Interesting Planet Just Discovered

[loveableleopardy (imported)]

http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/8040 ... ear-earth/

Half light and half dark. Sounds intriguing.

I like science speech. 20 light years away is near...

[moi621 (imported)]

What a load of, pseudo Sci Speak!

Does it have a molten core as to create a magnetosphere to defend large organic molecules from cosmic ray destruction?

Does it have the benefits of being more properly, a binary planet system like Earth/Moon and Pluto/Charon where the axis of the major planet is stabilized by the, companion planet?

Major <raspberry> to this alleged Science News and conjectures.

Moi

On their failing planet, they watch with apathetic and envious eyes upon our Earth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p1dZQmu ... lGfES4euMf oA0EuJdwG6nYoJUyPyDJD1UnulfVxbqtmEKSCMxf3zLQuup6Al gNORkYpuXLzujItA5Gn55jDooHksEKsa_SY9aSXSwhr3Gx7guP XB3mcGzQRIPx610zXunjmhgIQLaKYTR1w8rQhZ2YymwsAD0Q9_ LpTrP_4A7hurbMrUlwJ1DNPjW1PreIvrhMX_QZL2Lbqw6Y_ipL tVOVyem7vvE1qYRvu467qq2ThNj-Oxxmt2Pe16wRvEQcmcDFqK2r-s2oxxfeMsvRutFMEyiDLZvb2WvTtVqXLZ_PYGRG31o3hp5Ybt_ 9hpIUMgyO

[Dave (imported)]

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http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/8040 ... ear-earth/

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US astronomers said Wednesday they have discovered an Earth-sized planet that they think might be habitable, orbiting a nearby star, and believe there could be many more planets like it in space.

The planet, found by astronomers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, is orbiting in the middle of the "habitable zone" of the red dwarf star Gliese 581, which means it could have water on its surface.

The scientists determined that the planet, named Gliese 581g, has a mass three to four times that of Earth and an orbital period of just under 37 days.

Its mass indicates that it is probably a rocky planet and has enough gravity to hold on to an atmosphere, according to Steven Vogt, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and one of the leaders of the team that discovered the planet.

If Gliese 581g has a rocky composition similar to Earth's, its diameter would be about 1.2 to 1.4 times that of the Earth, the researchers said.

The surface gravity would be about the same or slightly higher than Earth's, so that a person could easily walk upright on the planet, Vogt said.

Gliese 581g was discovered by scientists working on the Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey, during 11 years of observing the red dwarf star Gliese 581, which is only 20 light years from Earth.

For astronomers, eleven years of observation is considered a short time and 20 light years, which is roughly 117.5 trillion miles, rather close. The sun is around eight and a half light minutes from Earth.

"The fact that we were able to detect this planet so quickly and so nearby tells us that planets like this must be really common," said Vogt.

The planet is tidally locked to its star, meaning that one side is always facing the star and basking in perpetual daylight, and the other is in perpetual darkness because it faces away from the star.

This would make the line between darkness and light the most habitable part of the new planet, which is known as the "terminator".

The researchers estimate that the average surface temperature of the planet would be between -31 to -12 degrees Celsius.

But actual temperatures would range from "blazing hot on the side facing the star, to freezing cold on the dark side," they said.

The findings, which will be published in the Astrophysical Journal and posted online at arXiv.org, "offer a very compelling case for a potentially habitable planet," said Vogt.

In their report, the scientists in fact announce the discovery of two new planets around Gliese 581, bringing the total number of known planets around this star to six.

Two previously detected planets around Gliese lie at the edges of the habitable zone, one on the hot side and one on the cold side of the star, and are probably not habitable.

The newly discovered planet g, however, lies right in the middle of the habitable zone.

[JesusA (imported)]

An article about Gliese 581g leads the news on the Guardian today. While this particular planet is unlikely to have any advanced life forms, there is the possibility of some sort of life – a very important discovery. The most important aspect, however, is noted in the final paragraph of the Guardian story:

New Earth-like planet discovered

Gliese 581g in 'Goldilocks zone' of space where liquid water could exist is strong contender for a habitable world

Ian Sample, science correspondent

guardian.co.uk,

Wednesday 29 September 2010

Astronomers have discovered a potentially habitable planet of similar size to Earth in orbit around a nearby star.

A team of planet hunters spotted the alien world circling a red dwarf star called Gliese 581, 20 light years away.

The planet is in the "Goldilocks zone" of space around a star where surface temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to form.

"Our findings

offer a very compelling case for a potentially habitable planet," said

Steven Vogt, an astronomer

at the University of California, Santa Cruz. "The fact that we were able to detect this planet so quickly and so nearby tells us that planets like this must be really common.

"

If confirmed, the planet would be the most Earth-like that has ever been discovered in another solar system and the first strong contender for a habitable one.

More than 400 exoplanets have been discovered by astronomers, but most are gas giants, like Jupiter, that would be inhospitable to life as we know it.

Astronomers used the Keck telescope in Hawaii to study the movement of Gliese 581 in exquisite detail and from their observations inferred the presence of a number of orbiting planets. The team report two new planets in the Astrophysical Journal, bringing the total number known to be circling the star to six.

One of the planets, named Gliese 581g, has a mass of

three to four times that of Earth and

takes 37 days to orbit the star. Astronomers believe it is a rocky planet with enough gravity to retain an atmosphere.

Unlike the previously discovered planets, Gliese 581g lies squarely in the region of space were life can thrive. "We had planets on both sides of the habitable zone — one too hot and one too cold — and now we have one in the middle that's just right," Vogt said.

One side of the planet is always facing the star, much as one side of the moon constantly faces Earth. This means that the far side of the planet is constantly in darkness. The most habitable region of the planet would be the line between the light and dark regions.

"Any emerging life forms would have a wide range of stable climates to choose from and to evolve around, depending on their longitude," Vogt said.

The average temperature on the planet is estimated to be between -31 to -12C, but the ground temperature would vary from blazing hot on the bright side and freezing on the dark side.

"The number of systems with potentially habitable planets is probably on the order of 10 or 20 percent, and when you multiply that by the hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way, that's a large number. There could be tens of billions of these systems in our galaxy," said Vogt.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/ ... liese-581g

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[Riverwind (imported)]

Moi, I don't think no matter how long they look they will not find a planet exactly like ours, that was not the point of the discovery.

River

[A-1 (imported)]

Moi, I don't think no matter how long they look they will not find a planet exactly like ours, that was not the point of the discovery.

River

There is probably one out there somewhere.

Let us hope that it is better.

[Uncle Flo (imported)]

Wouldn't it be interesting to discover that this is as good as it gets? --FLO--

[A-1 (imported)]

Wouldn't it be interesting to discover that this is as good as it gets? --FLO--

Disappointing, yes.

...more boring than interesting, though...