Has anybody known about Darwin IV Planet?
957655
Darwin IV is a fictional planet that was the subject of Wayne Barlowe's book Expedition and the television special, Alien Planet, based on Expedition. Although the details of the discovery and exploration of Darwin IV differ in the two presentations, both are essentially the same in their depiction of the planetary environment and its native lifeforms, whose abundance and variety prompt the name Darwin.\n\n\nIntroduction\n\nBook\nExpedition describes Darwin IV as the fourth of six planets orbiting a binary star system approximately 6.5 light years from the Sol system. Darwin IV is discovered by a benevolent and technologically superior alien race known as the Yma. The Yma also provide suitable transportation to the planet for a number of human observers by means of an unspecified faster-than-light drive system. This technology reduces the travel time to a much more manageable 2 year journey, during which the explorers inhabit "sleep-pods." Barlowe notes that the Darwinian day lasts 26.7 hours and that its gravity is 0.6 times that of the Earth. Darwin IV's most notable surface feature is "Mare Amoebicus," the Amoebic Sea.\n\n\nTelevision\nIn Alien Planet a less fantastic scenario is presented where a ship called the Von Braun is sent to explore an alien world outside the solar system. The Von Braun is sent to a binary star system about six and half light years from Earth. At 20% of the speed of light (0.2c), it takes over 40 years to travel to this system. Upon arrival it goes into orbit around Darwin IV, the Von Braun deployed the Darwin Reconnaissance Orbiter to scan the planet from orbit. The Von Braun also dispatches three identically shaped lighter-than-air probes to the planet surface. These three probes are:\n\nLeonardo da Vinci (nicknamed "Leo" and colored blue). \nIsaac Newton (nicknamed "Ike" and colored yellow). \nBalboa (named after Vasco Núñez de Balboa and colored red). Balboa did not survive entry into the Darwin IV atmosphere. (Balboa was evidently doomed from the start--the screenwriters of Alien Planet never proposed a nickname for it.) \nIn both stories the low gravity and dense atmosphere allow for aerial organisms that would be impossible on Earth.
153974
A 10th planet has recently been found in our Solar System. It's designation right now is UB313. Check out the following website for more information:\n\nhttp://channels.isp.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001/20060201/1301968801.htm&ewp=ewp_news_0106planet&floc=NI-slot1a
453459
yes.  Here is a post of mine with the info on it about life outside our planet, maybe even in our solar system.  Be aware:  Most planets we found are "hot jupiturs", which are jupitur sized gas giants with temperatutres about 1300F at average.  \n\nThere is a possibility.\n\nI have done PLENTY of research in astronomy. I just am so into it. Anyway, I beleive yes, and my reasons:\n\nEarth itself seems perfect. Perfect climate, actaul liquid water, etc. But did you know animals (and I mean animals, not bacteria) could adapt over time to certain places? For instance, In Jupitur, there might be life. The appearence: Most planets are gas giants, and they need to be able to withstand a good amount of temperature (We are alomst guarenteed the only solar system with rocky planets and temperatures colder than 1300F on average). This would be the perfect place for, as the books described as, Floaters And Swordtails. Floaters kinda would be blimps. They would be organisms flying in the perfect temperature zone and flying with the baloons on their back. However, a sword tail would come. Using its super wings, it can fly lightning fast. Its sharp beak lets it tear right through the floater for food.\n\nOn EUropa:\nOn jupiturs smallest of the Gallelaio moons, there is a greater chance of having life than mars. The reason: Ice flows cover the surface. The ice flow tend to crack, bu recover. The process is also found on earth, and is now beleived that liquid water lies under the flow.\n\nThe appearance of life:\nSkating on the ice on Europa, An unnamed organism skates around, using its green body to undergo photosynthesis to produce food. Because It needs no air and makes food like plants, they need no mouths.\n\nVenus (What most planets moons probibly look like):\nOn a hot planet like venus, you need to survive insane temperatures. Eating rocks would also be good, for the fact that its mostly the only thing on the planet. Oh, and leave out the need for water. They cant get any there. \n\nThe appearence: \nStanding on the scraps of a russian probe, an oucher-poucher stands on 1 foot to avoid the insane heat, eating the scraps of the ship. The oucher pouncher needs no water, so it doesnt need hydration. Its body is also meant to withstand any type of pressure, for 90x earths pressure would surely crush it normally. \n\nPluto:\nPluto is made up of all types of ice. water, dry, though mainly methane. So drinking, again, is out of the picture. They might beable you suck moisture though. The sun is to far away for solar energy, so you can slash out all photosynthesis.\nThe appearence:\nPlutonian zittsles are almost small ice chunks with legs. They are able to last in temperatures in the climates back in the far end of the solar system. In the morning, they do whatever they can to stay cold, for they feel that -234C is almost the exact same as 103F for us. At night, they really get going. They send waves to eachother to communicate while the atmosphere is still up. When they really are energetic, they can spring in the air up to 30 feet. They use tiny mouths under them to suck moisture from the ice. They think that pluto is the only place for life; Everywhere else is to hot. \n\nTitan:\nTitan is the only moon that we know of that can support life. Its atmosphere is composed of mainly nitrogen, similar to ours. So it does have a green house effect. The ground is covered with ice, so they have to eat that for water. Also, they would need to keep warm, since although its not extremem temperatures, its really cold.\n\nThe appearence:\nBear-like Stovebellies are creatures living on titan. To keep warm, they have several features. They have a huge HUGE fur coat. The eat ice for moisture and to cool the ground the stand on. They also have a unique adaptaion to beath fire and fart out heat to go soaring. Salafishes, amphibious organisms, share a mutalion relation ship with stovebellies. They clear out ice blocks and act almost as dentistds for st
890676
Its depends on what you mean by the earth. If you are talking about just our planet then yes we are the only one, but if your talking about a planet that is similar to earth that can harbour intelligent life (and i use that term loosely) then personally i believe  that the earth is unique and that we are the only ones. \n\nHowever in 1961 a man by the name of Frank Drake came up- with an equation to calculate and determine how many intelligent, communicating civilizations there are in the galaxy.\n\nThe Drake Equation is:\n\nN = N* fp ne fl fi fc fL\nThe equation can really be looked at as a number of questions:\n\nN* represents the number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy \nQuestion: How many stars are in the Milky Way Galaxy? \n\nAnswer: Current estimates are 100 billion. \nfp is the fraction of stars that have planets around them \n\nQuestion: What percentage of stars have planetary systems? \n\nAnswer: Current estimates range from 20% to 50%. \n\nne is the number of planets per star that are capable of sustaining life \n\nQuestion: For each star that does have a planetary system, how many planets are capable of sustaining life? \n\nAnswer: Current estimates range from 1 to 5. \nfl is the fraction of planets in ne where life evolves \n\nQuestion: On what percentage of the planets that are capable of sustaining life does life actually evolve? \n\nAnswer: Current estimates range from 100% (where life can evolve it will) down to close to 0%. \nfi is the fraction of fl where intelligent life evolves \n\nQuestion: On the planets where life does evolve, what percentage evolves intelligent life? \n\nAnswer: Estimates range from 100% (intelligence is such a survival advantage that it will certainly evolve) down to near 0%. \nfc is the fraction of fi that communicate \n\nQuestion: What percentage of intelligent races have the means and the desire to communicate? \n\nAnswer: 10% to 20% \nfL is fraction of the planet's life during which the communicating civilizations live \n\nQuestion: For each civilization that does communicate, for what fraction of the planet's life does the civilization survive? \n\nAnswer: This is the toughest of the questions. If we take Earth as an example, the expected lifetime of our Sun and the Earth is roughly 10 billion years. So far we've been communicating with radio waves for less than 100 years. How long will our civilization survive? Will we destroy ourselves in a few years like some predict or will we overcome our problems and survive for millennia? \n\nWhen all of these variables are multiplied together we can dtermine how many communicating cilvilisations are out there. \n\nN, the number of communicating civilisations in the galaxy. \n\nN* = the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy: \n\nfp = fraction of stars with planets around them: .\n\nfl = fraction of those planets where life actually evolves: .\n\nfi = the fraction of fl that evolves intelligent life: .\n\nfc = the fraction of fi that communicates: .\n\nfL = the fraction of the planet's life during which the communicating civilisations survives: \n\nI personally dont believe in the drake equation, but its interesting to ponder about.
572976
After the discovery of Uranus, it was noticed that its orbit was not as it should be in accordance with Newton's laws.  It was therefore predicted that another more distant planet must be perturbing Uranus' orbit. Neptune was first observed by Galle and d'Arrest on 1846 Sept 23 very near to the locations independently predicted by Adams and Le Verrier from calculations based on the observed positions of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. An international dispute arose between the English and French (though not, apparently between Adams and Le Verrier personally) over priority and the right to name the new planet; they are now jointly credited with Neptune's discovery. Subsequent observations have shown that the orbits calculated by Adams and Le Verrier diverge from Neptune's actual orbit fairly quickly. Had the search for the planet taken place a few years earlier or later it would not have been found anywhere near the predicted location. \n\nMore than two centuries earlier, in 1613, Galileo observed Neptune when it happened to be very near Jupiter, but he thought it was just a star. On two successive nights he actually noticed that it moved slightly with respect to another nearby star. But on the subsequent nights it was out of his field of view. Had he seen it on the previous few nights Neptune's motion would have been obvious to him. But, alas, cloudy skies prevented obsevations on those few critical days. \n\nNeptune has been visited by only one spacecraft, Voyager 2 on Aug 25 1989. Much of we know about Neptune comes from this single encounter. But fortunately, recent ground-based and HST observations have added a great deal, too. \n\nBecause Pluto's orbit is so eccentric, it sometimes crosses the orbit of Neptune making Neptune the most distant planet from the Sun for a few years. \n\nNeptune's composition is probably similar to Uranus': various "ices" and rock with about 15% hydrogen and a little helium. Like Uranus, but unlike Jupiter and Saturn, it may not have a distinct internal layering but rather to be more or less uniform in composition. But there is most likely a small core (about the mass of the Earth) of rocky material. Its atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium with a small amount of methane. \n\nNeptune's blue color is largely the result of absorption of red light by methane in the atmosphere but there is some additional as-yet-unidentified chromophore which gives the clouds their rich blue tint. \n\nLike a typical gas planet, Neptune has rapid winds confined to bands of latitude and large storms or vortices. Neptune's winds are the fastest in the solar system, reaching 2000 km/hour. \n\nLike Jupiter and Saturn, Neptune has an internal heat source -- it radiates more than twice as much energy as it receives from the Sun. \n\nAt the time of the Voyager encounter, Neptune's most prominent feature was the Great Dark Spot (left) in the southern   hemisphere. It was about half the size as Jupiter's Great Red Spot (about the same diameter as Earth). Neptune's winds blew the Great Dark Spot westward at 300 meters/second (700 mph). Voyager 2 also saw a smaller dark spot in the southern hemisphere and a small irregular white cloud that zips around Neptune every 16 hours or so now known as "The Scooter" (right). It may be a plume rising from lower in the atmosphere but its true nature remains a mystery. \n\nHowever, HST observations of  Neptune (left) in 1994 show that the Great Dark Spot has disappeared! It has either simply dissipated or is currently being masked by other aspects of the atmosphere. A few months later HST discovered a new dark spot in Neptune's northern hemisphere. This indicates that Neptune's atmosphere changes rapidly, perhaps due to slight changes in the temperature differences between the tops and bottoms of the clouds. \n\n Neptune also has rings. Earth-based observations showed only faint arcs instead of complete ri
210190
Well first thing is this planet has not officially been named yet, Xena, Persephone, and Lila are the recent names. The facts about it so far is it has an oliptical orbit, extremely far and its thought to have pluto-like surface. Life? Its highly doubtfull anything could survive. Its orbit takes 560 years.\nI recommend the following weblink: http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~mbrown/planetlila/
347063
Well extraterrestial planet hunting is only just beginning to be able to discover "smaller" planets. As before only the giant ones indicated their presence, by the effect of their gravity on the parent star.\nRemember even the most powerful telescopes on earth merely see a distant star as a point of light.\nAs for a signal, surveillance equipment is steadily becoming more sophisticated, and discoveries are continously being made to enhance the resolving power of the apparatus. \nMy view is life will not be that common, but a fair few systems will have, or have had life on them at some point. I am sure that in the next twenty years, an umistakeable signal, either intentional or not will be received on earth, and we will know that we are not alone.
393541
Actaully, our liuck with finding planets is no good.  No planets have liquid water, and all of them are gas giants like jupitur.  They are also to hot to support almost any life (1300f is so-so temperature!).\n\nPlanets that can actually support us will be nearly impossible to find.  Had you asked this question 3 months ago, I could show you some neat sources about it.  \n\nI don't beleive Bush is doing Atrocious, but I do think he has made some poor decisions.\n\nHowever, I would like to say armegeddion is a christian end of the world.  We are nowhere near that.  WHy?  Ever hear of Ragnarok?  Yep, thats right.  Planets are studied for scientific reasons.  The sun will expand into a red giant and kill earth in 4.5 billion years.\n\nOh, those of you who disagree with me, Like the seeking supporter, show your reasons why you beleive he/she has alot better reasons.  Flash poor reasons, watch how badly I flame your ***!
18963
This is a little hard to answer.\n\nFirst, we haven't found any.  So there's no positive evidence, so it's hard to be really sure. \n\nBut on the other hand, there are billions and billions of planets like ours, and it would be really weird if ours was the only one to have life on it.\n\nSo most astronomers think there's probably life out there somewhere.  I hope we find it.
652075
is it from this planet itself?
707081
wasn't it Darwin... hmmm
1010412
It might be Seti@Home...\nIt's to look for extra terrestrials...\nhttp://setiathome.berkeley.edu/
859326
You guys keep trying.\n\nThe theory of planetary motion is pretty well accepted, and that only took 300 years. You can SEE that the sun moves around the earth, but these fuzzy-headed people called astronomers came up with this wild theory - the earth moves around the sun!\n\nSo today, 99.99% of all biologists, zoologists and botanists tell us the theory of evolution is the best explanation they have of the diversity - and similarity - of life. Christian biologists, Jewish bioligists, Muslim biologists, Sikh biologists . . .\n95% of the Christian fundamentalists reject the theory. (85% of them accept the theory of planetary motion, however.)\n\nEvolution is only a theory and it flies in the face of common sense. There is no way a Great Dane and a toy poodle can have the same ancestor.\n\nMaybe by 2206 that 95% rate will be down to 15%. We can hope.
1111150
I thought it was Xena, but:\nThe planet, with the current temporary (and unfortunate) name 2003UB313, was discovered in an ongoing survey at Palomar Observatory's Samuel Oschin telescope by astronomers Mike Brown (Caltech), Chad Trujillo (Gemini Observatory), and David Rabinowitz (Yale University). \n\nAbout the name: The real name of the new planet is currently in limbo while committees decide its fate. For those speculating that the name will be "Lila" based on the web site name I must warn you that that is really just a sentimental dad's early-morning-after-no-sleep naming of a web site for his (at the time) three week old daughter and one should not take it too seriously! In fact, the sentimental dad was so tired he even spelled his own daughter's name wrong (it is "Lilah"). The name  "Xena" is frequently heard associated with this planet; this name comes from an  internal cod name that we used before we publically announced the existence of the planet. Other code names have been "Santa" (2003 EL61), "Rudolph" (the moon of 2003 EL61), "Easterbunny" (2005 FY9) and "Flying Dutchman" (Sedna), and "Gabrielle" (the moon of 2003 UB313). We use these names internally simply because they are easier to say and remember than things like 2003 EL61 or S/2005 (2003 UB313) 1 . There is no chance whatsoever that these will become the permanent names of these objects! As soon as the committees make their decisions these objects will  get real names. When we first announced the existence of these objects we thought that the real names would be decided in days to weeks, not months to years so it never occured to us that these code names would last more than a few days. We hope the committees decide soon  so people can start getting used to the real more dignified names soon!
20018
wow...I can't believe it, but YES..there are.\nTorn Rubbers, the obscure Scottish bard has a song about Darwin. Also, Scottish singer John Young has a song about Darwin. Lastly, the band R.E.M mention Darwin in their song "Man on the Moon" from their album Automatic for the People (1992). The lyrics say, "Mister Charles Darwin had the gall to ask"\n\nHope this helps!
114012
My brain is saying, "4 light years" but I could be wrong about that. Been a while since I read "Contact" by Carl Sagan (part of which takes place around Vega).\n\nWait, wait ... let's Wikipedia this together. Let's see ... click, click ... v-e-g-a ... read, read ...\n\nWe, the jury, find Vega to be 25.3 light years from Earth.
610320
Come to think of it... we all know that our planet is an insignificant speck circling an ordinary star, far out on a spiral arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, which is an ordinary congress of a few HUNDRED BILLION stars among at least a HUNDRED BILLION GALAXIES!!!\nWe are still the only intilligent life we know of anywhere. But now humankind has taken a dramatic leap towards a possible demotion. Planet-hunting scientists and astronomers world wide are refining their technique in detecting other planets in far off stars & galaxies. who knows that one day, we may be able to find a world that is much like ours?\nFor now, humanity can bask in its special status as the only life known to be contemplating such questions. Many scientists predicts that this distinction, too, will crumble. But the search for other worlds is not only a quest for kindred intelligenc. it is also about the destiny of human species. Where are we going to be a hundred million years from now? Where will we go, and how will we get there? And how will it change who we are? _end