pack your bags earthlings... new planet found
catefrances
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http://news.ninemsn.com.au/technology/8 ... near-earth
'Habitable' planet found near earth
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.
'Habitable' planet found near earth
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.
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It blows my mind. Given infinite possibilities, it's likely there are an infinite amount of planets that evolved human life.. Crazy stuff.
Where's my spaceship?
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Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law-breaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. - Louis Brandeis
no. were like the spoilt child at xmas who is surrounded by discarded presents......... what else did you get me?
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Hail, Hail!!!
its ok cosmo... we wont ever make it. a guy will be driving the rocketship and well get lost and he wont stop and ask for directions and well end up out near the dagobah system.
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that's my location!
help him i won't.
they got good weed in dagobah :think: :thumbup:
indeed they do. screws up your syntax no matter how intelligent you are.
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And what happens if when we get there... the beings there treat us like we would treat travelers to our planet and kill us to see how we work?
Hail, Hail!!!
ok then...you go first, check on that and get back to us on that.
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I'm a-okay where in the Hell on Earth we've created here, thank you.
I'm also wondering if the top of the food chain over there are descended from bears and we are nothing more than food to them. I ain't gonna run the risk of being the main course of their Thanksgiving dinner.
Hail, Hail!!!
not sure what lifeforms could inhabit a planet that is either, and i quote,"blazing hot on the side facing the star" and "freezing cold on the dark side."
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Flying rattlesnakes that shoot laser beams from their eyes on one side... heavily armed Polar Bears with natural forming kevlar fur one the other?
Hail, Hail!!!
The Sombero Galaxy
*MUSIC IS the expression of EMOTION.....and that POLITICS IS merely the DECOY of PERCEPTION*
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*The scientists of today think deeply instead of clearly. One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite INSANE*....Nikola Tesla(a man who shaped our world of electricity with his futuristic inventions)
With all that pro-creatin', that would be one funky ride!
its great stuff
only drawback is it stunts your growth, turns u green and you get your sentances mixed up
Seriously, this is junk. As someone said above, if it would take us 3000 generations to get there, and the main purpose is a quick fix because it's "too difficult" for us to fix this planet, that makes as much sense to me as going on a trip to Africa with a stopover on Mars.
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imagine if they put all that money they use for space exploration into health care or education... or both, cause they use so much of it.
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Fargo 2003
Winnipeg 2005
Winnipeg 2011
St. Paul 2014
Godfather.
You may rally against the money spent on the stimulus, defense, welfare, healthcare, etc, but please leave NASA and their meager budget alone. Thank you. :wave:
well i agree science is education. im just questioning the probing of the unknown and never will be. in this instance whats the point of knowing theres a planet out there thats habitable(and i use that term loosely) if we cant ever inhabit it or get there. sounds like a tease to me. or is this a case of us just knowing cool shit?
anyhoo...
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say