planets (Page 8)

Some may harbor intelligent life – It has now been found that there must be many small, rocky planets in our galaxy, and probably spread across the universe. This means that the likelihood of there being intelligent life elsewhere could be very substantial, and a radio survey of such plants could become possible, that might lead to the discovery of signals from civilizations using technology similar to our own.

The powerful new Keper satellite space observatory has discovered more than 700 of these planets. Will we be hearing from any of them soon? Probably only if the inhabitants think it’s safe.
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It’s about time we discovered if there’s life anywhere else in the galaxy. India’s lunar spacecraft has discovered that there are thick deposits of ice near the moon’s north pole, meaning that if astronauts set up a colony there, they would have plenty of water (but they’ll have to boil it first, since But other compounds, such as hydrocarbons, are mixed up in the lunar ice) And NASA has found evidence that liquid water lies beneath the surface on the Saturn moon of Enceladus, meaning that life may exist there.
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HARPS is not the same as the mysterious Alaskan installation known as HAARP, which is mentioned in this week’s Dreamland. HARPS, located in Chile, stands for High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher and is part of the huge ESO international telescope system, which is searching for new planets. Since it powered up 5 years ago, HARPS has discovered more than 75 new planets in 30 difference solar systems, and recently, they’ve discovered 32 more. Will some of them have intelligent life?
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The Kepler Space Telescope, which was launched into space 5 months ago, is designed to take direct images of planets outside of our solar system. It has stunned and delighted astronomers with a picture of a planet a thousand light years away, the first every direct photo of light from a planet not in our solar system. This system definitely holds promise for detecting planets that harbor life.

Yahoo News UK quotes Kepler astronomer William Borucki as saying that this is “the first time anyone has seen light from this planet.”

Astrophysicist Alan Boss is quoted as saying, “The real headline is Kepler works.” Boss states that, thanks to the Kepler, NASA expects to be able to say by 2012 if there are “lots of earths in our galaxy or we are alone.”
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