia anger over missile shield

Kratos Receives $2.4 Million Contract to Support International Missile Defense Systems

EXO WORLDS
Israel says Syrian rocket tests show regime's fear

South Korea planning to buy cruise missiles

Russia sends ship-killer missiles to Syria

Iran missile projects unaffected by blast: general

EXO WORLDS
US Navy, Northrop Grumman Demonstrate First Manned-Unmanned Intel Sharing

A new, more versatile type of control for autonomous systems

No indication drone lost in Iran was shot down: US

Indra Makes In Cadiz A Flight Demonstration Of Its Unmanned Aircrafts Pelicano And Mantis

EXO WORLDS
Astrium achieves Initial System Acceptance on Yahsat programme

Northrop Grumman Awarded Microscale Power Conversion Contract

Raytheon First to Successfully Test With On-Orbit AEHF Satellite

Lockheed Martin AMF JTRS Team Demonstrates Communications and Tactical Data Sharing At Army Exercise

EXO WORLDS
Lockheed Martin Awarded Contracts For Marine Corps Targeting System

Northrop Grumman to Provide Combat Electromagnetic Environment Simulator for Air Force E-3 AWACS

Lockheed Martin's JAGM Cooling System Completes Testing

New Material's Capability to Increase Weapons' Explosive Force Demonstrated

EXO WORLDS
Iraq seeks new F-16s to bolster air force

Israel fears F-35 delivery will be delayed

France ready to offer military training to Libya: admiral

US firearms sales hit all-time high on Black Friday

EXO WORLDS
NATO allies meet amid tensions with Russia, Pakistan

West pushing Russia into arms race: top general

China has right to develop military: Pentagon

China VP tells US: stop 'politicising economic issues'

EXO WORLDS
Rheinmetall demonstrates laser weapons

LockMart Directed Energy Leader Receives Purdue's Outstanding Aerospace Engineer Award


.

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2012 - Space Media Network. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement