Champagne Bottles on Ice for “Potential Habitable Planets”
18 Apr 2012, 03:49 UTC
Ever since my run-in with climate change deniers, I’ve had a “google alert” set up for myself so I know when something I say is getting spun and I have a chance to set the record straight. And for the last couple of weeks, I’ve noticed the following prediction has been taken a little bit too… certainly:
“I believe Kepler will find a ‘Goldilocks planet’ within the next two years”
I DO believe the Kepler team will do this. However, this is just a prediction. I’m not on the Kepler team, nor do I have any particular insights into what they’ve been up to. I’m just aware of the following:
1. None of the confirmed Kepler planets are really in that “sweet spot.” Kepler 22b is probably the closest to this, but in my opinion this planet is probably too large to harbor liquid oceans at its surface.
2. The list of Kepler planet candidates includes those that are not too hot, not too cold, not too big, and not too small for oceans and life to exist on the surface. More simply, there are unconfirmed planets that do not have any properties that would make life impossible.
3. The ...




