NASA to Host News Conference on Discovery Beyond Our Solar System | Wed. Feb 22 1PM

[Seb]

I don't think it's such a major find...we have to develop some sort of drive that would actually get us there

It's not (yet) about us moving away from hearth, it's all about finding life somewhere else. We're getting so much closer!

 

[Knave]

Substance over form.

I don't care about the look of the conference but the findings behind their research.

I mean... you would hope they would have had a conference room or something instead of a highschool gym stage. You wouldn't use it just for announcements but for conferences with NASA scientists in other parts of the country, conferences with other space agencies, private companies, etc...

I'm wondering if the setup was deliberate and they actually have a nice conference room but went "lets host it like we're hosting a play in a highschool gym so we look frugal".

 

[Power Man]

They are coming!

I once had a dream I was abdcuted by aliens

I was on a surgery table surrounded by grey aliens watching me; that I was in another room with a big screen showing me terrible stuff (humans destroying each other)

I'm not into ufology/aliens stuff and I didn't watch or read anything related to the topic before going to bed that night

So yeah that was weird

 

[SirPaste]

They are coming!

I once had a dream I was abdcuted by aliens

I was on a surgery table surrounded by grey aliens watching me; that I was in another room with a big screen showing me terrible stuff (humans destroying each other)

I'm not into ufology/aliens stuff and I didn't watch or read anything related to the topic before going to bed that night

So yeah that was weird

It was real

 

[Knave]

I think it was an OK press conference. You might as well hold something like this from time to time to keep interest, generate interest and get people thinking/wondering. I knew stuff like this was going on but it was in the back of my mind and I never really thought about it until NASA decided to hold a press conference and go into detail on one particular solar system.

The question asking about names for the planets was spot on. You need to name these things - especially if they're in the habitable zone.

a b c d e f g h i j is uninspiring.

 

[Power Man]

It was real

I'm convinced it was tbh

Now the real question is : was it live, or was it an old repressed memory?

 

[Seb]

I think it was an OK press conference. You might as well hold something like this from time to time to keep interest, generate interest and get people thinking/wondering. I knew stuff like this was going on but it was in the back of my mind and I never really thought about it until NASA decided to hold a press conference and go into detail on one particular solar system.

The question asking about names for the planets was spot on. You need to name these things - especially if they're in the habitable zone.

a b c d e f g h i j is uninspiring.

I liked the part where they said they were thinking about naming them after Belgian beers.

 

[NyQuil]

I liked the part where they said they were thinking about naming them after Belgian beers.

All of these hilarious sources of names for celestial objects is going to bite us in the ass someday in the future.

 

[Diamondillium]

All of these hilarious sources of names for celestial objects is going to bite us in the ass someday in the future.

We've already been laughing for a long time at a planet in our own solar system that sounds like it's named after an excretion point, I think we'll be fine.

If, one day, you live on the planet Pornhub, you live on the planet Pornhub. Nothing to be done about it.

 

[PanthersHockey1]

Its not a question of if theres life in the universe it is when do we find it?

I would go so far as to say within our galaxy alone there is a vast ocean of life-bearing planets and moons teeming with life.

It is disappointing that up until now we have not been contacted/visited by life-forms that are much further along the evolutionary chain than humans (Maybe we have?).

 

[Seb]

Its not a question of if theres life in the universe it is when do we find it?

I would go so far as to say within our galaxy alone there is a vast ocean of life-bearing planets and moons teeming with life.

It is disappointing that up until now we have not been contacted/visited by life-forms that are much further along the evolutionary chain than humans (Maybe we have?).

We might have found a few already, we just don't have the data to know it yet. When they launch JWST next year we will learn incredible things.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Fascinating stuff. Going to have to read a lot more in detail about this after my shift at work ends.

 

[Jeffrey]

I liked the part where they said they were thinking about naming them after Belgian beers.

I wouldn't mind living on Stella Artois or Leffe

 

[Bjorn Le]

I wouldn't mind living on Stella Artois or Leffe

Those would be awesome names for a planet to be honest.

My guess?

They've detected a radio/other kind of signal originating from an exoplanet which may be of sentient origin.

Let's be honest, this isn't something they'd tell the public. People could and would freak out. It would cause instability. You would need to authenticate everything and carefully plan a media campaign if they planned to publically announce such a thing.

 

[hatterson]

Let's be honest, this isn't something they'd tell the public. People could and would freak out. It would cause instability. You would need to authenticate everything and carefully plan a media campaign if they planned to publically announce such a thing.

I disagree.

I'm not sure there's any better way to get society to throw giant sums of money at NASA than to find (potential) proof of alien life relatively near us.

Sure relatively near still means out of reach during our lifetimes, but it's still significant.

 

[chicagoskycam]

Read it yesterday, it's 40 light years and a couple planets that are candidates for life. They will need to figure out what the atmosphere is comprised of, ect.

It's just so far out from really knowing anything it gets kinda of disappointing. You think if there was intelligent life you would be picking up radio signals but who knows.

 

[Kestrel]

Read it yesterday, it's 40 light years and a couple planets that are candidates for life. They will need to figure out what the atmosphere is comprised of, ect.

It's just so far out from really knowing anything it gets kinda of disappointing. You think if there was intelligent life you would be picking up radio signals but who knows.

Well, how are you defining intelligent life? Humans were around for a very long time before they were generating radio signals.

 

[Knave]

Well, how are you defining intelligent life? Humans were around for a very long time before they were generating radio signals.

Complex multi-cellular life? I know that's not what he means but that's what I would define it as. It would be really cool if we could somehow confirm it at some point in my life.

 

[Bjorn Le]

I disagree.

I'm not sure there's any better way to get society to throw giant sums of money at NASA than to find (potential) proof of alien life relatively near us.

Sure relatively near still means out of reach during our lifetimes, but it's still significant.

It wouldn't be NASA's decision. It would be the US Gov.

 

[discostu]

It wouldn't be NASA's decision. It would be the US Gov.

How long could a secret like that be kept?

It would be a massive discovery, and I'm sure those involved with the initial discovery would not be keen to see it hidden from the public.

Once the signal is detected and it's known where to look, it could easily be leaked to other facilities that do not report to US Government (some are through international associations from what I understand, but not certain), as I'm sure any scientist would want to see the results validated through another source.

 

[Diamondillium]

How long could a secret like that be kept?

It would be a massive discovery, and I'm sure those involved with the initial discovery would not be keen to see it hidden from the public.

Once the signal is detected and it's known where to look, it could easily be leaked to other facilities that do not report to US Government (some are through international associations from what I understand, but not certain), as I'm sure any scientist would want to see the results validated through another source.

Sure, it could be leaked, but it's also entirely possible that the very intelligent scientific minds in charge of such a discovery would be equally convinced that it's in the best interests of society to not know this.

One of the bigger recent scientific debates is what we do if we do ever find evidence of intelligent life elsewhere. The results of hastily jumping in and attempting to make contact for example could be the end of humanity. We have absolutely zero idea how a extraterrestrial life form would process thoughts and decisions, and it's entirely possible they wouldn't view us anywhere near friendly.

You very likely don't want the entire world to know there's life out there if it's been deemed that we shouldn't contact it. The people working at NASA are some of the most intelligent people on this earth, so I imagine they wouldn't be the types (for the most part) to jump in to leak something so dangerous just because they want to.

At the very least, I'm hoping they would get out their yellow notepad and make a quick pros and cons list before deciding to reveal to the public if they did find it.

 

[Kestrel]

Complex multi-cellular life? I know that's not what he means but that's what I would define it as. It would be really cool if we could somehow confirm it at some point in my life.

I wouldn't call that intelligent life, but I would say the coolness factor is still entirely there. If that happened in my lifetime, I'd be all over learning as much as I could.

 

[mouser]

Well, how are you defining intelligent life? Humans were around for a very long time before they were generating radio signals.

And maybe at some point in the technological future we'll come up with something better and using radio signals will be considered obsolete.

 

[Seb]

It's much more likely we find basic or early form of life rather than any intelligent ones so I don't see the risk involved in telling the world about it. It's just the natural progression of discoveries.

I do believe we will find life outside sooner than later. All we need is one planet with micro-organisms on it, I don't think it's unlikely we find such thing in our lifetime.

 

[discostu]

Sure, it could be leaked, but it's also entirely possible that the very intelligent scientific minds in charge of such a discovery would be equally convinced that it's in the best interests of society to not know this.

One of the bigger recent scientific debates is what we do if we do ever find evidence of intelligent life elsewhere. The results of hastily jumping in and attempting to make contact for example could be the end of humanity. We have absolutely zero idea how a extraterrestrial life form would process thoughts and decisions, and it's entirely possible they wouldn't view us anywhere near friendly.

You very likely don't want the entire world to know there's life out there if it's been deemed that we shouldn't contact it. The people working at NASA are some of the most intelligent people on this earth, so I imagine they wouldn't be the types (for the most part) to jump in to leak something so dangerous just because they want to.

At the very least, I'm hoping they would get out their yellow notepad and make a quick pros and cons list before deciding to reveal to the public if they did find it.

All great points. It's extremely hard to foresee how people will react. However, I think the scientific desire to understand any potential signal would cause resistance for any plan that tries to keep too tight a lid on things.

If we are to receive a signal, it would require as much validation as possible. These would be a big desire to understand and interpret any signal and look for similar signals in that vicinity.

I would also be surprised if observation facilities do not have some form of public disclosure of their activities. People who follow this type of thing probably pay attention to their work. If suddenly, there's a focus on one region, people may start asking questions.