NASA reveals it will make a 'major' alien-hunting announcement on Thursday

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Very few details have been revealed about the briefing this week, which will take place via teleconference on at 1:00pm ET (6:00pm GMT).

However, Nasa says the news will focus on work done by its Kepler planet hunting telescope which has been working with Googles AI system to find potentially-habitable worlds.
The Kepler mission has spotted thousands of exoplanets since 2014, with 21 Earth-sized planets now known to orbit within the habitable zones of their stars.
The briefing is likely to reveals the telescope's latest catalogue, which is set to be Nasa's best look yet at possible alien planets.

The teleconference on December 14, and will be live-streamed on Nasa's website.

How many exoplanets has Kepler discovered?
Kepler mission:

• Candidate exoplanets: 4,496
• Confirmed exoplanets: 2,337
• Confirmed exoplanets less than twice Earth-size in the habitable zone: 30

K2 mission:

• Candidate exoplanets: 515
• Confirmed exoplanets: 178

 

[RejZoR]

We're spotting all these planets and no way of reaching them

 

[qubit]

Lemme see, they're gonna say that there really are aliens on Mars and that they're green and little?

 

[RejZoR]

After watching Life movie, I believe they are grey murderous squids.

 

[the54thvoid]

After watching Life movie, I believe they are grey murderous squids.

Yeah and those scientists had major protocol issues that made the premise glaringly weak. "Oh look, I'm fondling a small reactive life form - how cute, oh god it's killing me!"

 

[RejZoR]

Hehe That's our fault. We tend to forget about protocols when we get too excited. Finding squids on mars sure would be an exciting thing

 

[infrared]

Yeah and those scientists had major protocol issues that made the premise glaringly weak. "Oh look, I'm fondling a small reactive life form - how cute, oh god it's killing me!"

That reminded me of a really really ancient film called 'The Blob', this red goey alien emerges from an asteroid and proceeds to digest everyone it touches lol.
I wonder if the news will be telling people not to panic

 

[bug]

We're spotting all these planets and no way of reaching them

Why so negative? There's always a way, we just need to figure it out, that's all

 

[dorsetknob]

and in the "" News Elsewhere ""
Huge object passing Earth 'could be alien spacecraft from another part of galaxy', say scientists

A huge object passing by Earth could be an alien spacecraft, scientists have said.
The bizarre cigar-shaped entity was previously thought to be an interstellar asteroid which had come from another part of the galaxy.
But evidence has been mounting which has led experts to suggest it could actually be a sign of intelligent life.
The object is hundreds of metres in length but only one tenth as wide which is highly unusual for a typical space rock, scientists have said

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/tech...ntists/ar-BBGCPom?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=mailsignout

 

[Gasaraki]

Wait. They are going alien hunting? Did they build special space guns or are they using standard hunting rifles?

 

[bug]

and in the "" News Elsewhere ""
Huge object passing Earth 'could be alien spacecraft from another part of galaxy', say scientists

A huge object passing by Earth could be an alien spacecraft, scientists have said.
The bizarre cigar-shaped entity was previously thought to be an interstellar asteroid which had come from another part of the galaxy.
But evidence has been mounting which has led experts to suggest it could actually be a sign of intelligent life.
The object is hundreds of metres in length but only one tenth as wide which is highly unusual for a typical space rock, scientists have said

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/tech...ntists/ar-BBGCPom?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=mailsignout

Couple that with: https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/12/spacex-has-a-momentous-launch-this-week/
and it becomes clear it was the Vulkans.

 

[lexluthermiester]

To be fair, the law of probabilities are in favor of life abounding in the Universe, our galaxy and even our 100ly radius neighborhood of stars. I would not be at all surprised by such an announcement.

 

[bug]

To be fair, the law of probabilities are in favor of life abounding in the Universe, our galaxy and even our 100ly radius neighborhood of stars. I would not be at all surprised but such an announcement.

Depends on the definition of "life" and "abound". The universe is mostly empty/filled with dark matter, so it doesn't abound in anything we know as "matter" anyway.
It also depends on life giving a rat's ass about probabilities

 

[lexluthermiester]

Depends on the definition of "life" and "abound". The universe is mostly empty/filled with dark matter, so it doesn't abound in anything we know as "matter" anyway.

Dark energy/matter isn't actually dark. It is simply unobservable by us, ATM.
Back on topic, the chemistry of life on just this planet alone is very diverse. Science has postulated that life can also be based on metals and silicates.

 

[bug]

Dark energy/matter isn't actually dark. It is simply unobservable by us, ATM.
Back on topic, the chemistry of life on just this planet alone is very diverse. Science has postulated that life can also be based on metals and silicates.

I wasn't implying it was dark, I was implying whatever might live in there probably doesn't fit into our definition of life. Plus it may not matter (pun), because the possibility of dark matter actually being impossible to interact with using forces other than gravity has never been ruled out.

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

Researchers have found a new type of microbe that can survive on air alone - and say it could change the way we hunt for alien life.
The microbe can scavenge hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide from the air to stay alive in extreme conditions.
It is the first time the behaviour has been seen


https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25014

 

[lexluthermiester]

I wasn't implying it was dark, I was implying whatever might live in there probably doesn't fit into our definition of life. Plus it may not matter (pun), because the possibility of dark matter actually being impossible to interact with using forces other than gravity has never been ruled out.

Sorry, that wasn't meant to offend. Nice pun.

Researchers have found a new type of microbe that can survive on air alone - and say it could change the way we hunt for alien life.
The microbe can scavenge hydrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide from the air to stay alive in extreme conditions.
It is the first time the behaviour has been seen


https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25014

Exactly. Life abounds in the most extreme areas of our world. To say that we will never find life outside our planet is silly. Likewise, to say that we are the first and/or only intelligent life would be arrogant and ignorant beyond all logic and reason. I personally don't think we're the first and certainly not alone.

 

[bug]

Sorry, that wasn't meant to offend. Nice pun.

I wasn't offended. It just looked like I wasn't clear enough and I thought I gave a second shot, that's all

 

[CAPSLOCKSTUCK]

NASA's Kepler space telescope has discovered an eighth planet in a distant star system called Kepler 90 - the first time a faraway star has been found to have the same number of planets orbiting it as our own sun.
Although the solar system, Kepler 90, is not new, the eighth planet, Kepler 90i, was found using AI software in a groundbreaking project between Google and NASA.
The discovery of a system identical to our own raises hopes of finding alien life.

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/...-discover-eighth-planet-circling-distant-star

 

[neatfeatguy]

NASA's Kepler space telescope has discovered an eighth planet in a distant star system called Kepler 90 - the first time a faraway star has been found to have the same number of planets orbiting it as our own sun.
Although the solar system, Kepler 90, is not new, the eighth planet, Kepler 90i, was found using AI software in a groundbreaking project between Google and NASA.
The discovery of a system identical to our own raises hopes of finding alien life.

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/...-discover-eighth-planet-circling-distant-star

and in the "" News Elsewhere ""
Huge object passing Earth 'could be alien spacecraft from another part of galaxy', say scientists

A huge object passing by Earth could be an alien spacecraft, scientists have said.
The bizarre cigar-shaped entity was previously thought to be an interstellar asteroid which had come from another part of the galaxy.
But evidence has been mounting which has led experts to suggest it could actually be a sign of intelligent life.
The object is hundreds of metres in length but only one tenth as wide which is highly unusual for a typical space rock, scientists have said

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/tech...ntists/ar-BBGCPom?li=BBoPWjQ&ocid=mailsignout

That was the first thing that popped into my head. I've read through a couple of books about SSP (Secret Space Program) and it's been made clear in both books that humans already possess the crafts and technology for these kind of "cigar" shaped ships.

I don't know if I believe everything in these books, but some of it certainly seems plausible. They're an interesting read if anyone finds this stuff about the idea of space already being explored by man or government hiding knowledge about aliens.
Insiders Reveal Secret Space Programs & Extraterrestrial Alliances
The US Navy's Secret Space Program and Nordic Extraterrestrial Alliance