Planet Hunter: We'll Find An "Earth 2.0" Within "10 or 15 Years"

[kpete]

MJ: What do you plan to look for next?

FM: Next we're going to start doing the science. And the science is even more interesting than the instrument, I think, because the science is about searching for Jupiter-like planets around younger stars. And we have a list of targets – 600 of them – that we will be observing. We will get 900 hours of observation with GPI to do this imaging for three years.

So in the future we're going to be able to tell you which star you're observing with your naked eye will have a planet, and what type of planet. That's the goal of GPI: to tell the public where there are planets, where there are worlds. And not only where they are, but the orbit of those bodies around the stars, the type – if they're Jupiter, Saturn, or maybe Earth-size planets – and also the temperature and composition of their atmosphere. We are going to be able to get photons coming from the planet. And photons contain a lot of information – especially if there is more than one.

Imagine one day, we're going to be able to see seasonal effects on these planets and be able to see if there is a biosphere on these planets. So the search for Earth-like planets, the search for an Earth 2.0 is very close. I think in 10 or 15 years we will have an Earth 2.0 candidate.


great pics & interview:
http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2014/01/astronomy-photo-gemini-planet-imager-earth-two

[el_bryanto]

1. Earth 2.0? Really? That's the best name for a new planet we can come up with?

I think we should call it Fredonia.

Bryant

[Auggie]

2. LOL

[Nye Bevan]

4. I like "Metebelis 3" (with the emphasis on the third "e") (nt)

[dipsydoodle]

3. Yes but I bet it won't have chocolate.

.

[meadowlark5]

5. It will be renamed Kochville once the bros buy it

If there ever is a habitable planet, it will be like the movie Elysium. The wealthy are destroying the planet for profit and they'll be the only ones that can afford to build the infrastructure and have transportation to another planet.

We surplus population will be left to fight over the scraps here on a polluted, infertile earth.

[kestrel91316]

6. Awesome. And then we can get to work ruining it, too.