Meet the Neighbor... Ross 128 b. Another world close to our own #astronomy

By ESO/M. Kornmesser (https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1736a/) [CC BY 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Eleven light years away, orbiting a small, faint red dwarf, is the Earth-like planet Ross 128 b. The star, Ross 128, is one of the quietest stars in the solar neighborhood and is located in the Virgo constellation. Most red dwarfs are prone to flaring, which can blast nearby planets with lots of radiation, stripping away their atmospheres and making them uninhabitable. But Ross 128 b doesn’t flare very often, which makes any planets in its habitable zone candidates for hosting life.

The planet was detected by the HARPS instrument at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. It is the second-closest known Earth-size exoplanet and is calculated to have a minimum mass of 1.35 times the Earth. Ross 128 b orbits 20 times closer to its star than Earth orbits the Sun, but intercepts only 1.38 times more solar radiation than Earth, increasing the chance of retaining an atmosphere.

It's year (rotation period) lasts about 9.9 days and is most likely tidally locked, meaning one side of the planet has eternal daylight and the other eternal darkness.

As of 2017, Ross 128 b is the best candidate for a potentially habitable exoplanet, if it has an atmosphere and if it has the right chemical balance for life to thrive.

Would its inhabitants be like us? Or wildly different? What do you imagine they're like?

What's it Like to Live on Another Planet? #SciFi #Science

Exploration and discovery is what I love best about science fiction. I want to know what's out there, even if it's just our imaginations that take us there.

Earth and Moon from Mars

We have no idea what's out there, so we're free to imagine anything. Which is the most awesome part.

We've set foot on the Moon and we've sent robots to Mars and Titan (a moon of Saturn's). Otherwise, we've not actually landed on another world. Our species has a long way to go to get off this planet.

The machines, ships, and other technologies will certainly get us to other worlds. The biggest stumbling block will be our bodies and our minds. We have no idea what prolonged stays in space will do to us, or if it's even survivable. Humans are adapted very well to survive on Earth and nowhere else. In the Backworlds, I changed our biology to make us more adaptable. Either that or a suit, or nanites, or a vaccine, or a combination will be necessary for our kind to thrive off Earth.

If we do leave, there's no guarantee we can come back. Mars is 1/3 the gravity of Earth. We might lose too much muscle, bone, and whatnot to survive a return trip.

And what would it be like to be the first human settler on a world we're not made for? How would we go about it?

Mars, on NatGeo, gives us a taste of what it might be like. It's an excellent blend of drama with documentary. WARNING: it's addictive.

Intriguing as it is for me, I know I'd make a poor settler. I enjoy electricity, running water, internet, and convenient groceries too much to like being a settler. I learn this during every storm, and we've been getting hammered in the OR.

And, as I write this, we're getting more snow on top of the two feet we already have. They haven't plowed. And we're supposed to get freezing rain and snow all week.

Husband Unit was driving, not me

That's my car buried back there

But we have my new book to cheer us. FreeFall is now available at all ebook outlets. It's the best book I've written yet. Enjoy!

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The first shot of a new war echoes through the galaxy. Craze has high hopes for what the alliance with an old enemy, the Foreworlds, will do to defeat a worse enemy, the Quassers.

The test of a highly-advanced weapon, created by the efforts of the alliance, pushes tensions over the brink and kills thousands. To make it worse, the Foreworld ambassador is keeping secrets.

Conventional warfare against the Quassers isn’t working, and if the alliance ends, Craze has become the most hated man in the galaxy for no reason.

With nothing left to lose, Craze sets in motion one last chance for survival.

Discovery and Space Adventures. What's Out There? #SciFi #FREE

My first memories of television are Lost in Space, Space Ghost, and the Jetsons. A few years later came the Moon landing. I was only five, but the Moon landing blew me away. "Wow," is what I still think. To have the perspective of before and after is a gift.

It spawned the space age and a fascination for what lies beyond our planet. Then there was Star Trek, Doctor Who, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Tang. I grew up thinking that Earth was no longer the limit, a very special time.

Then came along Babylon 5, Farscape, and Stargate. And I can't wait for the next Guardians of the Galaxy.

I want to know what's out there, and these shows and stories give us glimpses. Because if we can imagine it, it exists. It's already been proven with diamond planets and super Earths.

We are fortunate to live in an age of vast discovery that gives us glimpses of worlds beyond our own. Discovery is the part of any story that interests me the most. Take me to a new world. Introduce me to new people. Whether it's learning about a different culture or point of view on Earth or on another world, a different time, or a world yet unseen by human eyes, I can't resist the lure of discovery. It calls to be like a beacon.

What do you love to discover?

The Backworlds Collides with 7 Other Galactic Empires!

Galactic Empires: Eight Novels of Deep Space Adventure FREE!

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 Eight full-length novels of adventure, war, intrigue and survival in the far reaches of space.

The Backworlds by M. Pax  A man struggles to survive in the harsh world of humanity’s outer settlements and prove his father wrong.

Ambassador 1: Seeing Red by Patty Jansen To look an alien superior in the eye is a deadly offense. To accuse him of a political murder…

Alien Hunters by Daniel Arenson A scruffy alien pest controller faces an alien threat the likes of which the universe has never seen.

Hard Duty by Mark E. Cooper Hostile aliens nearly eradicated humanity. Will the next encounter finish the job?

Bypass Gemini by Joseph Lallo A disgraced racer pilot gets mixed up with a mega-corporation. Now he has to stop them.

Sky Hunter by Chris Reher Sent to a human outpost to investigate sabotage, a pilot finds more trouble than she bargained for.

The Galapagos Incident by Felix Savage A genocidal AI attacks the solar system, and a Space Corps agent has one chance of saving a bunch of asteroid squatters she was sent to evict.

First Conquest by David VanDyke To find a home and keep humanity safe from hostile aliens, Task Force Conquest must fight to seize a new star system.

More Habitable Planets than Earth

As far as habitability goes, Earth may occupy the lower end of the spectrum.

(image courtesy of NASA)

Discoveries of potentially habitable planets orbiting stars other than our sun—exoplanets, that is—are challenging our definitition of habitability, says a recent article by Rene Heller in Scientific American.

Are we on the fringe of 'habitiability'? The idea is astounding. Earth teems with life and wonder. What would a planet more suited to life be like?

Since we're surrounded by worlds less hospitable than our own, it's hard to imagine. Would there be more biodiversity? Less competition to survive? Would more than one intelligent species evolve?

Superhabitable is the term used for planets more livable than our own. What characteristics beyond the essentials of tectonics, volcanic activity, water, atmosphere, magnetosphere, etc..., would these worlds have?

1.  Earth sits on the edge of the habitable zone from the Sun. So worlds more inside 'the zone' would be more habitable.

2.  A different star. Our lovely G star has a short lifespan relative to other stars. Scientists conclude a K star, one with a longer life and less mass, would give life a longer time to evolve. ( Erika Nesvold, Astrobites)

3.  A less stable orbit. Mild changes really disrupt life on Earth. A planet with a slightly changing, eccentric orbit could produce tidal heating, which would make it superhabitable. (see Astrobites)

How do you imagine 'more habitable'?