Quote:
Originally Posted by lone77star
Yeah, I've come to the idea that more exoplanets is a little bit boring.
I'm really interested only in Earth-like planets. Like you said, for when we get through trashing this one. But then we'd need a generational ship to get there, unless someone discovers something like warp drive.
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I agree that Earth-like planets are 'really
' interesting, and the chance of ever going to one is around nil. Nevertheless, I think the general ongoing interest is legitimate as:
- Part of the exercise is improving observational techniques to a point where we can identify truly (see next point) Earth-like planets (I'm not sure we can yet);
- 'Earth-like' is a broad term. Is a rocky planet outside the habitable zone Earth-like? Is a water-world in the habitable zone Earth-like? The more planets we find, the more variations we see - this seems interesting to me;
- I think that what most people really mean when they say 'Earth-like' is 'capable of supporting life', or even 'has life', or even 'has intelligent life'. Firstly, these are needles in a very large haystack, so the more planets we find, the more likely we are to find one of these. Secondly, we actually don't know what the bounds are for a planet to support life (I don't think we even have an unambiguous definition of life). Who knows where we might find it?
All in all, I find the search a bit interesting and like to see it progressing.