Exoplanets in Habitable Zones: HD28185, HD108874, Gliese 876

[marcus]

maybe we can use a thread about exoplanets discovered in the primary's habitable zone

the harvard catalog is basic, and gives bibliography to the technical literature. here is a sample from the harvard catalog
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~planets/Gl876.html

for something a bit different, this site has a fertile mix of facts and imagination
http://www.extrasolar.net/

HD28185

http://www.extrasolar.net/startour.asp?StarCatID=normal&StarID=130
http://www.extrasolar.net/planettour.asp?StarCatId=normal&PlanetId=158

HD108874
http://www.extrasolar.net/startour.asp?StarCatID=normal&StarID=159
http://www.extrasolar.net/planettour.asp?StarCatId=normal&PlanetId=196

Gliese 876
http://www.extrasolar.net/startour.asp?StarCatId=&StarID=2
http://www.extrasolar.net/planettour.asp?StarCatId=&PlanetId=156

 

[marcus]

this may seem like a simpleminded question, it is a kind of poll

suppose tomorrow you could launch a probe that would travel to any known planetary system within 1000 lightyears of earth, and radio back data. suppose that the probe travels at 1/10 cee, and the return radio message of course travels cee.

you have to choose the destination. it has to be some definite star that is known to have one or more planets. Would you choose HD28185, or would you choose Gliese 876? Or if would you choose some different star, which would it be?


HD28185

http://www.extrasolar.net/startour.asp?StarCatID=normal&StarID=130
http://www.extrasolar.net/planettour.asp?StarCatId=normal&PlanetId=158


Gliese 876
http://www.extrasolar.net/startour.asp?StarCatId=&StarID=2
http://www.extrasolar.net/planettour.asp?StarCatId=&PlanetId=156[/QUOTE]

 

[marcus]

the dilemma, for me, is the tradeoff in how long it takes to get the answer.

Gliese 876 is only 15 lightyears away so it would take 150 years for the probe to get there and 150+15 = 165 years for us to get results.

but except that it is farther away, I think HD28185 is more interesting. so I would prefer that, except that it is 130 lightyears away so it would take
1300 years for the probe to get there and a total of 1430 years before we got news.

 

[Danger]

the dilemma, for me, is the tradeoff in how long it takes to get the answer.

If part of the supposition is that I'm guaranteed to still be alive when the results come back, I'd send it to some random location on the far side of the Andromeda galaxy.

 

[marcus]

I didnt include that supposition in.
Thanks for your response.

 

[Danger]

I hope that you didn't take that post to be a put-down of the question, because I think that it's a very good one. We as a species are going to have to make that decision sometime for our survival. It was my intention to come right back and post the following serious answer, but some stuff happened in my 'real' life and I had to leave the computer for an extended period.
Ideally, it would be nice to have some Earth-like planets in the catalogue before sending anything. I don't know when or even if we'll have that capability. My reasoning is that due to population increase, which doesn't appear controllable, we will have to find a supplemental home. Far enough into the future, that will also be necessitated by the death of Sol. A yellow dwarf would give the best chance of being a hospitable environment, since at the very least we know what sort of stuff can be logically expected just from studies of our own system. It would also give the best odds of finding life somewhat similar to what we have here. On the other hand, anyone of those currently in existence will probably have about the same expiration date as our sun, and wouldn't do anything to extend our existence.
Alternately, I suppose that some of the Jupiter-like planets might have habitable moons. Even if they're orbiting a cooler star, the planetary heat might make conditions more Earth-like.