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An exoplanet with a minimum mass of 8.47±0.47 Earth masses has been discovered around 40 Eridani A:
"Star Trek's" planet Vulcan, ancestral home of Spock and his species, just became a little more real, thanks to a team of exoplanet scientists. Because "Star Trek" creators eventually associated planet Vulcan with a real star, called 40 Eridani A, scientists have wondered for years whether a factual equivalent of the beloved science fiction planet exists, with or without pointy-eared inhabitants. And now, a team of scientists has said that the star really does host at least one planet.
"This star can be seen with the naked eye, unlike the host stars of most of the known planets discovered to date," Bo Ma, lead author of the new research and an astronomer at the University of Florida, said in a statement. "Now, anyone can see 40 Eridani A on a clear night and be proud to point out Spock's home." That star, located about 16 light-years away from Earth, is also known as HD 26965. It's a bit orange, because it's a little smaller and cooler than our sun. But it also has some clear similarities to Earth's star: It's about the same age and sports a fairly similar sunspot pattern.
Also at Science Magazine.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday September 19 2018, @04:49PM (3 children)
With big enough multi-stage rockets or perhaps nuclear rockets [nextbigfuture.com], an alien civilization could still be able to get into space and to other planets, even with higher surface gravity and orbital velocity, and very small payloads sent to orbit and beyond using fully expendable rockets. Then they could establish themselves on another planet or satellite with more manageable gravity, assuming one is available. For one example, it looks like multiple planets in the TRAPPIST-1 [wikipedia.org] system could support life, and even the small ones have higher masses than Mars.
It may take centuries longer and more units of currency for aliens to escape such a planet, which could mean that they end up dying in a global war before they have a chance to spread. But they still have a chance. They could build small robots to set up the support infrastructure on another planet in their system, and they could send their equivalent of frozen eggs and an artificial womb instead of a full-sized craft with life support. Anything they can do within mass constraints.
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(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday September 19 2018, @06:38PM
Or they could just learn how to pinch the Higgs Field and find space access easier than your crossing the street to Starbucks.
Their cousins down the galaxy had been taunting them since they discovered how to funnel the energy from the fusion of Uranium in the flablolisk's stomach.
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Thursday September 20 2018, @08:10PM (1 child)
It gets harder — a lot harder — as gravity goes up.
More dangerous, too.
We got pretty lucky in terms of the gravity here. Sorta kinda. Luckier would have been a little less gravity. :)
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday September 20 2018, @08:35PM
Higher gravity, higher orbital velocity, higher escape velocity. Are these things surmountable or not? If aliens have to launch something bigger than Saturn V just to get 100 kg to orbit, they still have a chance to eventually escape their planet. It will just be far more costly and take much longer to get off the ground.
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