“[Gliese 436b] must be 50 percent rock and about 50 percent water, with perhaps small amounts of hydrogen and helium,” said head of the planet-search team Geoffrey Marcy, also of UC Berkeley. “So this planet has the interior structure of a hybrid super-Earth/Neptune, with a rocky core surrounded by a significant amount of water compressed into solid form at high pressures and temperatures.”
http://www.livescience.com/space/scienceastronomy/070528_exoplanet_report.html
One day, you’ll walk past your TV, and the announcer (picture Charlie Gibson) will say something like, “And all this time, we thought we were alone: Astronomers today revealed startling pictures of Gliese 436b, revealing apparently organized, planet-wide structures indicative of intelligent life …”
It will be that quick, too. One day, we’ll be pondering the Great Question; the next, everyone will casually know over appetizers that we’re not alone. Almost sad, how quick that will happen.
Thank you for welcoming me to ilovephilosophy. I look forward to many happy returns. – Paleo