Probing Exoplanets
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Sometimes topics segue perfectly. With the recent buzz about habitable [planets][2], followed by the raining on the parade articles we’ve had about the not insignificant errors in the detections of planets around [Gliese][3] 581 as well as finding molecules in [exoplanet][4] atmospheres, it’s not been the best of times for finding life. But in a comment on my last article, Lawrence Crowell noted: “You can’t really know for sure whether a [planet][2] has life until you actually go there and look on the ground. This is not at all easy, and probably it is at best possible to send a probe within a 25 to 50 [light year][5] radius.”
This is right on the mark and happens to be another topic that’s been under some discussion on arXiv recently in a short series of paper and responses.(…) Read the rest of [Probing Exoplanets][6] (744 words)
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(C) jvois for [Universe Today][7], 2010. | [Permalink][6] | [9 comments][8] | Add to [del.icio.us][9] Post
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[1]: http://c2431622.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/voyager1.jpg [2]: http://www.universetoday.com/35923/planet/ () [3]: http://www.universetoday.com/57213/gliese-581/ () [4]: http://www.universetoday.com/42537/exoplanet/ () [5]: http://www.universetoday.com/38677/light-year/ () [6]: http://www.universetoday.com/75844/probing-exoplanets/ [7]: http://www.universetoday.com [8]: http://www.universetoday.com/75844/probing-exoplanets/#comments [9]: http://del.icio.us/post?url=http://www.universetoday.com/75844/probing-exoplanets/&title=Probing Exoplanets [10]: http://www.universetoday.com/tag/interstellar-space/ [11]: http://www.universetoday.com/tag/interstellar-travel/ [12]: http://planetozh.com/blog/my-projects/wordpress-plugin-better-feed-rss/ [13]: http://planetozh.com/blog/ [14]: http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/eTT_z7APQgzfQcAqV6Y4CGMFt_E/0/di [15]: http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/eTT_z7APQgzfQcAqV6Y4CGMFt_E/0/da [16]: http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/eTT_z7APQgzfQcAqV6Y4CGMFt_E/1/di [17]: http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~a/eTT_z7APQgzfQcAqV6Y4CGMFt_E/1/da [18]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/universetoday/pYdq?d=yIl2AUoC8zA [19]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/universetoday/pYdq?a=nei68eN-DlI:pvfQ9LvkRj8:yIl2AUoC8zA [20]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/universetoday/pYdq?d=dnMXMwOfBR0 [21]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/universetoday/pYdq?a=nei68eN-DlI:pvfQ9LvkRj8:dnMXMwOfBR0 [22]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/universetoday/pYdq?d=7Q72WNTAKBA [23]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/universetoday/pYdq?a=nei68eN-DlI:pvfQ9LvkRj8:7Q72WNTAKBA [24]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/universetoday/pYdq?i=nei68eN-DlI:pvfQ9LvkRj8:D7DqB2pKExk [25]: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/universetoday/pYdq?a=nei68eN-DlI:pvfQ9LvkRj8:D7DqB2pKExk
