Comments on: Newly Discovered Earth-like Planet Could be Habitable

By: ludwig ostfeld

ludwig ostfeld — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:06:29 +0000

There is a great Sci fi book called The Dark Beyond the Stars. It is about generational star ships. Eventually with time, we will have to leave our planet unless we destroy it first. David Suzuki and Michio Kaku along with many other great scientists and humanists offer logical solutions to our condition.

By: Julie

Julie — Sun, 16 Dec 2012 20:49:21 +0000

Why do you all assume that when scientists refer to a planet as being “habitable” they mean habitable by US, as if our main goal is colonization or imperialist expansion, or even a tourist destination?
In their search for another planet habitable by life forms similar to those on Earth, most scientists are seeking to further our understanding of our own world, and perhaps trying to determine if we have company out there somewhere, rather than selfishly searching for another planet for humans to occupy (and potentially despoil).

By: Amy Pfiel

Amy Pfiel — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:25:28 +0000

Once Nasa Has found out that I have given everyone information on this new break through technology to reach planets like HD 40307g I will no longer be alive or this information will never get out again!

By: Donald

Donald — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 03:21:16 +0000

I’m so excited as a 71 year old man that so many questions I didn’t even know to ask a half a century ago have been answered and so many quesions have been posed by the new knowledge that mere curiosity keeps me alive. This is the most exciting time to be alive and the Chinese proverb (or curse) “May you live in interesting times” has new meaning.

By: Donald

Donald — Wed, 14 Nov 2012 03:13:02 +0000

Now you may not laugh when someone mentions the planet Kolub.

By: sparcboy

sparcboy — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 21:20:51 +0000

I still don’t get it. If we had the technology to live for 44 years traveling the speed of light, why would anyone want to be stuck on another planet when there is so much of the universe to see?

By: Edwin Brandon

Edwin Brandon — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 07:02:49 +0000

Did not know I was on Smithsonian.

By: Jim Rushton

Jim Rushton — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 16:01:48 +0000

I read every sci fi book I could get my hands on in my high school years (1956-59). I was sure that space travel and “other worlds” were out there and that some day I might be able to travel to one. Alas, we’re not much closer to acheiving that goal than we were then. It’s exciting to read about the possible existence of life elsewhere. I’d love to meet and ET……maybe!

By: Adrian

Adrian — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 12:19:31 +0000

EDGE CRAYON IS THERE.

By: ayom

ayom — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 07:33:12 +0000

I truly love this new planet-finding technology- so clever! And I too cannot wait to actually see this and other new worlds. But you know what I think? Even if we solved the distance issue with some Star Trek-style McGuffin (and I’ve no doubt that there are young men and women, without appreciable social lives, earnestly trying to discover the warp drive as you read this post), the gravitational issue, the food issue, the terraforming issue, etc, we’d still be human beings. I’d assume that within a generation, the colonists would be polluting their pristine new environment, butchering/enslaving any autochthonous populations, inventing brand new class systems, controlling access to resources to the detriment of the majority, empire-building,etc. You can take the species out of the Acheulian environment, but you can’t take the Acheulian adaptation out of the species…

By: aaron

aaron — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 00:19:31 +0000

Beware! this planet may contain excessive amounts of Hydrogen monoxide!

By: aaron

aaron — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 00:18:41 +0000

Beware! this planet may contain excessive amounts of carbon monoxide!

By: Luciano

Luciano — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 22:11:00 +0000

These discoveries are for the future generations to figure out how to get there to found a new Adam story, just like our Gods did.
We just have to settle our own human problems here on Earth first, in order to find a way to vanquish time and space.
We are still behind.

By: Frances Klodt

Frances Klodt — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 16:47:56 +0000

I find it amusing that they are trying to find a planet like earth. Earth hasn’t been a very good example. Getting hit with asteroids, turning into ice or floating into cold latitudes. New York could still be under a mile thick ice sheet but nobody knows why it isn’t.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 16:45:16 +0000

Not to mention that it’s 7 times the mass of Earth, which would make the gravity…um…daunting.