Kepler Confirms Exoplanet Inside Star's Habitable Zone 257
astroengine writes "Plenty of 'candidate' exoplanets exist, but for the first time, Kepler has confirmed the existence of an exoplanet orbiting its Sun-like star right in the middle of its 'habitable zone.' Kepler-22b is 2.4 times the radius of Earth and orbits its star every 290 days. 'This is a major milestone on the road to finding Earth's twin,' said Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. 'Kepler's results continue to demonstrate the importance of NASA's science missions, which aim to answer some of the biggest questions about our place in the universe.'"
Silly artist's conceptions. (Score:5, Funny)
Scientists don't yet know if Kepler-22b has a predominantly rocky, gaseous or liquid composition, but its discovery is a step closer to finding Earth-like planets.
Sure they do! Just look at the picture right next to the article [nasa.gov]! Man, who gets paid to Photoshop these spheres in front of bits of nebulae all day? That must be an interesting job.
habitable maybe (Score:5, Funny)
Re:habitable maybe (Score:5, Funny)
Did you have to Rule 34 the thread already?
Re:This just in... (Score:4, Funny)
Oh the irony... (Score:4, Funny)
...to spend a ton of time, effort, and research to find Earths twin, only to find the race of carbon-based life forms living there has completely fucked up the entire planet by abusing its natural resources.
"Well shit. NASA, you're not gonna believe this...we found alien life alright...and they're as fucked up as we are."
Re:What do we do now? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Silly artist's conceptions. (Score:5, Funny)
Aren't they all reproductions from the covers of Analog?
Re:Oh the irony... (Score:4, Funny)
Oh the irony to spend a ton of time, effort, and research to find Earths twin, only to find the race of carbon-based life forms living there has completely fucked up the entire planet by abusing its natural resources.
That's pretty much how the inhabitants of the alien planet our going to feel when they discover us. Or maybe they already have, but are smart enough to stay away.
Re:Habitable Planets (Score:0, Funny)
All the Christian Republicans will defund it before that happens.
Re:Habitable Planets (Score:5, Funny)
And... how come we haven't heard from any other civilizations on any of those planets?
They received a bunch of broadcasts containing our political debates, and concluded that there is no intelligent life on this planet.
Re:Take that... (Score:5, Funny)
I really hope we find the Earth evil twin. Surely it will be a world swamped by corruption, hunger, war and incompetence.
Oh wait....
Re:Silly artist's conceptions. (Score:5, Funny)
NASA engineer: "It's 600 light-years away. How the @#$% should I know!"
Artist: "Picking a planet from an old Star Trek episode at random then."
NASA engineer: "Ok. But no funny stuff. Save the stars, rainbows, and unicorns for your acid trips."
Artist: "Nebulous clouds in the background- check."
Re:Take that... (Score:5, Funny)
And wearing a goatee.
Re:Take that... (Score:1, Funny)
I'm afraid WE'RE the evil twin, then.
Have you looked at South America from space?