The first earth-like planet may have been discovered recently by astronomers. The rocky planet is approximately 7 1/2 times the size of earth and orbits a small star in the constellation of Aquarius. Scientists say the distant world is lifeless.

It took three years of observations of the distant star to determine that the planet was there and what it was like. More than 150 observations were used to come to that conclusion. The star is labeled Gliese 876 and is located approximately 15 light years away from earth.

'This new technology has revealed the most terrestrial planet ever found,' said Geoffrey W. Marcy, the leader of the research team and an astronomer at the University of California at Berkeley. 'For the first time, we are finding our planetary kin among the stars.'

Because of the great distance involved, planets in other solar systems are not visible to astronomers. Instead, they measure the 'wobble' induced by the planet's gravity on the star.

'Over the years, we've announced the discoveries of 107 extra-solar planets, and we consider this the most exciting,' Marcy told the 'Washington Post.'

Despite being the most similar planet to earth discovered in a distant solar system, the planet is not all that earth-like.

'The surface of the planet is very warm -- between 400 and 700 degrees Fahrenheit,' Marcy said.

Scientists described the planet as rocky and as being geologically active. Astronomers hope that more exciting discoveries await.

Brad Kurtzberg

SOURCE/LINK

'The surface of the planet is very warm -- between 400 and 700 degrees Fahrenheit,' Marcy said.

Scientists described the planet as rocky and as being geologically active. Astronomers hope that more exciting discoveries await.

Wasn't our planet that way a few million years ago?

more like a few billion years ago, few million years ago was dinosaurs

hehehe, love your avatar conspiracy. My neighbor has a cat just like that

fascinating.

whos to say the planet is dead? based on temps?

more like a few billion years ago, few million years ago was dinosaurs

Not exactly.It is a "rocky planet".Not only lava.But still propably more than millions ago.



whos to say the planet is dead? based on temps?

No disturbance in the force so far.

Here's the BCC vserion of the article;


Smallest extrasolar planet found
Astronomers have detected the smallest extrasolar planet yet: a world about seven and a half times as massive as Earth, orbiting a star much like ours.
All of the 150 or so exoplanets found orbiting normal stars are larger than Uranus, itself 15 times Earth's mass.

The new find may be the first rocky world found around a star like our Sun.

The newly discovered "super-Earth" orbits the star Gliese 876, located 15 light-years away in the direction of the constellation Aquarius.


This star also has two larger, Jupiter-size planets orbiting it.
The new planet whips around the star in a mere two days, and is so close to the star's surface that its temperature probably tops 200-400C 400-750F) - oven-like temperatures, far too hot for life as we know it.

The planet was discovered using the familiar "wobble technique": the planet's gravitational tug on its parent star produces changes in the star's velocity. This can be picked up in the light spectrum emitted by the star.

The nature of that signal can reveal details such as the mass and orbital period of the planet.

"We keep pushing the limits of what we can detect, and we're getting closer and closer to finding Earths," said team member Steven Vogt, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Indirect evidence

The researchers have measured a minimum mass for the planet of 5.9 Earth masses. It orbits Gliese 876 with a period of 1.94 days at a distance of 0.021 astronomical units (AU), or 3.2 million km (2 million miles).

Though the team has no direct proof the planet is rocky, its low mass precludes it from holding on to gas in the way that Jupiter does.

Three other supposed rocky planets have been reported, but they orbit a pulsar, the corpse of an exploded star.

"This planet answers an ancient question," said team leader Geoffrey Marcy, professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley.

"Over 2,000 years ago, the Greek philosophers Aristotle and Epicurus argued about whether there were other Earth-like planets. Now, for the first time, we have evidence for a rocky planet around a normal star."

Professor Marcy, Dr Vogt, Dr Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and other team members carried out the study at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii.

They have submitted a scientific paper to the Astrophysical Journal.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/4089534.stm

I believe that the third planet Gliese c was found in 2001. I'll bet Marcy should call the planet c "Mobius" sooner or later.

Thanks Nxt2Hvn and Talon, fascinating info...

I'm thinking that if the planet is 3.2 million km away from the star and only has temps up to 400C then it must be a class M star, a red dwarf. Mercury is 10 times that dist. from Sol and has similar temps.
Now that is close.Um, can anyone say "extremophiles?" We have already found bacteria Here on Earth that thrive at temps above the boiling pt. of h2o. Who knows where the upper limit is? Being a skeptic also carries the burden of not being able to rule something out due to a lack of observational evidence.If a civilization thrived there, who knows what they could be up to now?

Mobius is the huge, strange, weird planet. So? Do you guys like Planet Mobius. It's only 60 degrees apart.

She's obssessed with this Mobius planet she thinks shares the same orbit with Earth.

Took my think about being 60 degrees apart, too... And for the final time Mobius is not even proven to be true; its still a frickin' theory...

EDIT: Excellent info That's pretty kewl lol

Smallest extrasolar planet ever discovered revealed by microlensing: http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn8633

"Astronomers have found an extrasolar planet that may be just 5.5 times as massive as the Earth – that would make it the smallest exoplanet ever detected around a normal star."

"But there is some uncertainty in the planet's mass – it could be as small as 2.8 Earth masses, or as large as 11.0. That is because the method measures only the ratio of the masses of the planet and its star – researchers then use galactic models to estimate the star's most likely mass."

See? I told you that planet Gliese 876 c is Mobius like that guy said.

It's all just so much Cosmic Dust spinning around the center of the Universe...Earth.

Mobius is the another Earth.

Earth is the "another" rock.

I'll bet we should call the planet Gliese 876 c "Mobius". It's a pretty cool name for the planet.

Do you folks ever read anything other than what you get here? There is no Mobius. Check your facts.
Sheesh!

That Rykster guy is really cracking up. He really makes us funny. :lol:

^^^

Wanna back that up dimwit?

Hey! Who are you calling dimwit!? Dimwit! :angry: :angry2:

You Hedisl. Be angry if you want to be, but your html code failed. Explain why you said I was cracking up.

Rykster- be nice.

Hedisl- get your facts.

lets call the first planet we can inhabit "Reach".