More Planets Found!!!

[slashbomb]

Yea, if u have road runner, go the the CNN videos and theres a video about it. It's talks about what the definition of a Planet is and if pluto is a planet. Also yes, Xena is a temporary name for the new planet

[The Mob]

whats the big deal?? there will be more planets within a light year of us, but more importanly within our solar system.

[nujabes]

whats the big deal? there are countless numbers of planets in the universe. i bet if i pointed in a random spot in space if i looked far enough there would be a planet, i might have to look a few million light years away, but i would eventually find one.

yeah IF you could look far enough. These astronomers ARE now looking far enough with new technology so its a big advancement. They want to learn more about the universe, and by discovering a planet, they are trying to find life, and if they do find signs of life, it will disprove religion. We are not alone

[Ares]

but what if we do find life ... and they find us... and they deside to take earth ZOOOMMMFFG war of the worlds is true!! but nah i really do hope we DONT find any life besides us.. that would be such bullshit

[The Mob]

wait.... how would that be against religon? also, there probably is life else where in the universe, but that is going of topic and was already discused in another thread

[yes.interesting]

yeah IF you could look far enough. These astronomers ARE now looking far enough with new technology so its a big advancement. They want to learn more about the universe, and by discovering a planet, they are trying to find life, and if they do find signs of life, it will disprove religion. We are not alone

Quite retarded. Not all religions state that living organisms can exist only on earth. For example, Buddhism and Hinduism don't state that earthlings are the only living things. Plus, we've already discovered life on Mars in the frozen rivers... They're just not alive now, but they once were. So, is religion disproved? No. Shut the **** up.

[Mathalamus]

theres life other than earth

[FeNiXSuNfIrE]

lolol okkkay for one, this isnt new.....i learned about this in my physics class 9months ago and they discovered this potential planet on January 8th, 2005... but is good topic for discussion anyway.

second of all...pluto is actually borderline "planet" as far as nasa's definitions are concerned. they are currently debating what the true definition of a planet is and should be.

yeah but one of them has a really wierd orbit and i forgot to ask oe of my teachers if its possible that the new planets can orbit into one of ours T_T...

as for this u are correct, the orbit of these potential "planets" are more along the lines of a comet's orbit. instead of being nearly circular like that of the earths, it is very very VERY elongated, hence why we have not yet discovered it until recently (apart from recent advances in technology as well). heres a picture of its orbit...

if you're talking about the planets, they added them because they ARE planets. no other reasons to benifit us besides knowledge. planets=giant masses of matter than orbit around the sun.

ummm no...not exactly, then what are comets? they are giant masses, they are supercompacted balls of metal/rock/gas same as a planet, yet they are not planets. they are constantly debating a true defination for a "planet" and more scientists believe that not even pluto should be classified as a planet.

to give u a little more info on this "planet" xena, it orbits further then 3times the distance from the sun as does pluto. they think it is straight out of the Kuiper Belt or a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO). The Kuiper belt is an icy disk of debris orbiting the sun, beyond Neptune, and is the original home of many comets. Many scientists would prefer that all KBOs were designated as asteroids, or for the very large ones like Pluto and Xena, as minor planets. the temperature on the surface is 23 to 24 kelvins...that is EXTREMELY cold. thats -250.15 to -249.15 degrees celcius or -418.27 to -416.67 degrees Fahrenheit......water freezes at 273.15 K....and this "planets" surface is 24K. FREAKIN COLD. as for possible life on this Mass, it is very unlikely. 0K also known as Absolute Zero, is the point where it is so cold that absolutly all motion stops. this includes the constant vibrations and orbits of electrons around the nucleus of a cell. ALL MOTION STOPS, and NOTHING survives. 24K is gettin very close to Absolute Zero...it is very very safe to say there is no life.

this is quoted from a study done on the subject

The discovery is likely to re-ignite the debate over exactly what a planet is. Currently, astronomers don't really have a rock-solid definition that everyone agrees on. Indeed, some argue that Pluto itself is not a true planet, and that it would be better classified as a minor planet as well.

okay...now this is pure stupidity...

yeah IF you could look far enough. These astronomers ARE now looking far enough with new technology so its a big advancement. They want to learn more about the universe, and by discovering a planet, they are trying to find life, and if they do find signs of life, it will disprove religion. We are not alone

they CAN look that far away, they are lookin across to other universes and have been for years already! have u not seen the pictures hubble has taken!?!?!? go look! nearly ever star u see in the sky has planets orbiting them. now tell me....u go and look at how many stars are in the sky (and u cant even see 1/4 of them) and tell me if every single one of them has potential of having more then one planet....what are the odds we are the ONLY planet with life??? the odds are INFINITY to one. now tell me, is that a safe bet? hell no, with that many planets theres a basic guarantee theres life elsewhere. this doesnt disprove religion either. u obviously arent christian and if u are u are stupid because theres not a christian religion that states there is no life on other planets. they actually say there IS life much like ours in many other places, however im not going to delve into that.


this is a REAL picture from the Hubble Space Telescope...take a good look at that. this in one star cluster. from earth if u could locate where this picture was taken it would look like one tiny point of light (or "star") in the sky. this is one cluster of MILLIONS upon BILLIONS upon TRILLIONS of similiar or larger clusters. these clusters are contained in glaxies, each galaxy posessing millions of clusters.
this is an example of a spiral galaxy (keep in mind these are REAL pictures from the hubble space telescope), if u look close enuf u will see that those are tiny dots making up the spiral....each DOT is a CLUSTER of stars. there are TRILLIONS of galaxies out there. and theres bigger masses and collections that galaxies.... so try to comprehend how many stars are out there (which u cant because there is infinity..)

EACH STAR in one cluster potentially boasts more then one "planet". each star can have its own solar system smaller or larger then our own. now just from this one picture of a CLUSTER (first picture of stars)..if each one of thoses stars had only 5 planets, what are the odds that none of them had any form of life? if u have any common sense at all u will say the odds suck ass and there is no way theres not life elsewhere besides earth.

i hope i have given u guys a little better idea on the "new planet" subject as well as a little eye candy and food for thought.

[DaCougarMech]

your guys' knowledge on the connection between life and water is a bit incorrect

the reason why water is essential to life is because of its unusual properties. however, these properties are only useful in the right conditions

1st example: ice is less dense than liquid water. let's say there is an ocean on a planet. the top of the ocean is warm enough to melt the ice. the bottom of the ocean is cold enough to freeze it. thus, water circulates as it freezes at the bottom, floats to the top, and melts again. this circulation of water is what helps aid in the creation of life. thus, a planet that is completely frozen is not likely to have life

2nd example: water is a polar molecule. meaning that it has a very minute charge like a magnet. however, this charge is significant enough for water molecules to create hydrogen bonds. this ability to create hydrogen bonds is what gives water the ability to have cohesion and surface tension. anybody who has studied the vascular system of plants will know that it depends heavily on the cohesion properties of water for it to function. however, bear in mind again that this water still needs to be liquid. thus a frozen planet is unsuitable to this kind of life

some of you guys say that life will evolve to overcome this extreme cold. that's a nice outlook. but some things are just impossible

btw, i heard about those bacteria found on mars. supposedly, they've been disproven. just minerals or something

[FeNiXSuNfIrE]

as i said previously u just took it a little deeper or a little more into the water dependency, but i totally agree with you.

[Ares]

ok so im wondering.. when might this planet collide with us and if it does go into our orbit when was the last time we accualyt seen it.. could this be the planet ... Planet X or w/e i tried to look online but i could not find thing information

[A.D.]

we've already discovered life on Mars in the frozen rivers... They're just not alive now, but they once were.

?????

What? That'd be painted all over the headlines if that happened. I don't think any of the Mars missions landed in a riverbed. I'd like to see where you read this..

[Immortality]

Plus, we've already discovered life on Mars in the frozen rivers... They're just not alive now, but they once were.

This is true. I have read an article about this in a local newpaper. I think nasa has discovered that there are actually frozen rivers on Mars and also that the core of Mars is frozen too and they THINK that life could have existed in Mars before the water freeze.

[Pamela]

?????

What? That'd be painted all over the headlines if that happened. I don't think any of the Mars missions landed in a riverbed. I'd like to see where you read this..

Actually if I remember correctly it was not discovered on any mission.
They found a part of a meteor int the Arctic that was clearly proven to be from Mars.
Ancient fossils of bacteria were discovered.
News spread all over the world and even the President of the United States went on national T.V. to coment on this discovery.
As far as the new planets are concerned,I appluad the discovery!
Whether new life is also found*intelligent or otherwise* may fall to future generations.
Hell half the time I think our animals are more intelligent than humans! ~snickers~
As for the elongated shape and odd orbit of the one planet,this suggest to me the outside force by something with a serious gravitational pull.
Enough to affect the planets shape and path.
One of Jupiters moons (as large as a planet) is severly affected by Jupiters gravtational pull.

It heats the interior and causes massive sulfiric eruptions.
This has been well photographed and documented.

As to the question of liquid,you are correct.
Life is a delicate balance,heat,H2O,carbon dioxide,nitrogen are all requirements.
We know so very much,and yet also we know so little ,when the vastness of the entire cosmos is fully taken into account!

We are, in reality ,nothing more than small babes,staring at bright shiny baubles,with curiuos wondering eyes.Hoping to reach out to this beautiful wonder before us ,and sample what it has to offer.

This is just my own take on the subject. ~shrugs~

[A.D.]

Well, I think I speak for all of us when I say I want to see more planets fall beneath the ruthless domination of our solar system - Jack Handey

Whether we find life there or not, I still think Jupiter should be considered an enemy planet - Jack Handey

[Pamela]

Well, I think I speak for all of us when I say I want to see more planets fall beneath the ruthless domination of our solar system - Jack Handey

Whether we find life there or not, I still think Jupiter should be considered an enemy planet - Jack Handey

Actually Jupiter could have been a sun.It simply did not have the mass neccissary to bring it to that conclusion.Good news for us ,as the solar system would be nothing like it is now,and Earth would be much different.

[Fang21]

I think having another planet is lame its not like half of us are goin to be goin to space anyways.

[hellsing293]

ok there IS a connection between disproving religion and life on other planets. i once read an article on this(middle of nowhere gas station). basicly, somewhere in the bible it states that humans are gods creatures and are destined to inherit/inhabit the universe. so if other life is out there, humans can't inhabit the universe(because other planets are already inhabited. please no saying we are supposed to kill everything in our way).

[Ares]

ok there IS a connection between disproving religion and life on other planets. i once read an article on this(middle of nowhere gas station). basicly, somewhere in the bible it states that humans are gods creatures and are destined to inherit/inhabit the universe. so if other life is out there, humans can't inhabit the universe(because other planets are already inhabited. please no saying we are supposed to kill everything in our way).

mars... yes mars it has frozen rivers and like pamela said.. they found a rock on earth Antartica i think it was or something like that and it had organisms... O_O shocking yes something was alive on mars... and my teacher showed us this video ( school yeah ) about how and what it would take ot have life on mars... it would take aprox 1000 years... but yeah it would turn out just like the earth

[hellsing293]

why did you feel the need to quote me making that response? i didn't say if there was or wasn't life on other planets, i just stated what connection it has with religion.