Quote:
Originally Posted by SilentKnight
They'll receive our Hitler broadcasts in another 500,000 years.
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Not 500,000 years, just about 422 years. If they reply, it will take 500 years not 500,000 to get back to us. But no problem, your reference is awesome.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NETbilling
How do they actually find, analyze and photograph a planet 500 light years away?
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Here you go:
http://kepler.nasa.gov/Mission/QuickGuide/
Basically, they can look at bright objects like suns. As a planet orbits the sun, the sun moves slightly due to the gravitational pull of the plan. This movement can be detected as color shifts known as the Doppler effect. Other ways of detecting planets can measure when a sun gets very slightly dimmer when a planet passes in front of it relative to us.
The currently do not have any photographs of planets but I read that a new generation of telescopes will be able to do it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt 26z
It's mostly junk science.
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No, its real science.