A little vote on when we will find the first exoEarth. You don't have to discuss a lot, just a lot of voting, but of course you are still welcome to write a reply in case you feel like doing so

Criterias
- Size: +/- 50% of Earth.
- Mass: +/- 50% of Earth.
- Distance: Earth would mainly consist of liquid water if Earth was placed in this distance from the star in question.

Could i please ask you all to attend to this thread whenever you have time.
Who's actually working with space related stuff?

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." (Ernest Hemmingway)

Well, lets see

The first two are already done. We've identified planets with those characteristics around pulsars.

As for the third, who knows? Maybe two years, if Corot gets lucky.

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What the... I had heard that exoplanets were found before 1995 orbiting pulsars though 1995 is considered the year of the first proof of an exoplanet, but i didn't know they were this small. I just consulted my favorite exoplanet site where all known exoplanets are listet and i found one the mass of Pluto.

http://exoplanet.eu/planet.php?p1=PSR+1257%2B12&p2=b

But how could we detect exoplanets back in 1992? Are exoplanets or exocomets easier to detect when they are orbiting pulsars? Can't see why this is so - unless they cover for the big flash the pulsars make. But the mass of Pluto, wow. Edit: Gliese 876 d is considered to be the smallest exoplanet to date AFAIK, with a mass of 2.3% of Jupiters mass, found in 2005.

But what about an exoplanet that covers all the three areas stated at once?

COROT shouldn't be cableable of detecting exoplanets the size of Earth with the exception of exoplanets oribiting very close to their parent star. My guess is that Kepler will be the first one to detect the first exoEarth, though i of course would hope it would be COROT

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." (Ernest Hemmingway)

Yes, because with current technology Doppler shift of pulsar's radio pulses can be measured much more precisely than Doppler shift of visible light.

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I am not sure, but to won't be long now (1-15 years) , but the big question is when will be able to photo them directly. The first time a photo comes back green and blue the money going in to space will triple. (I hope)

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My understanding is that COROT is not quite able to get that low in size. Kepler is a better bet, but I have a good deal of respect for space missions to get delayed. So I said 2015-2020.

Yes, COROT can find exoEarth, but it will be extremely close to its parent star in that case. Therefore, i don't expect COROT to find a planet with the criterias. But a very good point Tom, delays are what you could expect, and then some time for calibration, and i don't think Kepler will find any planet with the criterias so soon.

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." (Ernest Hemmingway)

If we're talking planets up to 1.5 Earth-radii, then easily in the 2010-12 timeframe, once COROT and Kepler are done.

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To be fair, most planet hunters tend to disregard the pulsar planets because of their utter uninhabitability. The new rave is planets orbiting main sequence stars.

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I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

Well, the gas giants we find are also uninhabitable, but fair enough then. Let's look at the planets around the main sequence stars only

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." (Ernest Hemmingway)

Touche, but allow me to 'schplain. Even though gas giants aren't "inhabitable" in the "lets land and plant a flag" sense, theoretically it would be possible to visit said planets from orbit (even the epistellars) with a manned spacecraft or a probe. Y'ain't putting man nor beast nor machine anywhere near a pulsar planet with any semblence of operational functionality because of the insane amount of rads being hurled by the pulsar. Totally untouchable, even if we could travel to them.

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I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

OK, i see.. But still something near a planet But fair enough..

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"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." (Ernest Hemmingway)

I've always found it ironic that the first planets found (and first solar system found) were somewhere so outlandish. As a friend said at the time... "I knew the universe was wierd."

It is not ironic, but obvious. Weridoes and anormal things are always easier to see.

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Voted 2020+

Im thinking rare earth theory...

You must think "rarer" than the theory's authors. Ward and Brownlee claim complex life is rare, not rocks within 50% of Earth's mass. Or even rocks covered with liquid water.

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Is that all you want from a planet?

What about rocks that are sufficiently protected from debris by a gas giant?

That have plate tectonics?

That are out of significant cosmic ray danger?

Not everyone subscribes to the need for these and other criteria, but for me the main reason for finding an earth like planet, is that it is sufficiently earth-like to inhabit (even if we never get there).

Well, that's how OP phrased the question, and by his criteria I answered "2012-2015". I certainly want to see something significantly more Earth-like.
Given your criteria, I too think 2020+ is much more likely.

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Fiction has to be plausible. Reality is under no such constraint.

How can you be sure? Most pulsar energy is delivered from the magnetic poles which are likely though not necessarily aligned within 10 or 20 degrees of the rotational axis, and the planets are likely near the roational equator. I'm the only one I know of who's guessing that the planets survived the supernova that created the pulsar and only the life in the first 100 meters of the pre-pulsar version of the planets was destroyed or greatly reduced in quantity. The shell of exploding material probably passed by the planets in a few hours, and , for the slow rotators, if any, may not have completely destroyed all of the surface life, if any. The various combinations and permutations of the many possible configurations of the magnetic fields could possibly have even preserved (or added) some atmosphere---giving meaning to the Biblical phrase: "and a new heaven and a new Earth came to be".

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