Winterclaw opened this issue on Dec 05, 2011 · 25 posts
Penguinisto posted Wed, 07 December 2011 at 11:58 AM
Quote - Not to nitpick (ok, I am) It's 2.4 times the radius of earth, meaning its whopping big compared to us. I'm surprised it's so cool...only 22C. I'd expect something that size would be more like venus due to a thicker atmosphere.
Depends on a lot of factors, though... what's the atmosphere made of, how thick is it, exactly, how much solar (okay, Keplarian) radiation does it get, etc.
As far as life? Certainly possible, and I daresay probable. Is it sentient life? Who knows? Getting there (or getting here from there) would be a one very ugly commute, unless someone (on either side of the line) has managed to come up with FTL technology, or has enough skill and power to crack open a wormhole. Not really likely.
So far, our 'radiation bubble' of radio and other electromagnetic traffic has only gotten out to around 100 light years or so. It'll be another 400 years before anyone on that side of it would receive the original RMS Titanic SOS call... assuming the signal hasn't weakened and diffused down to mere background noise by that point.
Long story short, nobody there (assuming anything sentient lives there) knows we're here, and nobody here knows beyond highly educated guesswork that the planet is there, and at that size and temperature.
I'm sincerely hoping someone finds something a whole lot closer, say within 10-15 light years, since that would actually be somewhat within our (extreme) reach, and be one hell of an incentive to actually start reaching out.