I have read a bit on cephid variables.

In that reading I noticed that there are other variables in the stellar mass.

I did not find anything about our own stars 'variable' nature.

Is our star a 'variable' (when viewed from another star)?

No. Our sun is extremely stable.

If it were a variable we would have been be fried or frozen a long time ago.

Having said that it does "fluctuate" very slightly. Not anywhere near enough to be noticeable from another star. But enough to have climatic effects on the Earth. But that's not considered to be a "Variable star" These are just normal fluctuations within a very small range of what is considered normal for a "stable" star.

If we know what changes those 'flucuations' produced in our own stars 'signature' on the cosmos...

We whould be able to find those same 'flucuations' on nearby stars that also produce them.

It could just be possible that a 'life' zone planet 'poisons' the output of the local star by the compounds it 'ejects' into the gravity well.

Bet the earth 'poisons' our star with carbon (just to name one).

It might be possible to find 'life' zone (for earth human) planets with more accuracy.

They are actually coming up with extremely good ways of potentially detecting signs of biology on other planets.

However, the example you've just described would not work. The reason being that the earth is far to small to affect the sun in any significant way. The entire planet could fall into the sun and the sun probably wouldn't even burp. It would have been basically an undetectable event for all but those living on the Earth itself. At least in terms of disturbing the sun's output.

Moreover, any gas that escape from the Earth's atmosphere are blown away form the sun into outer space. They don't fall into the sun. We're taking very small amounts by the way.

If the Earth lost enough atmosphere to affect the sun we'd basically have no atmosphere left.

Think about this for a moment. Consider that the sun is the size of a basket ball. The earth is about the size of a pea in comparison. The Earth's entire atmosphere would be about as thick as the skin of the pea.

You took the skin from a pea and tossed it into a raging ball of fire the size of a basket ball, do you think it would make much of a difference in the fire?

And the Earth certainly can't afford to give up that much atmosphere without us noticing that it's gone.

So the tiny bits of atmosphere that does escape into space is long since blown way by the solar "wind" (made up of particles, and light too "blows" things around believe it or not)

"Moreover, any gas that escape from the Earth's atmosphere are blown away form the sun into outer space. They don't fall into the sun. We're taking very small amounts by the way. "

Exactally...

and if one was 'observing' the stellar output of our star such a 'signature' would be detectable in the solar wind.

Every 'flare' would be 'tainted' by the trace elements of a life zone planet.

Especially those trace elements that are produced by an industrial life form living on the surface.

Oh I see what you're saying now. At first I thought you were suggesting that those trace elements were falling into the sun and affecting it's radiation output.

Well, that is what they are hoping to do now. Except it's not from the tiny bet of vapors that actually escape the planet. What they are proposing is a way of actually looking "through" a planet's atmosphere at its star behind it and discovering the composition of its atmosphere that way. So yes, they are already planning on doing that. I don't think they quite have the ability to do it just yet, but the last I heard they were expecting to have that kind of capability in the not too distant future.

It's been quite a while since I learned about that (at least a decade or so) so maybe they are actually starting to do that today. I don't know, I haven't been keeping up on astronomy lately.

I do know that they are going to be launching a new telescope that will be far more powerful than the Hubble telescope. I don't recall when that was scheduled for exactly either, but I think it should be fairly soon. Unless it's been put on a back burner due to economic problems or other technicalities.

If I remember correctly scientists have found a possible planet with life possibility on it. This planet we are talking about is in what they call the Pegasus System. The planet supposingly is as big as Jupiter ( the reason why they discovered it) with the same elements we take for granted here in earth. They used highly sophisticated technology to come with this conclusion. The problem is that it is 7 trillion light years away. I forgot how much a light year is but trust me not even Star Trek's Voyager could get there with a Warp 8 drive fast enough...well of course maybe it can if you use your imagination! ha ha

I believe in 20 years we will have discovered a living planet and can confirm it. The question is how will SETI be able to communicate at such a long distance? Also how will NASA find a way to travel so far. Perhaps a space station that harbors a earth like atmosphere with gravity in a highly stated technological state and the 10,000th generation will finally have arrived safely to this planet.

Don't mind me I am to imaginative to speak with actual scientists, but yes check into that...you might find some interesting answers.

I think you may be mistaken about the 7 trillion light years. That would place it in a very distant galaxy. The Andromeda Galaxy is only 2.5 million light years from us.

If they are looking at a planet, surely it's within our own Milky Way galaxy?

In any case, the first thing I thought about it that if it really is 7 trillion light years away, it would also be 7 trillion years in the past. In other words, there may be no life on that planet today at all. Or if there is it would have been evolving for 7 trillion years in the interim. Our entire planet is only 4.5 billion years old.

It would take 14 trillion years just to exchange "hellos" using light or radio signals.

We're going to need to find someone closer if we want to chat with them.

The closest star system to us is just over 4 light years away. Just to say "hello" to someone there and get a reply would take 8 years.

Yes exactly I probably have it all wrong. I mean I use to remember how much a light year is. I think it was 186,000 miles or something? Then one would have to calculate depending how fast the ship or satellite goes with the distance to see how long it would take to get to one point to the other.

What I need to do is look at what Scientist have already discovered. I am think it is called the Pegasus System....??? They discovered a planet already with potential life or an atmosphere that could harbor life.

Give me some time and I am sure I will find the report somewhere.

Light travels at 186,000 miles per second.

A light-year is the distance that light travels in one year.

So the total distance in miles would be 186,000 times the number of second in a year. That a very long distance.

It's better to think of a light-year in terms of time.

In other words, if an object is 7 light-years away from us, that means that it would take light 7 years to get to us from that object.

From that it also means that what we are actually seeing is what the object looked like 7 year in the past.

Also, if we want to send a message to that start and get a message back just doubt the distance. In other words, if it's 7 light-years away, it would take 14 years to send a message and get a reply. This is because radio waves, or light, can only travel at the speed of light. Thus if the object is 7 light-years away, then it would take the message 7 years one-way to get there.

Now you said that the planet is 7 trillion light-years away (which probably was wrong), but that would mean that what we are actually seeing is the light that left that object 7 trillion years ago.

So we would be viewing it as it was 7 trillion years in the past.

When we look out into space, we are also looking back in time.

So if that was a "message" that we were receiving, then whoever sent that message did so 7 trillion years go. Chance are they wouldn't even exist today.

In fact, when I stop and think about this, that can't be right. The universe itself is only 14 billion years old. So we couldn't possibly see anything that is 7 trillion light-years away. So that's go to be wrong.

Then again, it's late and I'm not thinking clearly so maybe I'm wrong. I'm going to bed.