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Scientists have detected an atmosphere around an Earth-like planet for the first time.



Papa Lazarou

Living in a De Zerbi wonderland
Jul 7, 2003
19,360
Worthing
Always wondered this. Oxygen is harmful to most things on this planet, it just so happens we need it. There is also life on earth that survives at thousands of degrees of heat, why couldn't this type of life also exist in 300 degree heat?

I don't think that's correct. In the report they give a maximum temperature that life can survive on Earth and it's not much more than the boiling point of water (120c or so)
 






FatSuperman

Well-known member
Feb 25, 2016
2,922
Seems like this planet would be similar to Venus, our nearest neighbour.

Interestingly, the atmosphere on Venus consists of mainly carbon dioxide with clouds of sulfuric acid and nitrogen. The temperature at the equator is about 450 degrees (lead melts at 350). The atmospheric pressure is far heavier than earth - 90 times heavier. The planet surface is either flat, devoid of any liquid or covered in volcanoes, ranging from half a mile to well over one hundred miles wide. The lava flows from these volcanoes can stretch for thousands of miles.
Hurricane force winds constantly smash the atmosphere around and science dudes have been tracking a massive cyclone for about a decade so far - god knows what they've named it. That said, the surface winds are much calmer, weirdly.
The day/night cycle is over one hundred days long, so after you've seen one sunrise, you've got a third of an Earth year before you see light again. Assuming you don't count the light cast from your burning children, homes, possessions and lead store. In Latin, the planet Venus is referred to as Lucifer.

This hellish place is where women come from.
 


whitelion

New member
Dec 16, 2003
12,828
Southwick
I never really understand why they always judge potential life on other planets by the situation that happened it to allow it on ours. In the highly likely scenario that there is life somewhere else, why would it have to breath oxygen and live in a temperature below about 60C? If it's that far away then surely it's just as likely it's a completely different setup?

I will admit that these scientist are probably slightly more clued up on the subject than I am though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This has been my overriding thought for as many years as I care to remember.

The question should surely be - what is life? It could take many shapes and forms and not necessarily dependent on the presence of water. These alien life forms could exist on nuclear fusion or concentrated hydrochloric acid.
 


Megazone

On his last warning
Jan 28, 2015
8,679
Northern Hemisphere.
Meanwhile on earth:

Scientists have detected an atmosphere around Selhurst Park for the first time.

Their observations suggest that Selhurst park is cloaked in a thick layer of gasses that are either Body odour or Methane or a mixture of both.
 






Igzilla

Well-known member
Sep 27, 2012
1,708
Worthing
I never really understand why they always judge potential life on other planets by the situation that happened it to allow it on ours. In the highly likely scenario that there is life somewhere else, why would it have to breath oxygen and live in a temperature below about 60C? If it's that far away then surely it's just as likely it's a completely different setup?

I will admit that these scientist are probably slightly more clued up on the subject than I am though.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This has been my overriding thought for as many years as I care to remember.

The question should surely be - what is life? It could take many shapes and forms and not necessarily dependent on the presence of water. These alien life forms could exist on nuclear fusion or concentrated hydrochloric acid.

Well, whilst I agree that the definition of "life" is a debatable one and one that has vexed philosophers for centuries, the chemical basis for life is on amore certain footing.

Carbon is generally considered to be the best element from which to construct complex structures. it has a valency of 4 and is small enough to be able to create very long chain, off which other elements can then attach to and create said complex structures. Other elements either don't form as many bonds or, like silicon (directly below carbon in the periodic table) can, but are too heavy to form long chains like carbon, thus reducing the scope for complexity.

Oxygen is light, highly reactive element and in molecular form can store lots of energy as it forms double bonds. It is also in water molecules and because of its valency of 2 forces the hydrogen atoms to attach at a 120 degree angle. This then allows water to have the properties it does and make the molecule highly dipole, which makes water such a good substance in which to conduct chemical reactions.

In other words, the basic chemistry of life is probably going to be variations on these common themes. How that then manifests itself as actual thinking, living sentient beings is entirely different, all due to the complexity afforded by this fundamental chemistry.
 


Igzilla

Well-known member
Sep 27, 2012
1,708
Worthing
They spoke on the radio recently about Voyager having now left our solar system. So where has it gone? Does the next solar system start straight away, in which case why isn't there a planet on the edge of it. If it's not in the next solar system, then what is it in?

Outer Space.

The Interstellar medium, or interstellar space. The ISM (did this at Uni) is the space within a galaxy where no stellar influence dominates, either through magnetic fields, solar wind, gravity etc. It's the place of dust clouds, galactic magnetic fields and detritus spat out from stellar environments. For Voyager, it just so happens that the next stellar system it will meet is like 300,000 light years away. That's not the closest though.
 




glasfryn

cleaning up cat sick
Nov 29, 2005
20,261
somewhere in Eastbourne




Herr Tubthumper

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
62,686
The Fatherland
There is also life on earth that survives at thousands of degrees of heat, why couldn't this type of life also exist in 300 degree heat?

There's probably a planet up there with alien dudes in shades, shorts and flip-flops thinking that no one can survive in windy, grey, drizzly 8 degrees.
 




Fungus

Well-known member
NSC Patron
May 21, 2004
7,155
Truro
They spoke on the radio recently about Voyager having now left our solar system. So where has it gone? Does the next solar system start straight away, in which case why isn't there a planet on the edge of it. If it's not in the next solar system, then what is it in?

Voyager is in the Delta Quadrant
 




BBassic

I changed this.
Jul 28, 2011
13,054
Always wondered this. Oxygen is harmful to most things on this planet, it just so happens we need it. There is also life on earth that survives at thousands of degrees of heat, why couldn't this type of life also exist in 300 degree heat?

I think its just because we have a limited frame of reference. Ie we know the conditions that support life on this planet and can reasonably assume that those would be the minimum conditions elsewhere.

That's not to say that life can't thrive in conditions that we, or anything we know of, simply cannot. Maybe that planet plays host to a race of bipedal fire people.
 




Bold Seagull

strong and stable with me, or...
Mar 18, 2010
30,463
Hove
They spoke on the radio recently about Voyager having now left our solar system. So where has it gone? Does the next solar system start straight away, in which case why isn't there a planet on the edge of it. If it's not in the next solar system, then what is it in?

You can follow how far the Voyager probes are here.

Voyager 1 is in interstellar space, and there is a mind boggling amount of that before it gets anywhere near another solar system. Voyager 2 is in the heliosheath which is the outermost part of the heliosphere where the solar winds from our Sun are slowed by the interstella medium. Voyager 1 is currently travelling at 38,000mph.

Both probes were built to last 4 years, and yet to date it seems all the instruments on board still work. There is a brilliant documentary about the probes on BBC iPlayer I think.
 


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