pack your bags earthlings... new planet found

catefrances
catefrances Posts: 29,003
edited October 2010 in A Moving Train
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.
hear my name
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Comments

  • LikeAnOcean
    LikeAnOcean Posts: 7,718
    VERY cool. I also read recently scientists believe that there could be an infinite amount of universes, which means there could be an infinite amount of planets exactly like our own.

    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? 8-)
  • catefrances
    catefrances Posts: 29,003
    that new planet doesnt spin. i need day AND night in rotation. not one or the other. forget it... im not going.
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • kenny olav
    kenny olav Posts: 3,319
    yeah, and even after we develop light-speed technology, it'll still take 20 years to get there. not worth it. there's gotta be a nicer, closer planet out there...
  • megatron
    megatron Posts: 3,420
    i wanna live on the terminator
  • FiveB247x
    FiveB247x Posts: 2,330
    Haven't we screwed up our own planet enough that we should just stay here and not spread ourselves through the galaxy like the disease we are?
    CONservative governMENt

    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
  • catefrances
    catefrances Posts: 29,003
    FiveB247x wrote:
    Haven't we screwed up our own planet enough that we should just stay here and not spread ourselves through the galaxy like the disease we are?

    no. were like the spoilt child at xmas who is surrounded by discarded presents......... what else did you get me?
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • Cosmo
    Cosmo Posts: 12,225
    Great... another planet we can fuck up. Awesome.
    Allen Fieldhouse, home of the 2008 NCAA men's Basketball Champions! Go Jayhawks!
    Hail, Hail!!!
  • catefrances
    catefrances Posts: 29,003
    Cosmo wrote:
    Great... another planet we can fuck up. Awesome.

    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.
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • TriumphantAngel
    TriumphantAngel Posts: 1,760
    catefrances wrote:
    Cosmo wrote:
    Great... another planet we can fuck up. Awesome.

    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.

    that's my location!

    help him i won't.
  • norm
    norm Posts: 31,146
    catefrances wrote:
    Cosmo wrote:
    Great... another planet we can fuck up. Awesome.

    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.


    they got good weed in dagobah :think: :thumbup:
  • BinauralJam
    BinauralJam Posts: 14,158
    I'm sending my mother in law there!!! that Suns good for her.
  • catefrances
    catefrances Posts: 29,003
    norm wrote:
    catefrances wrote:
    Cosmo wrote:
    Great... another planet we can fuck up. Awesome.

    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.


    they got good weed in dagobah :think: :thumbup:

    indeed they do. screws up your syntax no matter how intelligent you are.
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • Cosmo
    Cosmo Posts: 12,225
    catefrances wrote:
    Cosmo wrote:
    Great... another planet we can fuck up. Awesome.

    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.
    ...
    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?
    Allen Fieldhouse, home of the 2008 NCAA men's Basketball Champions! Go Jayhawks!
    Hail, Hail!!!
  • catefrances
    catefrances Posts: 29,003
    Cosmo wrote:
    catefrances wrote:
    Cosmo wrote:
    Great... another planet we can fuck up. Awesome.

    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.
    ...
    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?


    ok then...you go first, check on that and get back to us on that. ;):mrgreen:
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • Cosmo
    Cosmo Posts: 12,225
    catefrances wrote:
    Cosmo wrote:
    ...
    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?

    ok then...you go first, check on that and get back to us on that. ;):mrgreen:
    ...
    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.
    Allen Fieldhouse, home of the 2008 NCAA men's Basketball Champions! Go Jayhawks!
    Hail, Hail!!!
  • catefrances
    catefrances Posts: 29,003
    Cosmo wrote:
    catefrances wrote:
    Cosmo wrote:
    ...
    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?

    ok then...you go first, check on that and get back to us on that. ;):mrgreen:
    ...
    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.

    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."
    hear my name
    take a good look
    this could be the day
    hold my hand
    lie beside me
    i just need to say
  • Cosmo
    Cosmo Posts: 12,225
    catefrances wrote:
    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."
    ...
    Flying rattlesnakes that shoot laser beams from their eyes on one side... heavily armed Polar Bears with natural forming kevlar fur one the other?
    Allen Fieldhouse, home of the 2008 NCAA men's Basketball Champions! Go Jayhawks!
    Hail, Hail!!!
  • haffajappa
    haffajappa British Columbia Posts: 5,955
    catefrances wrote:
    Cosmo wrote:
    Great... another planet we can fuck up. Awesome.

    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.
    :lol: so true
    live pearl jam is best pearl jam
  • haffajappa
    haffajappa British Columbia Posts: 5,955
    space is so cool
    live pearl jam is best pearl jam
  • Jason P
    Jason P Posts: 19,327
    haffajappa wrote:
    space is so cool
    Very cool, indeed . . .
    m16hubble1.jpg
    Be Excellent To Each Other
    Party On, Dudes!

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