Latest Posts by spectrum-speculation - Page 6

Remember to remind me

Reminder to myself

Planet Earth’s Cousin May Contain Life - Hailed as “Kepler 452b”

An Exo-What...?

Simply put, an exoplanet is a planet that orbits another star. That said, just because a planet orbits a star (like Earth) does not mean that it is automatically stable for life. The planet must be within the habitable zone, which is the area around a star in which water has the potential to be liquid…aka not so close that all the water would evaporate, and not too far away where all the water would freeze.

Recently, with the help of our Kepler spacecraft, scientists have discovered the most Earth-like exoplanet ever, Kepler-452b. Pretty cool! This chart shows 12 other exoplanet discoveries that are less than twice the size of Earth, and live in the habitable zone of their host star. Kepler-452b is special because all previous findings have orbited stars that are smaller and cooler than Earth’s.

You may be thinking, “Okay, so what? There’s an Earth-like planet that spins around a similar sized sun.” Well, Kepler-452b orbits its sun at nearly the same distance from its star as Earth does from our sun, which means that conditions on the plant could be similar to those here on Earth!

We can already guess your next question…”When are we going to Kepler-452b?!” Well, this planet is located in the constellation Cygnus which is 1,400 light-years away, so not anytime soon. However, our Kepler spacecraft continues to search for Earth-like exoplanets and gather important scientific information about them.

“Arrival at Kepler 452b” by Dusty Crosley.

raise ur hand if you want to move to Kepler 452b (earth 2.0) with me bc you’re sick and tired of the earthlings on this planet and you want to just start all over

Earth Visitor

I read somewhere that many people on the autistic spectrum feel like aliens looking in on human society from the outside. It certainly is how I feel. I don’t believe it’s actually true, but I find it helpful to play with this idea and develop my story. 

I found a planet called Kepler 452b, which is one of the many planets astronomers have identified as conducive to some form of life. I like the name, because Johannes Kepler was a super cool guy, so I decided that’s where I’;; be from. And I’ve decided that I’ve been sent here to Earth on a mission. 

Mainly my mission is to observe and try to understand what’s going on here in human society and its relationship to the rest of the amazingly lush and diverse life forms. If possible, Mission Control authorizes me to communicate some messages that may help to redirect the destructive behavior of humans.

The idea that I have my own mission from my home planet is very helpful. By the standards of the neurotypical, heteronormative, capitalist human world, I will always be labelled a failure. “Fine by me,” I try to tell myself. “We have a very different set of standards on Kepler 452b. By our standards, most of you people are failures! So there! Take that, Earthlings!” 

In this blog, I’m going to continue the story like this--communicating with others on the spectrum, doing what I can to cultivate autistic culture, and recording my observations as I compile my report before I return to my home planet. 

Time is short. I must complete my assignment to the best of my ability.