Searching for other 'Earths'... Are we alone?

[Tom]

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/TECH/space/03/06/nasa.kepler.launch.planets/art.galaxy.courtesy.jpghttp://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/TECH/space/03/06/nasa.kepler.launch.planets/art.kepler.full.nasa.jpg

(CNN) -- Calling it a mission that may fundamentally change humanity's view of itself, NASA on Friday prepared to launch a telescope that will search our corner of the Milky Way galaxy for Earth-like planets.

The Kepler spacecraft is scheduled to blast into space on top of a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida just before 11 p.m. ET.

"This is a historical mission. It's not just a science mission," NASA Associate Administrator Ed Weiler said during a pre-launch news conference.

"It really attacks some very basic human questions that have been part of our genetic code since that first man or woman looked up in the sky and asked the question: Are we alone?"

Kepler contains a special telescope that will stare at 100,000 stars in the Cygnus-Lyra region of the Milky Way for more than three years as it trails Earth's orbit around the Sun.

The spacecraft will look for tiny dips in a star's brightness, which can mean an orbiting planet is passing in front of it -- an event called a transit.

The instrument is so precise that it can register changes in brightness of 20 parts per million in stars that are thousands of light years away.

"Being able to make that kind of a sensitive measurement over a very large number of stars was extremely challenging," Kepler project manager James Fanson said.

"So we're very proud of the vehicle we have built. This is a crowning achievement for NASA and a monumental step in our search for other worlds around other stars."

[Full Story] (http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/03/06/nasa.kepler.launch.planets/index.html)


I thought this was really interesting. How cool would it be to discover another Earth-like planet that is sustaining life? But the real question is, are we alone?

[Floppydisk35]

Of course we are NOT alone -- why should we have an enormous universe just to ourselves? There must be some other kind of life-forms! =)

[walmartshrty]

I hope that if there is another planet much like ours, they have also been burdened by Britney Spears, Rick Astley, and Michael Jackson (Or creatures much like them.) as we have. I think that would make things fair.

[John-h]

On other Earth-like planets, they probably got Walls instead of Windows.

Anyway, the Kepler mission is interesting to me, too bad it's mission will be only 3.5 years D:

[artist]

I forot where I heard this but think of it this way ( yes i think there are other earth like planets)

There is an average of 6 planets per solar system, and about one million solar systems per universe, there are BILLIONS of universes, and there keep are getting more and more and more. so...... 6x1,000,000= 6,000,000xinfinite (lets say 8 octillion) = 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000..... sooo there are MORE than

6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 planets out there..... so YEA I think theres atleast ONE that has life like earth :P

[Detonate!]

Of course Earth-like planets exists.How could we have the Universe to ourselves?The Universe is infinite,we are not alone.

[Tom]

Of course Earth-like planets exists.How could we have the Universe to ourselves?The Universe is infininante,we are not alone.

Well, it's not infinite to us. The most we can see and will ever see is 28 billion light-years (diameter) of Universe, we can't see past that due to the speed that light travels. But that's still a lot of Universe.

[Tina]

The Universe is crazy-big. I find it hard to believe that there isn't other Earth-type-planets. If there wasn't, I'd be shocked.

[link4562]

I said yes, we are the only earth :P.
I'll be very suprized if they find life on another planet.

[sonic30132]

If we're not alone, I'll die. OMG, I DON'T WANNA GET KILLED BY ALIENS!!!!! I'll get so freaked out, I'll have a panic attack and run around in circles.

[Chandru]

If we're not alone, I'll die. OMG, I DON'T WANNA GET KILLED BY ALIENS!!!!! I'll get so freaked out, I'll have a panic attack and run around in circles.

Who says they will kill us?

Anyway, there must be some place we can escape to after we get too polluted.

[Chargers2133]

Scientists are trying to find out everyday and if they find another planet with life one day, I would be totally amazed. If they do, do you think the people would be just like us or different?

[Detonate!]

Scientists are trying to find out everyday and if they find another planet with life one day, I would be totally amazed. If they do, do you think the people would be just like us or different?

They probaly would be different.It depends on what their planet is like.

[Mook]

I'm unsure, but I think there are other planets filled with life out there. I need proof first though.

[John-h]

I don't think the creatures look like the Aliens we actually imagine, they're probably also like humans like us, or probably it's still on Jurassic.

[Britoe2]

maybe not,
But hey, we have a planet with like billions of people so what says there isnt any other planets with life?

[Yoki]

I don't believe we're alone. The universe has existed for such a long time and it's so large. For life to not exist would really surprise me.

[Check]

It would make me so happy to find out there were other life-supporting planets out there, I mean really, the universe is that big that it makes you want to crawl into a corner and cry to think that in all that vast emptiness of dead space, we were completely alone with nobody to help us?
Actually on second thoughts, it wouldn't make me cry.
It would make me scream.

The only bad thing is that if we do find life then humans will invariably try to rule and make them be like us. It's what we do. We control things, whether they want to be controlled or not. As a species, we have a total superiority complex.

[Hockeyfan]

How the hell could we be the only living thing in all of the billions of galaxies out there?

[ironicman520]

I think there could be life of other planets of these other "Earth's". I mean, if NASA found some life on mars, then there could be life out there just waiting to be discovered. If there are more than just one galxey's out there, than the one we are living in, then there could be hope of new findings. These are just my thought's and opinions.

[phenom21]

Probably, there are others out there. Hope they're not evil and good aliens. I wouldn't want a planet war.

[Snathan!]

I think there are other planets with life, but I doubt they'd have developed like us.
Everyone depicts aliens as something on Earth (insects, humans, etc) but different, but they would have evolved differently.
They may even have senses which couldn't be explained to us.

[LOL]

Just wait till Chuck Norris dies... then they will race to be the first one to get to Earth...

[SaFiEtCP]

as another poster said, the universe is MASSIVE!! Theres billions of other galaxies in this universe which means billions and billions of other planets, so there must be other life somewhere in the universe.....mabey not the same time period as us, mabey there has been before, is now, or will be..................I also like to think there are other people out there

[Samwesty999]

There are trillions and trillions of planets out there. I believe at least one other must have life on it. I doubt we would have the whole universe just to ourselves. I guess we will find out a few thousand years in the future when just travel to other stars or even galaxies.

[Wanted Penguin]

i say you'd be crazy to think that we're the only life sustaining planet out there out of BILLIONS of galaxies.

[LOL]

i say you'd be crazy to think that we're the only life sustaining planet out there out of BILLIONS of galaxies.

How can you be sure? Maybe they are just illusions, and we are in a box-like thing that other creatures are experimenting on. A biiiiiig box. Even bigger aliens and lots&lots(&lots) of experiments.

[penguindude515]

The thought of other life-sustainable planets only makes the big bang theory more ridiculous.

[Wanted Penguin]

How can you be sure? Maybe they are just illusions, and we are in a box-like thing that other creatures are experimenting on. A biiiiiig box. Even bigger aliens and lots&lots(&lots) of experiments.

o.0 you just BLEW my mind.

nah but what i'm saying is that there are like 100 billion trillion planets out there. seriously (that's a real number). there's just no way that out of all those planets not ONE of them has an ounce of life on them? it doesn't even have to be human life, it could be plant life, or even bacteria life.

[ThisIsSparta]

I don't think we're ever gonna find sentient life, but I'm conviced the IS sentient life somewhere.

[worldking01]

Of course we are NOT alone -- why should we have an enormous universe just to ourselves? There must be some other kind of life-forms! =)

At the rate that America is gaining weight, we are going to need an enormous universe just to ourselves.

But I also think that there are other kinds of life-forms. Mainly I hope that they are just like humans. Or something out of Star Wars. That would be pretty sweet.

[Billboard]

''I am saying this as a Christian''

The bible doesn't specifly that we are the only forms of life living on a planet. It only said that we were made in God's image so the possibility of some kind of life living on another planet somewhere is very possible but the possibility of a kind of life form that can actually learn to speak a language and act like civilized individuals is very unlikely. I think if we do find life, it will be something like an animal that just lives it life only fearing of dieing. Like dogs for example. Aiming a gun straight at the dog doesnt make it cringe and cry, it licks it. It doesnt see it being of harm. If you would shoot the dog and it would die instantly, it would not care either because there was no pain ''or is it because it is dead?''


If you did not want to read that and get a summary of what I said, read this:
Some kind of life on another planet: Very Possible
A civilized population of individuals: Very Unlikely
Chance we will find them: Not likely but it was also said that going to the moon was impossible.

[Dannyboy]

Are we alone? If not, it would seem like an awful waste of space.

[Tom]

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/TECH/space/03/06/nasa.kepler.launch.planets/t1soft.spacecraft.02.nasa.jpg

NASA launched the Kepler telescope on Friday. Let the search begin!

[GlacialFreez]

Conditions for a planet to be life sustaining are pretty stringent considering everything that can happen, it could be a long time before they find anything.

Are we alone? If not, it would seem like an awful waste of space.
Actually that space is filled with amazing and spectacular intergalactic phenomena that we can't entirely appreciate.

I don't think the creatures look like the Aliens we actually imagine, they're probably also like humans like us, or probably it's still on Jurassic.
Maybe they'll look like penguins and maybe they'll have these colorful furry things they keep as pets. Most anything is possible.

[Chargers2133]

''I am saying this as a Christian''

The bible doesn't specifly that we are the only forms of life living on a planet. It only said that we were made in God's image so the possibility of some kind of life living on another planet somewhere is very possible but the possibility of a kind of life form that can actually learn to speak a language and act like civilized individuals is very unlikely. I think if we do find life, it will be something like an animal that just lives it life only fearing of dieing. Like dogs for example. Aiming a gun straight at the dog doesnt make it cringe and cry, it licks it. It doesnt see it being of harm. If you would shoot the dog and it would die instantly, it would not care either because there was no pain ''or is it because it is dead?''


If you did not want to read that and get a summary of what I said, read this:
Some kind of life on another planet: Very Possible
A civilized population of individuals: Very Unlikely
Chance we will find them: Not likely but it was also said that going to the moon was impossible.


I know if we were alone, that would be a waste of space. lets hope the machine they launched can find atleast something up in space.

[GlacialFreez]

I know if we were alone, that would be a waste of space. lets hope the machine they launched can find atleast something up in space.

This is a waste of space?

http://solar-center.stanford.edu/images/soho-tricolor.jpg
http://www.orlandoacupuncture.com/aboutus_files/image005.jpg
http://www.star.ac.za/graphics/n11lmc_noao.jpg

Their machine will probably find SOMETHING, it may just not be what it was looking for.

[Detonate!]

How can you be sure? Maybe they are just illusions, and we are in a box-like thing that other creatures are experimenting on. A biiiiiig box. Even bigger aliens and lots&lots(&lots) of experiments.

Then where do the things experimenting on us live?:confused:

[Chargers2133]

This is a waste of space?

http://solar-center.stanford.edu/images/soho-tricolor.jpg
http://www.orlandoacupuncture.com/aboutus_files/image005.jpg
http://www.star.ac.za/graphics/n11lmc_noao.jpg

Their machine will probably find SOMETHING, it may just not be what it was looking for.

Yeah the solar system probably never ends so actually it is.

[Billboard]

Yeah the solar system probably never ends so actually it is.

We do not know if it ends or not. How do we know it is not surrounded by a large mirror? We cannot say it is impossible because we do not know.

[worldking01]

We do not know if it ends or not. How do we know it is not surrounded by a large mirror? We cannot say it is impossible because we do not know.

Does that mean you think inside the box?


If we are alone, I guess I would be fine with that. But we will probobly never know.

[Chargers2133]

We do not know if it ends or not. How do we know it is not surrounded by a large mirror? We cannot say it is impossible because we do not know.

I said probably and that's just what I think.

[Billboard]

We know very little about the outside of the world. We do not even know what to classify the extra space with so we use the term ''dark matter.'' Until we visit every part of the universe, we will not know what is out there. We can only guess and most of the time, that guess was wrong. I think we will step foot on Pluto in the future. Not a doubt in my mind. We made it to the moon and getting to the atmospere of the earth is so easy in technology, NASA does it without telling you. There are a lot of things going up every now and then you never hear about.