Scientists Are Searching For Life On This Nearby Exoplanet

[kevindavis007]

With all this talk about human colonies on Mars, why not dream a little bigger? Dr. Stephen Kane and his team of researchers at San Francisco State University are looking about 14 lightyears away from our solar system for some potentially inhabitable real estate.


Wolf 1061, a star system not terribly far from our own, has an interesting planet called Wolf 1061c. While scientists have known about the exoplanet since 2015, Kane and his team discovered that it’s squarely within the habitable zone—the region in the solar system where the atmospheric conditions could support liquid water. That said, Kane said that if there’s any life on the planet, it must be living under hostile conditions—similar to those of Venus—since it’s on the inner edge of the habitable zone, relatively close to its star.


“The Wolf 1061 system is important because it is so close and that gives other opportunities to do follow-up studies to see if it does indeed have life,” Kane said, according to Sci News. His team’s findings will published in the next issue of Astrophysical Journal, though a pre-print is available here.


The analysis of Wolf 1061c’s atmosphere could serve as an important case study for scientists looking to determine which exoplanets can support life. But while folks like Kane are analyzing whether or not exoplanets are possibly habitable, other groups, like Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI) are searching for signs of more advanced extraterrestrial life. Doug Vakoch, president METI, told Gizmodo his team has observed Wolf 1061c from their optical SETI observatory in Panama on four separate occasions. Alas, no luck yet.


Read More: http://www.isn-news.net/2017/01/scientists-are-searching-for-life-on.html


At least it is not Wolf 359 ;)

[kevindavis007]

Space Ping!


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[Cripplecreek]

Kane and his team discovered that it’s squarely within the habitable zone—the region in the solar system where the atmospheric conditions could support liquid water. That said, Kane said that if there’s any life on the planet, it must be living under hostile conditions—similar to those of Venus—since it’s on the inner edge of the habitable zone, relatively close to its star.

That's a twisted statement. Venus is 8 or 9 hundred degrees and not terribly conducive of life.

For that matter, earth is close to the inner edge of the habitable zone around our star.

[geronl]

That's a twisted statement. Venus is 8 or 9 hundred degrees and not terribly conducive of life.

For that matter, earth is close to the inner edge of the habitable zone around our star.

and Venus has crushing atompsheric pressure

[kevindavis007]

That's a twisted statement. Venus is 8 or 9 hundred degrees and not terribly conducive of life.

For that matter, earth is close to the inner edge of the habitable zone around our star.

Either way we are getting close to find us a new home.  It is only a matter of when.

[Cripplecreek]

and Venus has crushing atompsheric pressure

96 atmospheres or so.

[Oceander]

96 atmospheres or so.

Is that at the lowest levels of the surface, or at the point that would have been sea level if Venus had oceans on a par with those Earth has?

[Cripplecreek]

Is that at the lowest levels of the surface, or at the point that would have been sea level if Venus had oceans on a par with those Earth has?

I'm assuming it just means the surface wherever but after a couple dozen atmospheres it doesn't really matter much.

According to wiki its 92 atmospheres meaning the pressure is about the same as it is 3000 feet down in our oceans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus

[Oceander]

I'm assuming it just means the surface wherever but after a couple dozen atmospheres it doesn't really matter much.

According to wiki its 92 atmospheres meaning the pressure is about the same as it is 3000 feet down in our oceans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus

Thanks.  To me that means that Venus would have a habitable region, even without oceans, at a high enough altitude.  However, that's merely academic since avenue does not have a robust magnetic field and is therefore exposed to the solar wind in a way the Earth is not.  Terraforming Venus is probably a fools errand. 

[Cripplecreek]

Thanks.  To me that means that Venus would have a habitable region, even without oceans, at a high enough altitude.  However, that's merely academic since avenue does not have a robust magnetic field and is therefore exposed to the solar wind in a way the Earth is not.  Terraforming Venus is probably a fools errand.

Its interesting that Venus has the dense atmosphere it has considering the fact that its magnetic field is practically non existent. Venus is also extremely dry.

Venus would be fun to experiment with. First thing I would do is speed up its rotation to a 24 hour day. This would dramatically impact the weather.

[Joe Wooten]

Its interesting that Venus has the dense atmosphere it has considering the fact that its magnetic field is practically non existent. Venus is also extremely dry.

Venus would be fun to experiment with. First thing I would do is speed up its rotation to a 24 hour day. This would dramatically impact the weather.

That would probably crank up a magnetic field in a couple of million years after the planet settled down tectonically.

[Doug Loss]

Wolf 1061 Unlikely to Host Habitable Worlds

[Oceander]

Wolf 1061 Unlikely to Host Habitable Worlds

The comments to the post are very instructive as well.