BOULDER, Colorado — Finding ET out there sooner rather than later – what are the odds?
Turns out that Paddy Power — Ireland’s largest bookmaker and a leading provider of gaming services in the UK, Australia and Ireland – have slashed their odds on extra-terrestrial life being discovered in the next decade from 33/1 to 10/1.
The surge in betting coincides with news that a team of astronomers have discovered a new planetary system that contains at least five planets, orbiting a Sun-like star similar to our own.
That news announced earlier this week noted that astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s (ESO) world-leading High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher — HARPS for short — have discovered a planetary system containing at least five planets, orbiting the Sun-like star HD 10180.
Tantalizing data
The researchers also have tantalizing data that two other planets may be present, one of which would have the lowest mass ever found. This would make the system similar to our solar system in terms of the number of planets (seven as compared to the Solar System’s eight planets).
Furthermore, the team also found evidence that the distances of the planets from their star follow a regular pattern, as also seen in our solar system.
The team of astronomers used the HARPS spectrograph, attached to ESO’s 3.6-meter telescope at La Silla, Chile, for a six-year-long study of the Sun-like star HD 10180, located 127 light-years away in the southern constellation of Hydrus (the Male Water Snake).
HARPS is an instrument with unrivalled measurement stability and great precision.
But there’s more.
NASA Kepler: intriguing planetary system spotted
NASA is holding a media teleconference tomorrow, August 26th, to discuss its Kepler spacecraft’s latest discovery about an “intriguing planetary system” spotted by the space observatory.
Kepler, built by Ball Aerospace here, looks for the data signatures of planets by measuring tiny decreases in the brightness of stars when planets cross in front of, or transit, them.
In June, mission scientists announced that Kepler has identified more than 700 planet candidates, including five candidate systems that appear to have more than one transiting planet.
Meanwhile, Paddy Power announced that over 1,200 bets have been placed on life being discovered outside planet Earth since Paddy Power originally offered their E.T. betting in 2001.
Back then the odds were 100/1 but have shortened over time as more and more bets were placed.
According to a press statement from the gaming group: “I’m guessing this is going to happen sooner rather than later. Who knows, the truth is out there!”
By Leonard David