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posted by chromas on Tuesday October 30 2018, @02:50PM   Printer-friendly
from the be-sure-before-leaving-home dept.

Number of Habitable Exoplanets Found by NASA's Kepler May Not Be So High After All

The tally of potentially habitable alien planets may have to be revised downward a bit. To date, NASA's prolific Kepler space telescope has discovered about 30 roughly Earth-size exoplanets in their host stars' "habitable zone" — the range of orbital distances at which liquid water can likely exist on a world's surface.

Or so researchers had thought. New observations by the European Space Agency's (ESA) Gaia spacecraft suggest that the actual number is probably significantly smaller — perhaps between two and 12, NASA officials said today (Oct. 26)

[...] Gaia's observations suggest that some of the Kepler host stars are brighter and bigger than previously believed, the officials added. Planets orbiting such stars are therefore likely larger and hotter than previously thought.

Also at NASA.


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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 30 2018, @04:02PM (12 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 30 2018, @04:02PM (#755686) Journal

    We can't even engineer a parasol to shield the earth from part of the sun's emissions. I don't mean to put the earth in darkness - just a parasol or mirror to deflect a small percentage of the energy we absorb. The greenhouse won't heat up, if the excess energy is deflected away, can it? What would it take - a 3% reduction in sunlight? 6%? Just put a mirror up there, and move it closer to the sun to block out more of the sun. Something the size of Delaware, for starters? Or, the size of Texas?

    Seriously, if we can't invent and operate a simple window shade, we'll never move moons around.

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  • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday October 30 2018, @04:58PM (6 children)

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 30 2018, @04:58PM (#755705) Journal

    The problem with this strategy, is while it's sufficient to mitigate climate change up to around 350 ppm(given the numbers you provide and some napkin math), it also diminishes, you know, plant and algae growth. Which are big ol carbon sinks. And sources of food. 3-6% less food might be semi-sustainable, but it's a biiiiiiiiiig cost. I'm sure you can further spitball megaengineering solutions to these problems, but I just want to say it's not as easy as just flying into space with a couple million tons of light-weight titanium alloys, and calling it done.

    Also, if anything, I have to imagine a sustainable future brings in higher insolation to increase the sustainable energy base.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday October 30 2018, @05:03PM (5 children)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday October 30 2018, @05:03PM (#755706) Journal
      • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday October 30 2018, @05:12PM (1 child)

        by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 30 2018, @05:12PM (#755712) Journal

        Consider me fully informed on the aerosol proposals. "what if we brought back acid rain?" is sure a take on climate change, though.

        • (Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday October 30 2018, @05:30PM

          by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday October 30 2018, @05:30PM (#755717) Journal

          We currently emit the stuff near the ground. Switch to electric cars, solar, fusion, etc. and inject it into the stratosphere instead. FTA you were fully informed about:

          By 2070, he estimates, the program would need to be injecting a bit more than a million tons per year using a fleet of a hundred aircraft.

          One of the startling things about Keith’s proposal is just how little sulfur would be required. A few grams of it in the stratosphere will offset the warming caused by a ton of carbon dioxide, according to his estimate. And even the amount that would be needed by 2070 is dwarfed by the roughly 50 million metric tons of sulfur emitted by the burning of fossil fuels every year. Most of that pollution stays in the lower atmosphere, and the sulfur molecules are washed out in a matter of days. In contrast, sulfate particles remain in the stratosphere for a few years, making them more effective at reflecting sunlight.

          --
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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 30 2018, @05:16PM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 30 2018, @05:16PM (#755714)

        Ah, I always wondered what the humans in the Matrix world did to "scorch the sky."

        • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 30 2018, @05:34PM (1 child)

          by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday October 30 2018, @05:34PM (#755719) Journal

          Ah, yes. The movie that justified using humans as "batteries" by throwing in "a form of fusion". That even more vague throwaway line should definitely inform our geoengineering efforts.

          --
          [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 30 2018, @10:44PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 30 2018, @10:44PM (#755839)

            I think it was all explained in the animatrix.

  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 30 2018, @05:04PM (2 children)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday October 30 2018, @05:04PM (#755707) Journal
    • (Score: 1) by Sulla on Tuesday October 30 2018, @08:44PM (1 child)

      by Sulla (5173) on Tuesday October 30 2018, @08:44PM (#755780) Journal

      So those articles are from 2013 and 2016, has there been any update on the real world test of this using a balloon? I was going to go down the rabbithole of reading the documentation on the Keith Group website but if you already have it would save me some time.

      --
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      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday October 30 2018, @09:02PM

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Tuesday October 30 2018, @09:02PM (#755789) Journal

        Planned for Spring to Fall 2019:

        https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/keutschgroup/scopex [harvard.edu]

        What is the status for locating and timing of the experiment?
        We are exploring possible locations in the United States. We have not scheduled dates for engineering or science flights and we are engaged in a governance process including the appointment of an advisory committee to help us determine when and if it would be appropriate to conduct the experiment. The schedule and flight location also depends on a process that involves engineering development and balloon availability. We will update this page when we determine a definite schedule and location, which will be at least three months before flight. You can request notification by signing up to this email list [google.com].

        We had originally planned for flight operations to be managed by World View, a high-altitude flight services company based in Tucson, Arizona, but for engineering reasons we will likely use another flight operator.

        https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611682/how-one-climate-scientist-combats-threats-and-misinformation-from-chemtrail-conspiracists/ [technologyreview.com]

        Keith says initial flights to evaluate the systems are now likely to begin in the spring of 2019, with the actual experiments more likely to start that fall. The scientists are in negotiations with several balloon vendors, the results of which will ultimately determine the location of the experiments. The team is also in the process of setting up an independent advisory committee [harvard.edu] that will review proposals and provide feedback to the university and research team on potential environmental risks, the need for stakeholder engagement, and other issues.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 30 2018, @08:51PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 30 2018, @08:51PM (#755783)

    Or instead of cluttering up outer space even more, make vast tracts of those films that radiate in the "window" of infrared wavelengths that go readily through the atmosphere.

    e.g. https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=18/10/28/008223 [soylentnews.org]
    e.g. https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=17/09/05/0250247 [soylentnews.org]

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 30 2018, @08:54PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 30 2018, @08:54PM (#755785)

      ...and pave the Earth [archive.org] with the stuff.