Finding Earth-like planet 'a near certainty,' claims scientist

If you have wondered whether there is another planet similar to Earth out there in space, the answer is absolutely yes.According to Sara Seager, a professor of physics and planetary science at MIT, there are hundreds of billions of stars in our Milky Way galaxy and upward of 100 billion galaxies in our universe. 

“So the existence of a planet similar to Earth somewhere, is, in my mind a certainty,” she told CNN Light Years.

“Less certain is if such a planet is near enough to us that we can find and identify it sometime in the future,” she said. 

Earth seen from Space

When as how soon can we find another Earth, she said it depends on how we identify Earth. 

If we want a true Earth twin, that is a planet with a thin nitrogen atmosphere, a planet with oceans and continents and orbiting a sun-like star, it will be well over a decade before we have the sophisticated space telescope tools to find and identify one, she said.

“Our best bet is to expand our definition of Earth to big Earth's orbiting small stars. We can use the future James Webb Space Telescope to search for signs (of) habitability and signs of life in the planet atmosphere.

“If we would be satisfied to just find an Earth-size or Earth-mass planet, that has already been done.

“But I caution that Venus and Earth appear the same size and mass, yet Venus is inhospitable to life due to a massive greenhouse atmosphere that creates surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead, while Earth has a surface oasis in comparison,” she added.

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An Asteroid may hit earth is 2068 A.D. Claimed NASA

The 325-metre asteroid99942 Apophis, that will safely fly by the Earth in 2029 and 2036,may strike the planet in 2068, says an article published on the NASA website.
The chances of it striking Earth are slim, however, with impact odds being about 2.3 in a million. The asteroid has been the focus of considerable attention after it was discovered in December 2004 to have a significant probability of Earth impact in April 2029.

While the 2029 potential impact was ruled out through the measurement of archival telescope images, the possibility of a potential impact in the years after 2029 continues to prove difficult to rule out. Based on optical and radar position measurements made in 2004-2012, the asteroid will pass the Earth in 2029 at an altitude of 31900, give or take 750 km.The altitude is close enough for the Earth's gravity to deflect
Such impact trajectories require Apophis to pass the Earth at a precise altitude, known as a keyhole, in 2029 en route to a subsequent impact.

"The new report, which does not make use of the 2013 radar measurements, identifies over a dozen keyholes that fall within the range of possible 2029 encounter distances," said the article prepared by a group of scientists led by Davide Farnocchia.

The uncertainty in predicting the asteroid's position in 2029 is completely dominated by the so-called Yarkovsky effect, a subtle non-gravitational perturbation due to thermal re-radiation of solar energy absorbed by the asteroid.

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UFO over Yemen authentic: astronomer

A Yemeni photographer captured what he believes was an unidentified flying object (UFO) over the mountains in northern Yemen and a picture he published showed a strange white triangular object streaming through the clouds.

Aseel Badiyan said he was using his camera to take shots of the mountains, nearly 90 km from the capital Sanaa, when the object shot across his lens.

Commenting on the photograph, a well-known Saudi astronomer said he had checked the picture and found that it was authentic.

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Astronauts to land on 'planet killer' asteroid

NASA is training a team of astronauts to land on asteroids, which are three million miles from the Earth.

The mission, planned for the next decade, would land on an asteroid travelling at more than 50,000 miles an hour.

The astronauts will drive vehicles on the surface - and pick up skills necessary to destroy ‘planet killer’ asteroids that may approach our planet in future.

The journey to the asteroid and back could take up to a year, according to the Daily Mail.

Major Tim Peake, a former British Army helicopter pilot, and the first official British astronaut with the European Space Agency revealed details of the mission.

Peake and five other astronauts will prepare for the low-gravity environment of the asteroid by spending 12 days in an underwater base off the coast of Florida, 65 feet beneath the Atlantic.

They will live in a capsule 43 feet long by 20 feet wide to simulate the cramped conditions on an asteroid.

asteroid

“With the technology we have available and are developing today, an asteroid mission of up to a year is definitely achievable,” Major Peake said in an interview in the Telegraph.

“These objects are also coming extremely close to Earth all the time, but we rarely hear about it. In the last year we had an asteroid come within Earth’s geostationary orbit, which is closer than some satellites.

“With enough warning we would probably send a robotic mission to deflect an asteroid, but if something is spotted late and is big enough we might come into Armageddon type scenarios where we may have to look at manned missions to deflect it,” he stated.

Peak added, “I would love to go on an asteroid mission. There is a possibility that if things continue at a good pace an asteroid mission could happen within the 2020s and that is within the operational time frame of myself and the other ESA astronauts.” 

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