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How we found hundreds of Earth-like planets.

Earth-size is not Earth-like: the TED Talk by Dimitar Sasselov

Two weeks ago, I gave a talk at TED Global 2010 which was very well received, but caused confusion. I talked about Earth-like planets, which many people would equate to Earth-size and "habitable."
Earth-size and Earth-like is certainly not the same. Take the example of Venus, an Earth-size planet whose surface will melt lead. I understand that the term "Earth-like" was misleading to most of the media coverage. The Kepler mission is designed to discover Earth-size planets but it has not yet discovered any; at this time we have found only planet candidates.
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Millions of Earths talks causes a stir

Anyone who believes that we've found life in other planets at this point of time is a moron. 🙄
 
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It's amazing what those idiots will believe while still not believing in life on other planets... the universe is a large place, it's incredibly improbable that there are no planets or even moons with at least some form of life.
 
dude so what if we found them.

we'll never make there by 2012 so its all a lost cause anyhow.
 
the tie example he used toward the end to show earth's biosphere in comparison to the universe in size, and more interestingly,time was outstanding.
 
It's amazing what those idiots will believe while still not believing in life on other planets... the universe is a large place, it's incredibly improbable that there are no planets or even moons with at least some form of life.
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Be that as it may, it still doesn't mean that there's life outside of Earth.
 
dawp said:
the chances of that are small with how big the universe is. it is very unlikely earth is the only planet with life.
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This. It's starting to look like we are finding planets around just about every star we look at. It will be some time before we start to find earth like planets, and by that I mean earth sized. Although the Kepler mission in orbit now should find them in a few years time. There are probably hundreds of thousands if not millions of earth sized planets orbiting within the so called habitable zone within just the milky way.
 
Mr. Pedantic said:
0.01 =/= 0
0.001 =/= 0
1x10^-350 =/= 0

etc.
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Drake's equation:

The Drake equation states that:
847914dec26cc45ac2957da0054683de.png

where:

N = the number of civilizations in our galaxy with which communication might be possible;

and

R* = the average rate of star formation per year in our galaxy
fp = the fraction of those stars that have planets
ne = the average number of planets that can potentially support life per star that has planets
fℓ = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop life at some point
fi = the fraction of the above that actually go on to develop intelligent life
fc = the fraction of civilizations that develop a technology that releases detectable signs of their existence into space
L = the length of time such civilizations release detectable signals into space.[3]
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake's_equation#The_equation

that is just for civilizations in our galaxy.

it's impossible to know what the numbers are at the present time but the most conservative guesses are still in the thousands
 
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dawp said:
Drake's equation:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake's_equation#The_equation

that is just for civilizations in our galaxy.

it's impossible to know what the numbers are at the present time but the most conservative guesses are still in the thousands
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Of course it is because all variables, except perhaps the first two, to a relatively useful degree are completely unknown.

That makes this equation nothing more than mathturbation. 😛
 
Just a question about the Drake equation: since the only civilization we currently have to model from is our own, doesn't that make it kind of, well, impossible to use the Drake equation with any meaningful accuracy?

We can estimate R*, and fp, but as far as we know ne is still vanishingly close to 0, since we have hundreds of planets found, but the only ones that we know could possibly support life are bodies in this system (and some of them aren't even planets...), fl is completely unknown, so is fi, fc, and L. So. Care for an estimate? Or would you like to guess the numbers for next week's lottery? Because from the way I see it, you have about a similar chance of getting either of them right.
 
SunnyD said:
Earth-like != Habitable.
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Earth-like == infested with a parasitic species of humanoid Space Lice



edit: excerpt from a Red Dwarf episode

Lister: Why does it have to be such a big deal? Why can't it be like, like, human beings are a planetary disease? Like the Earth's got German measles or facial herpes, right? And that's why all of the other planets give us such a wide berth. It's like, "Oh, don't go near Earth! It's got human beings on it, they're contagious!"

Rimmer: So you're saying, Lister, you're an intergalactic, pus-filled cold sore! At last, Lister, we agree on something.
 
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