kepler 22b - Life or Gas?

[ToxicTrevor]

I'm sure some of you have heard of the planet 600 light years away known as Kepler 22b, if not allow me to provide
a short summary so you may also be educated on the topic. Kepler 22b was founded to be in existence on December 5Th, 2011, its radius is roughly 2.4 times the radius of our home planet earth, its mass and surface composition are unknown, its also determined to have a 290 day cycle per year. With such little inconclusive data the arguments arisen are all theory, some claim it could be "ocean-like" while some scientist speculate it's mainly gas. The distance from its host star shows evidence that it is NOT subject to extreme temperature changes, if the atmosphere provides a greenhouse effect similar in magnitude to the one on Earth ( which is still inconclusive. ), the planet would have an average surface temperature of 22 °C (72°F) habitable by life. NASA scientist have referred to its placing in the 'Habitable zone' or the 'Goldilock zone' as some evidence that life could in fact be sustained.

With all of this being throw in your face, what is your opinion? Could Kepler 22-b hold life? Does it hold life now? Is it just a 'Super-Venus' full of gas? state what you think.

[spoiler]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler-22b
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/news/kepscicon-briefing.html
http://kepler.nasa.gov/Mission/discoveries/kepler22b/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/new-planet-similar-to-earth-discovered-how-far-is-600-light-years-away/2011/12/06/gIQABQ9SaO_blog.html[/spoiler]

[pacdiggity]

Any planet could hold life. This is just one that's more appealing to us because it seems more like our planet.

[IAMFORTE]

This sort of question can't really be answerd without more research, even then, opinions would be pretty much reduced to the level of speculation and gut feelings, If theres life on that planet, does it matter? Not in the slightest? The planets way to far away for it to ever have an effect on mankind (other than a small novelty and the discovery that we are not alone in the universe) which can be pretty much deduced with more gut feelings to begin with.

[ToxicTrevor]

This sort of question can't really be answerd without more research, even then, opinions would be pretty much reduced to the level of speculation and gut feelings,

That's what I'm asking to hear, without hard evidence people are forced to answer based on personal feeling as there is no right or wrong answer, however there opinions can be supported by facts from other things.

[Acolyte]

We won't be able to find out for a long time. The instruments we have right now can't do any precision studies of something that far away, and to send a satellite would take over 600 years. If you're basically asking "Hey, do you think there's aliens out there somewhere?" sure, I think there are, but I don't think we'll see them in this lifetime.

[firerain]

Your question is unanswerable, because they're both related to science and neither of us have the sufficient research knowledge to answer effectively. It's pretty much asking us to base an argument off our own skepticism of whether this planet could have life or not.

[modern algebra]

Yay! When'd you get back, Firerain? I haven't seen you post for a long time, and this forum has been noticeably lacking a signficant Canadian presence.

But yeah, this is a rather speculative topic. Not only do I not know the answer, I don't know how I could possibly go about discovering the answer.

[firerain]

Today I hadn't been around since like Janurary, and Roph was bugging me on Steam and I missed this place.

[Sophist]

Any planet could hold life. This is just one that's more appealing to us because it seems more like our planet.

This is not true. The sustainability of any life requires first the capability to create life, and then the conditions in which to keep it. Planets as near as Pluto couldn't possibly do either of those things. It's not a matter of an 'Earth-like' appeal, but rather it's located in a possible distance from the nearest star in which to facilitate human life. Our lives require a permanent amount of oxygen and water, as well as the capability to create food. This is only acceptable and possible within this certain range. It is completely possible that Kepler 22-B could contain life right now, but it's impossible to tell without being there. On this same line of thought, I believe that there is a high probability for extraterrestrial life within 600 lightyears.

Unfortunately, since it IS 600 lightyears away, we will never know about Kepler 22-B until we can disprove the special theory of relativity.

[Acolyte]

What about microscopic life? Certain prokaryotes have much different life requirements than we do. There's already been speculation that some of Jupiter's moons might hold microscopic organisms.

Amoebas might not be as exciting as Klingons, but  it'd still be a pretty cool discovery.

[Sophist]

It is a cool and incredible discovery. I didn't mean to give the impression that NO other planets could hold life, just a very select few. Not every planet can possibly hold even the smallest and more resilient prokaryotes.

[Acolyte]

Oh, of course. I definitely wouldn't argue for all the planets.

[pacdiggity]

Your minds are open, but could be more open. Life doesn't have to be limited to what we know as life. Life could be formed in ways we couldn't dream of. What we have, DNA, cells, carbon-based, oxygen-requiring life, that's what we know as life. That stuff is all incredibly complex, especially to be created by a natural environment, and the chances of the same things, the same complexities, the same details of life occurring is insanely small (probably maybe). That's why I think that all planets could hold life, just not the life we know and are used to. Of course, I don't think all of them do. That would be preposterous.

[Acolyte]

You kinda just rehashed my two posts up above, though without the specification of microscopic life.
We have amoebas right here on Earth that don't require oxygen. In fact, oxygen kills them!

These types of organisms evolving into complex multicellular organisms on another planet might not be too much of a stretch.

[Holkeye]

Life as we know it, anyway, right? I mean, who's to say that biological life like we have on Earth is the only way that life can exist?

[Capua Aelita]

Does Kepler 22b have it's own sun?

Otherwise, what would keep the temperature at that level?

[Sophist]

Life as we know it, anyway, right? I mean, who's to say that biological life like we have on Earth is the only way that life can exist?

It's the only way we can confirm it exists until proven otherwise. If there's no evidence, we can only theorize, which is the basis of science.

I'm not saying that there aren't other base formats of life out in space, because we've already discovered phosphorus based eukaryotes here on earth, which would be able to survive without oxygen or sustenance. I'm saying that most planets are so chemically unstable and hostile to even other, non-carbon based lives, that the possibility of life on them is under .1%.

[Sophist]

Does Kepler 22b have it's own sun?

Otherwise, what would keep the temperature at that level?

And yes, it has 'it's own' sun. Around any sizable stars, there's a thin ring around the sphere that constitutes a 'habitable zone' where our puny carbon based bodies are able to possibly survive. Earth lies within the habitable zone of our sun.

[pacdiggity]

Life as we know it, anyway, right? I mean, who's to say that biological life like we have on Earth is the only way that life can exist?

Yes. That. I love thinking about stuff like that, the crazy shit that could be out there somewhere. Or the boring shit. It's all fascinating anyway.

[Thnap]

With the sheer size of the universe, I don't see how anybody could possibly believe there's no other intelligent lifeform out there. What makes our own planet so goddamn special?

It might not be life as we know it, but of course there are other lifeforms out there who are able to exist in completely different conditions to those we are accustomed to on Earth. To deny this fact is to deny the vastness of the universe in which we live, which is scientific fact.

As for this particular planet, how can any of us possibly know? We lack the necessary research capabilities and I may be wrong, but I don't think any of us work for NASA.

[pacdiggity]

What makes our own planet so goddamn special?

Almighty God.

[bluntsword]

What makes our own planet so goddamn special?

Almighty God.

Offended! But seriously.  I every time people talk about life on other planets I think this:





When really it's probably this:



I find it hard to be excited about the latter, but still it'd be interesting to find something on this planet.

[pacdiggity]

What makes our own planet so goddamn special?

Almighty God.

Offended!

I like that you saw what I did there.

[bluntsword]

Figured it was for me

[pacdiggity]

I completely forgot there was a minister on this forum.