Earth-Like Planets May Be 'Next Door' in Milky Way

[sage]

You may look out on a starry night and get a lonely feeling, but astronomers now say our Milky Way galaxy may be thick with planets much like Earth -- perhaps 4.5 billion of them, according to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Astronomers looked at data from NASA's Kepler space telescope in orbit, and conclude that 6 percent of the red dwarf stars in the Milky Way probably have Earth-like, habitable planets. That's a lot by space standards, and since red dwarfs are very common -- they make up three out of four stars in our part of the galaxy -- we may have a lot more neighbors than we thought.

The nearest of them, astronomers said today, could be 13 light-years away -- not exactly commuting distance, since a light-year is six trillion miles, but a lot closer than most yellow stars like Earth's sun.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/ear...ry?id=18420619

[slapshot]

You may look out on a starry night and get a lonely feeling, but astronomers now say our Milky Way galaxy may be thick with planets much like Earth -- perhaps 4.5 billion of them, according to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Astronomers looked at data from NASA's Kepler space telescope in orbit, and conclude that 6 percent of the red dwarf stars in the Milky Way probably have Earth-like, habitable planets. That's a lot by space standards, and since red dwarfs are very common -- they make up three out of four stars in our part of the galaxy -- we may have a lot more neighbors than we thought.

The nearest of them, astronomers said today, could be 13 light-years away -- not exactly commuting distance, since a light-year is six trillion miles, but a lot closer than most yellow stars like Earth's sun.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/ear...ry?id=18420619

In all seriousness, we need to develop warp drive, before there will be any chances of traveling such distances in a time span that doesn't span centuries.

[NCBirdfan]

In all seriousness, we need to develop warp drive, before there will be any chances of traveling such distances in a time span that doesn't span centuries.

Make it so, #1.

[boink]

http://io9.com/5963263/how-nasa-will...rst-warp-drive

How NASA might build its very first warp drive

George Dvorsky

A few months ago, physicist Harold White stunned the aeronautics world when he announced that he and his team at NASA had begun work on the development of a faster-than-light warp drive. His proposed design, an ingenious re-imagining of an Alcubierre Drive, may eventually result in an engine that can transport a spacecraft to the nearest star in a matter of weeks — and all without violating Einstein's law of relativity. We contacted White at NASA and asked him to explain how this real life warp drive could actually work....

....White speculates that such a drive could result in "speeds" that could take a spacecraft to Alpha Centauri in a mere two weeks — even though the system is 4.3 light-years away....

..."My early results suggested I had discovered something that was in the math all along," he recalled. "I suddenly realized that if you made the thickness of the negative vacuum energy ring larger — like shifting from a belt shape to a donut shape — and oscillate the warp bubble, you can greatly reduce the energy required — perhaps making the idea plausible."

[Bartman]

Right, even if a Bussard Ramjet is feasible, the closest stars are still many years away at high Sub-light speeds.

Where are the Puppeteers?

We need at least the Quantum 1 hyperdrive and General Products hulls to just begin to explore the Local neighborhood.

That's the thing about Life, intelligent or otherwise elsewhere just in our own Galaxy. The answer is Yes, Probably, but the Distance and the Time to traverse such vastness is just too great. We may Never have an answer.

We're pretty damn Small and Insignificant in the whole scheme of things.

[usheer]

Oscillate the warp bubble, you can greatly reduce the energy required.Perhaps making the idea plausible.Des Moines Jiu Jitsu