Do the "Earth Twins" astronomers are on the verge of discovering have the possibility of supporting life?

Question

I mean both kinds of life. I think it would even be cooler if they supported life like us, though.

Answer 1

Are you referring to exoplanets, and the speculation that since many "hot jupiters" and gas giant planets have been found, that the probability of rocky, terrestrial planets existing is high and that someday we'll have the technology to locate them?  

If so, then do you mean "the possibility of supporting life" or "the possibility of supporting life LIKE US"?  

Truly, the universe is a big, big place and I wouldn't rule anything out, especially considering our limited knowledge.  

This is an age-old question.  Are we unique and alone in the universe?  Are we a fluke?  Or are we common and abundant?  

No one knows yet.  

~edit~  

Check out page 22 of the June 2008 issue of Astronomy magazine.  

"Hubble identifies exoplanet's methane"

Answer 2

probably not at first. detection is a matter of spotting the signal of a planet amongst the noise due to instrument error and stellar oscillations... planets that are closer to their stars produce stronger signals, so they are likely to be discovered first. it follows that they are also likely to be too hot to harbor life of the kind found on earth. they could perhaps harbor life of other kinds but since it's not known what that looks like, any planet has in principle a remote possibility of supporting life. what such discoveries would establish though, is the general likelihood of earth-mass planets being formed.

Answer 3

Well, none found thus far is "highly likely" to be inhabitable. Terrestrial (rocky) planets are beginning to be found around stars as the precision of our instruments improves.

For now, all we can do is deduce the characteristics of exoplanets based on their effects on their host stars. Either we measure the wobble they cause, or else possibly note a short dip in the brightness of the star as an orbiting planet happens to pass directly between us and the star. This latter case is a lot rarer since the plane of the planet's orbit has to line up perfectly with Earth.

This second method (the transit method) can give us a few extra details about a planet's atmosphere, because we can examine how the transit affects the spectrum of the light coming from the star. This can tell us what elements are present in the planet's atmosphere.

Life as we know it requires three main ingredients: liquid water (every organism on earth requires it), biological compounds, and energy.

The third is pretty much a given - the star's light. (but not necessarily - see below)

The first is highly dependent upon the planet's distance from its host star. Around a star of given energy output, there is a so-called "habitable zone" (some call it the Goldilocks Zone - juuuuust right!) where the planet is not too cold (all water freezes) nor too hot (can you say planet Venus, anyone?).

No terrestrial planets have been found to date within their star's habitable zone. Gleise 581c and Gleise 581d are just inside and just outside that star's habitable zone, and are the closest candidates so far in this regard.

As for the presence of biologicals and water at these planets - unless a planet transits its parent star from our point of view, we can only dream about what may or may not exist on the planets themselves.

A future space telescope, the Terrestrial Planet Finder, is going to be a linked array of space telescopes which can work together to cancel out the glare of stars and look directly at planets. This is supposed to be launched sometime within the next decade or so, and if it does, then this could be the key technology for not only finding small planets close to their stars like Earth is, it could also analyze the planet's spectrum for the presence of water, carbon, and a very likely sign of a living planet: oxygen.

I can't wait!

Oh yeah, about the solar energy source - some life on Earth doesn't use the sun for its energy supply, but geothermal energy coming from vents at the ocean floor. It's possible that such life could exist anywhere there is sub-surface water kept warm like this. Even our own solar system has places that might have life of this type, notably Jupiter's moon Europa, and Saturn's moon Enceledus.

Worlds like those could exist almost anywhere, and would be almost impossible to detect life on them from here. We can't even detect life in Europa, and it's vastly closer by. (of course, it most likely doesn't exist at all)

Answer 4

Just a decade ago, even the idea of exoplanets are just scifi. Now they are very real, and our brilliant astronomers are finding better ways to detect smaller planets. I certainly believe it will be just a matter of time again before they discover a world just like earth. Probably hundreds even thousand of light years away from us. In our lifetime we may not reach those worlds, but remember, hundreds of years ago the idea of flying are just scifi...