Nearby "Super Earth" May Have Atmosphere

Luminary Crush writes "Astronomers announced that they have discovered a 'super-Earth' which seems to have an atmosphere orbiting a red dwarf star 40 light-years from Earth. They found the distant planet with a small fleet of ground-based telescopes no larger than those many amateur astronomers have in their backyards. Although the super-Earth is too hot to sustain life, the discovery shows that current, ground-based technologies are capable of finding almost-Earth-sized planets in warm, life-friendly orbits."

Guess what...

[tacarat]

We didn't believe in global warming back there either.

This is news? No, this is newsmongering.

[dov_0]

If they find out that it does actually have an atmosphere, that is news. Until then, we do not have a news story here...

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[gstoddart]

If they find out that it does actually have an atmosphere, that is news. Until then, we do not have a news story here...

Actually, it's news in large part because they're doing this with a large number of small, ground-based telescopes. Getting that kind of resolution with that kind of equipment is a fairly big advancement. From TFA ...

Since we found the super-earth using a small ground-based telescope, this means that anyone else with a similar telescope and a good CCD camera can detect it too.

That is som

Re:

[dov_0]

The simple fact is that most people in wealthy nations, myself and yourself included, sift through a huge amount of media each day. The headline says, "newly discovered planet could possibly maybe have an atmosphere." The link to TFA, which does go into detail about the equipment used, is anchored to, "seems to have an atmosphere." Most people will look at the title, maybe sift through the article, take note of the anchor, and presume that the story is about the planet. It was.

I do agree with you that the d

Re:

[gstoddart]

The link to TFA, which does go into detail about the equipment used, is anchored to, "seems to have an atmosphere." Most people will look at the title, maybe sift through the article, take note of the anchor, and presume that the story is about the planet. It was.

Well, TFA is primarily about the planet and the fact that it seems to have an atmosphere.

The resulting density suggests that GJ1214b is composed of about three-fourths water and other ices, and one-fourth rock. There are also tantalizing hints that

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[dov_0]

You know the cool thing? You don't have to get it! You are a unique human being with your own ways of thinking and your own interests! Personally, I'm pretty bored with the regular exoplanet finds that get breathlessly reported to 'maybe possibly if-only-they-really-could have an atmostphere'. Get it put onto the Hubble schedule, check it out, if they find something, them report it. It's news. Before then it's only breathless speculation.

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[gstoddart]

You know the cool thing? You don't have to get it! You are a unique human being with your own ways of thinking and your own interests!

Aww, shucks. That's the nicest thing anyone has said to me all week. ;-P

Cheers