New earth-like planet discovered
The planet is right in the middle of what astronomers call the Goldilocks zone, that hard to find place that’s not too hot, not too cold, where water, which is essential for life, doesn’t freeze or boil. And it has a shopping mall-like surface temperature of near 22 degrees, scientists say.
The planet’s confirmation was announced by NASA along with other discoveries by its Kepler telescope, which was launched on a planet-hunting mission in 2009.
That’s the first planet confirmed in the habitable zone for Kepler, which had already found Earth-like rocky planets elsewhere. Twice before astronomers have announced a planet found in that zone, but neither have been as promising.
The new planet — named Kepler-22b — has key aspects it shares with Earth. It circles a star that could be the twin of our sun and at just about the same distance. The planet’s year of 290 days is even close to ours. It likely has water and rock.
The only trouble is the planet’s a bit big for life to exist on the surface. The planet is about 2.4 times the size of Earth. It could be more like the gas-and-liquid Neptune with only a rocky core and mostly ocean.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 10th, 2011.
COMMENTS (24)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1727778647-0/diddy-(16)1727778647-0-165x106.webp "article")
1732014631-0/BeFunky-collage-(71)1732014631-0-165x106.webp "article")
1732012115-0/Untitled-design-(14)1732012115-0-270x192.webp "punjab s cm dialysis program card to cover rs 10 million for patient care")
1732011525-0/Express-Tribune-(8)1732011525-0-270x192.webp "new school timings announced for winter season")
oooooooooooooooooooooookkkkkkkkk
@Some One:
Agreed! will you be so nice as to apologize for calling me stubborn, you will close your brain from understanding the truth?
BTW, if god is true, then truth itself is a representation of god. Else, if falsehood and dogma is accepted as truth, then, it implies rejection of god, if not an insult to god. What I have stated is pure logic based on scientific facts. If you reject it, so be it. But, you cannot deny that search for truth is same as a search for god. Since god is the ultimate truth.
Once again, the fundamental nature of matter is always probabilistic. So do you agree that god doesn't hold at sub-atomic levels and exists only on a macro scale?
@Yuri The rising and setting sun each day is not probabilistic but deterministic. Because it ALWAYS happens. Even in Places like Norway where you have day light for six months and darkness for six months, its always the same months that have the long days or long nights. Read my previous post again. Ponder over your own birth and life. If your parents had never met you would not have come into existence. However even despite your parents meeting, you and your siblings are different. Life by chance? or Life by God. The latter makes more sense. However if you have decided to remain stubborn, you will close your brain from understanding the truth. To you is your way and to me is my way.
@Some One:
At the sub-atomic level, behavior of matter is proven to be probabilistic and not deterministic. So, there goes another one.
@Some One:
I did not mention the word Hindu or for that matter, any religion. Please feel free to logically dispute my statements and arguments.
The sentence you quote seems to come from Hindu philosphy. Hindu philosphy may be contradictory. I cannot comment on that.
However, Islam teaches that God is uniquely one and God has in the Quran reasoned with Humans about the universe and how could it come into existence and operate with perfection without a creator or controller. Each day the sun rises and sets, the moon appears on certain days in every month. Every year there are the seasons of winter, summer, autumn. How can all this happen without any controller. Even a TV cannot turn on without someone switching it on. This Universe is way more complex but so orderly. Proof that there is a creator and controller. If there were several Gods this Natural Universe would not be so orderly. Quran explains there there is only ONE God
Think of your own birth. The chance that your parents got married, the chance that you were created from a million sperms. The chance that you were born to your parents not to other parents, the chance that you went to the school or university you did. The chance that you got 1 job out of 100 jobs you had seen adverts for. Do you think that your life to date has been merely based on chances? A more logical understanding is It all happens with the will of the creator. Any human being with logical reasoning can understand that there is a God.
Quran explains there there is only ONE God and rejects the concept of several million Gods or three Gods. If there were several Gods this Natural Universe would not be so orderly.
@Some One:
Let me point out the contradiction in the above sentence. God is be definition infinite and beyond the the realm of human reason. If an essentially finite human mind could logically prove the existence of God, it would mean that God is finite. And that's just the start.
@mods, what's so objectionable about a logical argument?
@Yuri
Its not self contradictory at all, if your heart and mind is open to reasoning. You could not even explain how you thought it was self contradictory, because it is not.
@Some One:
Sir, what ever you have written is logically self-contradictory.
It is a good thing that the majority in Pakistan find science compatible with religion. But why is it that many have a view that science has to be correct only because the Quran says so? They try to find scientific facts or miracles (I’jaz) in the Quran which is neither good science nor good religion. What they are in fact trying is to validate the Quran through science. Muslims are not alone in finding science in their holy book, Christians & Jews find it in the Bible, Hindus find it in Bhagvad Gita too as there are many books written and websites found on finding science in all these religious scriptures.
@Hassan, your link about the clouds in the Quran says nothing that was unknown even thousands of years ago; it is just general observation and says nothing ‘specifically scientific’ about the cloud formation. Don’t take me for a non-believer coz I’m a Muslim and pray to the same Allah and follow the same Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as you do. The Quran is not a book of history or science but a book of guidance where there’s a moral lesson to be learned in each of its parables. And when it comes to science we do not have to see it through the prism of the Quran or any other religious text. We need to treat science as just what it is, a quest to fulfill our curiosity through observation and experimentation.
There is a very good article by a Pakistani astronomer and professor here on ET, please do read it: http://tribune.com.pk/story/238607/the-science-of-scriptures/
@Yuri
The Quran is God's word and does not go into little stuff like theory of relativity, Quantum theory, etc The Quran is a serious message to people and the point is that all that it mentions with regards to this Universe has been discovered by the scientists thousands of years later. A simple example among many is that nowadays the scientists have come to the conclusion that all planets including the sun ,moon, stars, earth have a life span. This was mentioned over 1400 years ago in the Quran.
Also you being a non muslim and arguing about the validity of the Quran is also mentioned in the quran. That the unbelievers hearts have been sealed from understanding the truth. The point is that, this was said 1400 years ago and today even after being so civilized, the unbelievers like you make the same allegaions about the Quran and Islam which were mentioned 1400 years ago in the Quran itself. So it shows that human nature as mentioned in the Quran does not change with time. So your posts are proof of Quran being God's true word.
@Hassan:
I am just curious. Was quantum theory anywhere mentioned in the book? or the theory of relativity? or even the basic Newtonian physics? why don't you predict the LHC results in advance and proclaim the greatness of your convictions to the entire world?
@Razor Religion is a complete way of life. There are many things in Quran that are now slowly being discovered by science. A simple explanation of clouds can be read here: http://scienceislam.com/quran_clouds.php
@Yuri Kondratyuk: very objectionable sarcasm....nowhere in quran you will find anything written in this tone...on the contrary it is quran that is full of scientific facts which todays scientists acknowledge that such a book full of facts can only be divine becauae it came in dark ages....go do some research and then try to become jerry lewis.....
@Zeeshan, Yuri's comment seems sarcastic to me, otherwise it's just dumb. @Asad, stop bringing religion into science.
@Yuri Kondratyuk: actually its the other way around, Allah says there is other makhlooq as well.. no where does it say that earth is the only place and humans and animals are the only beings.
@Yuri Kondratyuk: What the hell are you talking about? this is iron-age religious lies. Earth is NOT at the center of the universe or solar system or anything. It is just a planet present in region around sun with adequate temperature with enough resources to sustain life. Learn!!!
ET, stale news... you are too slow
Well... I do not see any source of ur info that Life is only possible on Earth. I see it completely different. "SATOO ASMAAN" ... may be referring to this kind of life. Just a thought. :)
I remembered a hadith of Prophet (saw) mentioning 7 earths. The scholars believed that this related to the 7 layers of planet Earth (as discovered by Geologists). However Allah and Allah's Messenger (saw) know best. It may well be 7 planets like Earth which we ordinary humans discover later in the years to come.
Wow.
Impossible! God Almighty created life only on the Earth and not else where. That's the reason why entire universe revolves around the Earth around the axis of Arabian peninsula.
I wonder if alien teenagers watch sci-fi movies and are afraid of the thought of earthlings invading their planet, causing destruction to acquire natural resources. And on that note; let's invade this planet and exploit it for natural resources :)
Maybe this way we'll stop declaring war on every country (under the cloak of religion, but with the agenda of exploiting minerals) and unite over a common cause. TEAM EARTH!