Newly discovered exoplanets may yield signs of life

ANU astrophysicist and cosmologist Dr Brad Tucker says the new class of exoplanets recently found by astronomers could hold signs of life.

“It’s quite exciting because we look at our solar system and we see Earth, and we see that Mars and Venus are similar to Earth, obviously the atmospheres are different, but they’re about the same size, they’re rocky planets with atmospheres,” he told Sky News Australia.

“We then look at Jupiter and Saturn, these gas giants, and we look at Uranus and Neptune; they’re what we call these ice giants.”

Dr Tucker said there is a class of planet called mini-Neptunes, which are a midway point between Earth and Neptune and have more rocky cores but have high hydrogen content.

Dr Tucker also said some of these mini-Neptunes were at the optimal distance from their suns for liquid water to be present.

“Here, you have a planet that can be quite an abundance in the ingredients for life and in an environment that can keep life alive, essentially.

“The amazing thing about this is, about 20 per cent or so far of all the other star systems we’ve looked at, all the stars in the nighttime sky, all have these mini-Neptunes.

“This may be the type of planet we should be focussing on to study to look for life.”

[laughingdog]

I saw signs of life and it didn't require a vaccine.

[josephm.gracia]

Despite the crisis, this is Still a good time to invest in Gold and Crypto

[sandwichrtist]

Weve known there is life on Mars since the 70s.

[donm]

ALL HAIL OUR ALIEN OVERLORDS !!!
(it never hurts to get on the winning side early!)

[myquestionaskingaccount]

Dont get too excited, no alien is stupid enough to want to be friends with us

[ricwhelan]

This is Brads monthly BS segment...
Well done Brad... We love to hear you dribbling on about space...

[WilpenaPound]

Would it be possible to send all politicians there. 👍

[juanfepenarivera]

believing in Jesuchrist you have salvatión and eternal life. read in the holy bible Romans 10 : 9 and 10, st Jhon 3 : 16
believe in the place where you are
blessing for yours

[hockeymike]

it's so bad in australia right now they need to think about living on another planet

[longmemory]

Every now and then they have to prod the funding.

[naturewoman]

Stop wasting your money put it into health care and getting rid of the filth out of parliament

[myleszimmerman]

Nobody has ever seen an"exoplanet"-- all they have are theoretical "blips" on a monitor screen

[banjopatterson]

Move the entire industrial complex to the moon and stop building with reflective material unless it has the capacity to harbour the energy for human use!
Glass, Concrete and Tarmac could be the starting point!

[hockeymike]

If they found proof of life elsewhere, would they censor it immediately

[liquidlace]

Awesome ... let me off this one, it's f'cked

[melherviktor]

How about Earth? It'$ quite close.

[radioaustralia]

I have been hearing this crap for 30 years and they never find sh it

[Spaceman-pjid]

I think theres a correlation between anti vaxxers and people who havent had sex in awhile.

[AshleyJOsborne]

Everytime theres a crisis in The Biden Whitehouse, scientists make an announcement like this🤔...(major crisis that is, not just the day to day normal crisis)

[stevegarnham]

mars is not the same size as earth he should know that.