Earth's new twin found?

[Skullzrulerz]

New Planet Is Earth's Twin 200 Light Years Away

 

The planet, known as KOI-314c, is the same weight as Earth, but much larger and has a surface temperature of 104C.

 

Scientists have stumbled upon a planet considered Earth's 'twin' in another solar system 200 light years away.

 

Known as KOI-314c, the planet is the same weight as Earth, but is 60% larger.

 

The planet is also much hotter than Earth, with scientists estimating its surface temperatures to be around 104C - unsupportive of most life forms on Earth.

 

KOI-314c is suspected to have a thick gaseous atmosphere, making the planet only 30% denser than water.

 

However, despite a similar weight, astronomers said the planet is not considered "Earth-like".

 

"This planet might have the same mass as Earth, but it is certainly not Earth-like," said lead astronomer Dr David Kipping, from the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics in the US.

 

He added: "It proves that there is no clear dividing line between rocky worlds like Earth and fluffier planets like water worlds or gas giants."

 

Scientists made the discovery by accident while searching for moons using the powerful Kepler space telescope.

 

"When we noticed this planet showed transit timing variations, the signature was clearly due to the other planet in the system and not a moon," said Dr Kipping.

 

"At first we were disappointed it wasn't a moon, but then we soon realised it was an extraordinary measurement."

 

Evidence of the new planet was presented at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington DC.

 

http://news.sky.com/story/1191102/new-planet-is-earths-twin-200-light-years-away

 

Might not be our earth but is close to it.Thats good news if something happens here.Just need to get used to hotter temps and other things...

 

[swebby]

Link to article in nature

http://www.nature.com/news/earth-mass-exoplanet-is-no-earth-twin-1.14477

[Mapantz]

New Planet Is Earth's Twin 200 Light Years Away

 

astronomers said the planet is not considered "Earth-like".

 

[A.J]

exactly.....earth's twin my backside!......nothing like earth, completely un-newsworthy story IMO

[mike Meehan]

Not a twin in my view - I just wonder whether the fact that the parent is a red dwarf caused it to produce a system similar to our but in miniature.

[summer blizzard]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_potential_habitable_exoplanets

 

This list seems to be the most detailed thus far. Just change the metric so that the closest planets are at the top.

 

On here given our lack of measuring equipment (until 2017) the most important things are the habitable zone distance, composition and atmosphere.

 

Looking at composition we see that we see six planets within 23 light years that have suitable atmospheric densities for liquid water.

 

Looking at atmosphere we see that all six have relatively thick atmospheres which tends to increase surface temperature.

 

Looking at distance and size my bet is that Tau Ceti is toasty, Gliese 667 may actually be quite nice (though a tad chilly), others are probably too cold or warm.

 

...

 

Worth noting that these are large planets and there may well be smaller ones detectable even close from 2017 when the next two telescopes go up.

[swebby]

exactly.....earth's twin my backside!......nothing like earth, completely un-newsworthy story IMO

 

Looks like someone read the nature article and then forgot to transpose the word "no" from the nature articles headline.

[Interitus]

So it's not Vulcan then?