3 Planets in Habitable Zone of Nearby Star

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Three Planets in Habitable Zone of Nearby Star

Gliese 667C reexamined

A team of astronomers has combined new observations of Gliese 667C with existing data from HARPS at ESO’s 3.6-metre telescope in Chile, to reveal a system with at least six planets. A record-breaking three of these planets are super-Earths lying in the zone around the star where liquid water could exist, making them possible candidates for the presence of life. This is the first system found with a fully packed habitable zone.

Gliese 667C is a very well-studied star. Just over one third of the mass of the Sun, it is part of a triple star system known as Gliese 667 (also referred to as GJ 667), 22 light-years away in the constellation of Scorpius (The Scorpion). This is quite close to us — within the Sun’s neighbourhood — and much closer than the star systems investigated using telescopes such as the planet-hunting Kepler space telescope.

Source

Edited June 25, 2013 by Waspie_Dwarf

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Artist's impression of the orbits of the planets in the Gliese 667C system

This video shows the orbital motions of the planets around the star Gliese 667C. Three of these planets are super-Earths orbiting in the habitable zone where liquid water may exist. The orbit of the planet Mercury in the Solar System is included for scale. As Gliese 667C is fainter and cooler than the Sun the habitable zone is much closer to the star than in the Solar System.

Credit: Rory Barnes/ESO

Source: ESO Observatory

[Taun]

Wow... That star must be tiny (or very 'cool')...

I wonder what it would look like to a native, to orbit that close to a star, even a dim one...

[.AKUMA.]

Wow can you imagine the view of the sky if you were to stand on one of those planets, something out of a sci fi movie

[calaf]

Send me a postcard.

[Paranomali]

These new discoveries are so exciting, I just wish there was some way to get there and have a better look

[coolguy]

I bet there are humans on that planet saying the same about earth lol.

[Occult1]

Very interesting and that is relatively close to Earth. How can we not think there is no life around us? Now he if we could send some probs there...

[newbloodmoon]

All very cool.

[seaturtlehorsesnake]

utterly astonishing. i still dream that one say we might find actual proof of life on one of these planets. yes, i know that it's practically an impossibilty. it's just a dream, is all.

[venom012]

how are we are not the only ones.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

how are we are not the only ones.

Well someone had to be first.

Since we simply do not know yet how common (or rare) life is yet your question is unanswerable.

As we will only know how common life is when (or if) we discover it on other planets your question will remain unanswerable right up until the point when it becomes irrelevant.