There’s no way in hell we have the resolution to see continents in another star system.
Considering we only know it’s there because it slightly dims the light from its star as it crosses during its orbit, you would be correct. At that distance, we would never see light bouncing off the actual planet. Even the star is basically a single pixel. We can estimate its size and orbit based on how quickly it crosses in front of the star and how much the light dims, and using those two numbers we can estimate its distance from Kepler 452.
I thought they could also see atmospheric composition as it passes in front of the star, no? Having that info and the data you’ve just mentioned they postulate if it’s habitable or not. Obviously not seeing any detail at all about land mass shapes, but perhaps composition? I’m not a spaceologist, so I’m only musing.
Yeah, but it’s still just a single pixel of light from the star. It just changes color slightly when the planet passes in front of it and the atmosphere gases absorb certain characteristic wavelengths.
lol. All those flyby probes we’ve sent to other planets in the system and we could’ve just pointed our interstellar telescope instead and looked for puddles.
You know that picture we have of the milky way?
It’s called Project Hail Mary you ding dong! We sent someone there in a last ditch effort to save the Earth!
How did they get it to pose next to earth for this photo?
* slaps sphere *
“You can fit so much Perlin noise on this baby.”
As someone who used mapmaking software for decades I agree they all look randomly generated.
Since it’s just perlin noise anyway… They should use gag landmasses for fun. See if anyone recognises Middle Earth or the Seven Kingdoms.
1800 light years away.
Just a few generations nbd
Another earth, but it is all australia
Because one of them (Earth) is based on reality, and the other is a poorly done conceptual render because no human actually knows the shape of the landmasses on that planet on account of having never been there.
Have they considered zooming their telescope in enough until they can see for themselves firsthand?
I know you’re probably joking but even the best telescopes can only directly image a planet that’s like 10 times the mass of Jupiter and even then it’s only like two pixels.
Makes me wonder what a telescope the size of a solar system could see. How large of the telescope do you think it would take to be able to get a clear image of this planet?
Honestly I’m not even sure it’s possible at that distance. Planets reflect very little light compared to stars, and that already minuscule amount of light gets scattered across an insanely huge area due to the inverse square law. So that tiny amount of light gets spread over an insanely huge area (light years in size).
I feel like to get a clear picture your telescope would have to be light years across in size to get a clear image with fine details in it. The light is just too spread out to get a clear picture of it with anything you can build at a human scale.
The hard part is that the stars create so much glare and planets are so small and faint that it’s really REALLY hard to zoom in on them. Even with very powerful telescopes. It’s probably straight up impossible actually. Like you can see them and get an idea of what they’re made of (light spectrum analysis) but you’re not going to be able to make out fine details like what the landmasses look like.
Bro that’s a PRIME sailing planet if I’ve ever seen on.
Earths oceans shores are largely extremely boring linear beaches. Especially along the Atlantic.
This plant would be prime for small cheap hobby costal sailing
We cant get a new planet if we cant take care of the one we got.
Will housing be cheaper there? Will taxes be lower? Will Trump be there? What about groceries?
Will you enjoy anything our universe shows you? Are there things that bring you joy in life? Will you touch grass? What about filling the void in your heart with wonder instead of worry?
I wonder if it has plate tectonics. A big part of why our continents look like this is them. That said, yeah that’s a lot of mid continent seas/great lakes
Honestky it could be because of the amount of mooms they have. The exact tidal force on earth will have had a hand in shaping what the coastline became.
