Is it really a must?

[Hamlet]

Hi forum.

 

My name is Marcial Wills, and Im from Honduras.... yes, in the earth!

I came across this forum while searching on google, trying to find out how it is that recently there was world just discovered that might hold life, and it is at 20yrs/light from ours!.

 

I just cant believe there is such a tecnology capable to see thru whole that distance. :shade:

 

I have not find the information I need yet, but found interesting stuff here in this forum. Hosnestly science is not my bet :) , but who knows... maybe I get interested and change some boring things in life :D

[Tormod]

That a planet "may" harbor life is one thing, whether it does is quite another.

 

Recently astronomers have seen planets much farther away than 20 lightyears.

 

Remote planets are mainly studied by observing how they influence the star the orbit. This gives us clues to things like distance from the planet to the star, length of orbit etc.

 

In order to study their atmosphere, the planet must pass in front of the star (ie, orbit in a plane which seen from our point of view takes it in front of it's star).

 

Then we can create a spectral analysis of the star, and another of the planet, and subtract the two to find the chemical composition of the atmosphere.

 

This will only tell us whether the atmosphere harbors chemicals that are "good" for life "as we know it" - ie, mostly nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere, for example, or if there is an abundance of water in the atmosphere.

 

Here is a recent story about a discovery of an "Earth-like" planet:

http://hypography.com/forums/astronomy-news/11373-astronomers-find-first-earth-like-planet.html

[Hamlet]

Radial Velocity eh?.. now I am a little less ignorant :naughty:

 

Interesting, thanks for the reply.

I just cant imagine how that work, but I will research a little.

 

Now Im thinking about traveling a light speed for +20 years!.. how far can we go?

[freeztar]

how far can we go?

 

Neptune...so far...