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Friday September 18, 2009
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After finding over 370 extrasolar planets over the past 15 years, scientists have confirmed the first Earth-like rocky planet outside the solar system, according to CNN.
To date, known exoplanets have been gas giants like Jupiter and Saturn. That doesn't necessarily mean the recently discovered rocky planet, called COROT-7B, can support life. While its composition may be similar to that of our own planet, COROT-7B orbits very close to its star, the report said. The planet's daytime temperature at the surface could reach over 3,600 degrees Fahrenheit, while its nighttime temperature may drop to 328 degrees below zero.
Astronomer Artie Hatzes said in the report that the star-facing side of the planet was likely molten, while the back could be icy. "We think it has no atmosphere to redistribute the heat," he said, adding that astronomers "would never have dreamed" of finding a rocky planet orbiting so close to a star--close enough that its entire "year" is shorter than one of our own 24-hour days. (Artist credit: ESO/L Calcada)
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September 18, 2009 10:03 PM
A daytime surface temperature of 3,600F, is higher than the melting point of Silicon (2,577F). On Earth crust, Silicon is the second most abundant element (over 25%), after Oxygen. Assuming the same chemical composition as on earth, this means that during the day the surface of COROT-7B will contain rivers of molten Silicon, which will form single- or multi-crystalline Silicon during the night. I beg to differ with the astronomer's Artie Hatzes view, as the atmosphere goes. At such a high day temperature all kind of gaseous products ought to be formed, no matter what the planet's composition is compared to that on Earth. Hence, unless the star's much higher gravitational force "attracts" those gaseous particles, COROT-7B ought to have some type of an atmosphere.
September 19, 2009 1:03 PM
Aliens may not necessary have the same body charactericts , therefoth subject to tolerate and withstand forces unknown to humanoids on this planet in order to substain life as we know it.
September 19, 2009 4:00 PM
COMMENT #1: I dont understand the photograph accompanying the story! is it a photo? or is it an artist's rendering? Is that OUR sun? or this finally a decent close-up hubble image of ANOTHER sun? Second Comment: To say after finding over 300 planets, that they finally found a rocky planet is ludicrous. I dont care what these scientists, with their PHDs, call a planet! if its not a rocky, solid body, then its not a planet!!! What do you define as a planet? for years, they told us our own solar system had nine planets. our 9 planets are solid rocky bodies. You poll the average person in any country, and they will probably tell you a planet is a hard rocky body, and a ball of gas is a star!! that has always been my understanding. Unless, the term "planet" refers to any body, rocky or gaseous, which Orbits another body? its a lot of semantics, maybe. like how big does a boat have to be, before you call it a ship? or a similar argument is what do you call a journalist, if Limbaugh, or Hannity, or O'Reilly, or Glenn Beck, are not journalists?
September 19, 2009 9:28 PM
Wow,looks like your best argument against limbaugh yet
September 19, 2009 11:03 PM
Mark S,
The photo is an artist rendering, the star may be a photo of our sun, but the planet in the fore-ground is not real. Secondly, only Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Pluto (if you consider it one of the nine planets) are "solid rocky bodies". Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus are gas giants; and Neptune is, I belive, an ice giant, or perhaps a "slush" giant. No modern professional astronomer has ever claimed that all of the plants were rocky, you were either misinformed or you wern't paying attention. Finally, no matter how large or small a planet is, it would not be a star unless it were on fire:)
September 20, 2009 12:25 AM
astronomers do not what they really discovered.asronomy,science,space or unless you were accually their. how can you compare corot to earth
September 20, 2009 1:58 PM
Sounds like the only reason they're calling this planet earth-like is it's not a gas giant. Thought we've already detected better candidates than this one.
September 20, 2009 2:39 PM
it might be no life on the surface but what is under ground their might be caverens with life just like earth began life microscopic animals unknowen to us here on earth we dicover many new life forms almost every day why not mankind is so ingernent that we think we are the only intellagents of this earth like mars the robot only went several feet below the surface and probly not far enough deep in the surface mars might be a planet that the evelaultion is slow or a dead planet earth was once a dead planet with no life forms with air of methane and amonina
September 20, 2009 3:19 PM
Mark S comment just made me die a little inside, throw up a little in my mouth, and loose 2 IQ points.
He bother's to make a comment on if this is an actual picture of the planet showing he has not even the faintest clue as to what the Hubble can accomplish. Then goes on to lambaste the scientific community on what the definition of a planet is in his oh so very educated opinion. Are people just getting stupider or are their comments just getting more and more out of sync with their knowledge?
September 20, 2009 6:15 PM
I agree that all of the planets in our solar system are NOT solid rocky bodies. So I don't know where Marc S. is getting his info from, but he needs to start researching before he starts posting to the public.
September 21, 2009 6:35 AM
The only problem i have is the link to the article said something about it possibly supporting life. At temperatures like that i don't feel any kind of life could exist...plant or microscopic......so i am a bit disappointed in what the article was actually about. Other than that...i hope we keep looking....i'd like to see a discovery in my life time.....
September 21, 2009 2:36 PM
If one side of the planet is +3,600F and the other side is -328F then maybe there are some slivers habital area in between those two extremes that would support life as we know it. How would be able to know for sure?
September 21, 2009 7:08 PM
Earth-like? Any one reading the link will think we found an Earth-like planet meaning oceans, atmosphere, temperature etc that can support life. I think it was reported by a CNN monkey and not a journalist.
September 22, 2009 9:17 AM
as to the way KMGuru (Far Right Republican NuNU)?
sees everything. I would Rather watch CNN any day than
MSNBC ameba brained so called Republican Lackys'.
November 10, 2009 11:05 AM
Could you conceivably get Mercury rain, or Dew? Are they able to detect rotation? A sun that close might yank an atmosphere away to itself, or blown away by the solar wind, it would be extremely strong, or the planet could be on a death spiral itself. Conditions sound worse than our own planet Mercury.