Earthlike planets discovered by Kepler sat.

POSTED BY: AURaptor
UPDATED: Thursday, April 23, 2009 21:23
VIEWED: 1350
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AURAPTOR

Thursday, April 23, 2009 8:47 PM

Sorry if this is old, but I just saw it....

http://www.comcast.net/video/life-in-space-/1101427776/Comcast/1101345
366/

BLUESUNCOMPANYMAN

Thursday, April 23, 2009 8:59 PM

Awsome stuff. I wasn't aware of this and I'm always up to snuff on my astronomy.

There are two schools of pursuit right now in the astronomical world. Group #1 wants to peer into deep space as far as we can look. The new array being built will launch in 2013 (They mention this in the vid). It's purpose will eclipse Hubble by 5-fold. The second group of telescopes are intended to peer into "near" space. Their tech is radically different from their deep space cousins. Near space refers to a sphere of about 100 light years or so and these instruments are called "Earth Hunters" (Again mentioned in the vid) Exciting stuff! This is actually tech mentioned in Firefly canon. The history of the 'verse relates that as earth-that-was was dying, scientists created controlled fusion technologies and discovered the 'verse system within 100 light years with "near space" telescopes. Armed with the new knowledge and fusion tech, world ships were constructed in orbit and departed for Londinium and Sihnon.

AURAPTOR

Thursday, April 23, 2009 9:04 PM

For some basic selfish reasons, I think mankind would be better served if we checked out the lay of the galactic land in our own neighborhood first, before we start worrying what's millions of light yrs away. Of course, w/ technology advancing as it is, the long distance surveys could be done on the cheap, while most of the big $$ could be spent looking for near earth asteroids( Deep Impact ! ) or a new star system to colonize.

KIRKULES

Thursday, April 23, 2009 9:23 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
For some basic selfish reasons, I think mankind would be better served if we checked out the lay of the galactic land in our own neighborhood first, before we start worrying what's millions of light yrs away.

I really like the idea of manned exploration of space, but I believe that the knowledge required to make it practical will only come from advancements in Physics that come from the study deep space, and the deeper you go the closer you get to understanding the origin of the Universe itself. To me, deep space and near Earth study are both essential to the overall goal. Even though at this point in time we learn very little from manned space exploration, I believe it to is necessary to keep our focus on what the eventual goal is.