Last month I argued that the incredible adaptability of such critters as water bears in conjunction with the discovery of numerous exoplanets in the galaxy made the possibility of extraterrestrial life not only imaginable, but likely. Well, there is exciting news from NASA that the star Kepler-62 has, not one, but two planets that occupy the habitable zone, which is defined as having conditions that might support liquid water on the surface. A mere 1200 light years from Earth, Kepler-62, has a total of five planets. Two of them, designated 62f and 62e which are 1.4 and 1.6 times larger than Earth. The two planets have an orbital time of 267 days, for 62f, and 122 days for planet 62e. It's worth noting how impressive it is that NASA has instruments that can detect the size and behavior of the planets so precisely. But, unfortunately, although though they have determined that the conditions permit the presence of water, we can't yet prove it is there.
One of the fall-outs from the Kepler project is its implications for another gonzo space project called SETI (the Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence). SETI is a privately-funded project that has received support from local Seattle philanthropists Nathan Myrvold and Paul Allen (thank guys), and has had past leadership from no less than the first Do Ya Think Blog Rational Hero Carl Sagan. A major project of SETI is to use both radio and optical telescopes to scan the sky for signals from extraterrestrial intelligence. One of the challenges is that the sky is, well, really big, and only a small portion can be scanned at a time. To help solve this problem, they are constructing the Allen Telescope Array, which is as the SETI site describes it, is a "large number of small dishes," which will make radiotelemetric scanning much more efficient than using traditional large antennas.
So, how does this relate to the Kepler project? Simple. Now they know where to aim their data collection. Instead of just pointing at random stars, knocking on the metaphorical door and asking "Is there any intelligence home?" they can point their instruments at stars where there is a higher probability of someone actually being there. Let's hope that, someday, someone answers the door.
One of the fall-outs from the Kepler project is its implications for another gonzo space project called SETI (the Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence). SETI is a privately-funded project that has received support from local Seattle philanthropists Nathan Myrvold and Paul Allen (thank guys), and has had past leadership from no less than the first Do Ya Think Blog Rational Hero Carl Sagan. A major project of SETI is to use both radio and optical telescopes to scan the sky for signals from extraterrestrial intelligence. One of the challenges is that the sky is, well, really big, and only a small portion can be scanned at a time. To help solve this problem, they are constructing the Allen Telescope Array, which is as the SETI site describes it, is a "large number of small dishes," which will make radiotelemetric scanning much more efficient than using traditional large antennas.
So, how does this relate to the Kepler project? Simple. Now they know where to aim their data collection. Instead of just pointing at random stars, knocking on the metaphorical door and asking "Is there any intelligence home?" they can point their instruments at stars where there is a higher probability of someone actually being there. Let's hope that, someday, someone answers the door.
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