New Earth-like planet discovered

[UM-Bot]

Image credit: NASA

Submitted by Plantster: It's got the same climate as Earth, plus water and gravity. A newly discovered planet is the most stunning evidence that life - just like us - might be out there. Above a calm, dark ocean, a huge, bloated red sun rises in the sky - a full ten times the size of our Sun as seen from Earth.

Small waves lap at a sandy shore and on the beach, something stirs...

View: Full Article | Source: Daily Mail

[El_diablos]

wow.

wow.

WOW!.

shame we can't get there. 20.5 lightyears away!. bummer.

[-WOLF-12227-]

Well its time for our lazy asses and go try to create a starship that CAN go that fast. Sadly we have to deal with war and george bush... sadness.

[Ghost Ship]

Yeah. Imagine if War funding was all used for scientific research instead. Why not try and build the interstellar engine instead of billion and billions in war.

Saving this world first is a fantasy that will never happen. Keeping an eye on the affairs of the world , while at the same time trying to reach out into space is the only option we have.

Edited April 26, 2007 by Dark_Ambient

[Star_girl]

Yip time to start preparing the colony plans!

Imagine how cool a red sun must look in the sky!

[Shuriken]

well, if it's size is 10 times our Sun, shouldn't it be 10 times hotter or smth ? (or not, I don't really know) Also, what is the distance between the star and the planet ?

[ShaunZero]

WOW!!! This is a freaking amazing announcement!!!! Does it really have oceans, or are they assuming it does?!

[GreyWeather]

This is pretty amazing, though... with everyone wanting to get the asap, well... do you really think we're ready to go searching for other life outside our planet? We are still extremely unstable, we've only had a technoligical boom for 100 years and still warring after 3000+ years - against our own speices.

I think we should learn to walk before fitting on that spacesuit and stepping into the enterprise.

[Feanor]

If the things keep going the way they are, we wont live enough to see another planet or life forms. We are dying, faster than everyone imagine....

We should first take care of our planet and try to stabilize, stop the global warming, we should invest money with education and health here first.

While my country is spending milions of dolars with the Panamerican games 2007, the same money they could be using to take care of our poor, but for them, the poor, they there is no money....

Its an amazing discoery but I more worried with my planet right now... With the planet my children will grow.

[Unlimited]

Im sure there is alot of planets like that you just gotta search for them?....we are not civilised enough to go into space I dont think...we got gw and his war...and more war..

[ShaunZero]

When/how are we going to verify it does indeed have oceans?

[robbieb]

jeeze 20.5 light years away is pretty damn far

[Waspie_Dwarf]

well, if it's size is 10 times our Sun, shouldn't it be 10 times hotter or smth ? (or not, I don't really know) Also, what is the distance between the star and the planet ?

It's not 10 times larger than our sun, the Daily Mail are talking utter nonsense. As it says later in the same article:

The new planet, which orbits a small, red star called Gliese 581

Gilese581 is a red dwarf and is both smaller and cooler than the sun. The planet is very close to the star, 14 times closer than the Earth is to the sun and it orbits the star in just 13 days (you would have a lot of birthdays with a 13 day year!)

WOW!!! This is a freaking amazing announcement!!!! Does it really have oceans, or are they assuming it does?!

Again this is total speculation by a journalist at the Daily Mail and not by the scientists involved. The press release from the European Southern Observatory, which discovered this planet, makes no such assumptions. It merely says that the planet is at the correct distance from the star that liquid water (and therefore oceans) could exist there.

jeeze 20.5 light years away is pretty damn far

Yes and no. With our current technology 193,900,000,000,000 km (120,500,000,000,000 miles) is a hell of long way indeed. In astronomical terms though this is on our door step. Gliese 581 is one of the 100 closest stars to us.

[STIX]

well one day not too far away we will discover intelligent life out there in the universe and we will realize how foolish we have been here on Earth. I don't believe however that human life is in danger of extinction. We certainly have the means to destroy ourselves, but I don't think we are that stupid.

[Picturesque Orion]

If it is true that this new planet is actually like Earth, I say one thing: I knew it! I knew that Earth wasnt unique of its kind.... I knew that earthlings, humans and animals, werent the only living things in the universe. As the article says, if we found this Earth-Like planet so close to us, imagine, the universe might be filled with these, the universe might be filled with life!

One question..... what did they name this planet?

[:PsYKoTiC:BeHAvIoR:]

well one day not too far away we will discover intelligent life out there in the universe and we will realize how foolish we have been here on Earth. I don't believe however that human life is in danger of extinction. We certainly have the means to destroy ourselves, but I don't think we are that stupid.

One would think so, but every great civilizations had a rise and fall during the course of history. Human extinction is much more possible these days with all the technological weaponry certain nations have. It only takes one crazy person to kill us all.

[Dinoking]

First off the reason that everyone is thinking this red dwarf is 10-20 times bigger then the sun is not because it is that big. It is actually 1/3 the size of our sun but since the planet is 14 times closer then the Earth and 5 times closer then even Mercury it would APPEAR 10-20 times larger then our sun in the planets sky.

One would think this would mean that the planet would be a molten ball of rock but this isnt the case. This is do to the fact that red dwarfs only produce 2-3% of the suns heat so being this close to it is ideal for life at least from a heat standpoint. But radition and solar flares may cause other problems for this planet. But untill we get the Terrestrial Planetfinder up we will have to wait for pictures and confirmation of water and potential life.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

First off the reason that everyone is thinking this red dwarf is 10-20 times bigger then the sun is not because it is that big. It is actually 1/3 the size of our sun but since the planet is 14 times closer then the Earth and 5 times closer then even Mercury it would APPEAR 10-20 times larger then our sun in the planets sky.

That's a good point. I partially apologise to the Daily Mail journalist. Now I have re-read the original article, you are correct, it is referring to Gilese581 appearing 10 times larger in the planets sky than the sun, not actually being 10 times larger. It is rather ambiguous though (typical British press).

But radition and solar flares may cause other problems for this planet.

Have you been reading my posts on this planet in the extraterrestrial forum?

But untill we get the Terrestrial Planetfinder up we will have to wait for pictures and confirmation of water and potential life.

Not necessarily. If we are lucky and this planet passes in front of its star. If this happens it may be possible to obtain the combined spectra of the star and planet. By deducting the spectrum of the star alone from that of the combined star/planet then the result is the spectra of the planet's atmosphere. What vapour was discovered in the atmosphere of another planet using just this method. In the case of this planet if we find large amounts of water vapour in the atmosphere (assuming it has one) then it is fairly likely that there is liquid water on the surface.

If it is true that this new planet is actually like Earth, I say one thing: I knew it! I knew that Earth wasnt unique of its kind.... I knew that earthlings, humans and animals, werent the only living things in the universe.

Slow down here! Saying the planet is in it's star's habitable zone and able to support liquid water on it's surface is a long way from saying it is earth like. This planet is unlike anything in our solar system. Although a rocky world, it is of a planetary type that astronomers call super-earths. It is far more massive than Earth. It has ten times the mass and 1.5 times the diameter. This means that it has a far higher surface gravity.

As the article says, if we found this Earth-Like planet so close to us, imagine, the universe might be filled with these, the universe might be filled with life!

You can not extrapolate from one result. Until we find more worlds like this we have no idea whether they are common or not. The fact that we found one close by could just mean that we got lucky. If we find 10 nearby then we can start raising our hopes.

One question..... what did they name this planet?

It's called Gilese581c. The c is because it is the 3^rd planet found around Gilese581.

[_CoNspIracY_]

This is pretty amazing, though... with everyone wanting to get the asap, well... do you really think we're ready to go searching for other life outside our planet? We are still extremely unstable, we've only had a technoligical boom for 100 years and still warring after 3000+ years - against our own speices.

I think we should learn to walk before fitting on that spacesuit and stepping into the enterprise.

Could never agree more. We are used to having war on our planet, but if we think about it, we are killing our own SPECIES over sometimes LAND, or MATERIAL possesions. Such as minerals, or weapons, which are used to kill off more of our own.

Until war is gone, and we dedicate our world funds on research on space travel, we may only find the FIRST alien lifeform to ever be made public, perhaps..... 100 years from now.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm really curious on life on other planets, and 100 years seems kind of... Long.

Too long for me to even be alive by then, or any of you, unless again if they create an anti aging facility or something, so everyone lives forever. <-- Again, if possible, only if WAR funds go onto RESEARCH.

"War funds are an endless source of money"- Forget who said that.

[DANTHEMAN]

Lets not get too excited by this discovery folks. They really don't know if it is an inhabitable planet or not.

[Ghost Ship]

Yeah but it's beginning. Soon there will be hundreds of these planets discovered.

[uth]

Yeah. Imagine if War funding was all used for scientific research instead. Why not try and build the interstellar engine instead of billion and billions in war.

Saving this world first is a fantasy that will never happen. Keeping an eye on the affairs of the world , while at the same time trying to reach out into space is the only option we have.

I agree, we should work to build a ship so we can go to that planet and (inevitably) wage wars there also.

[adeo]

One question..... what did they name this planet?

Earth

[ShaunZero]

Yeah but it's beginning. Soon there will be hundreds of these planets discovered.

Somehow I doubt that, lol. Unless it turns out to be uninhabitable.

[uth]

There was a recent documentary that explored what life on an Earthlike planet orbiting a red dwarf might be like. It was interesting. It was theorized that such a planet would not rotate, instead the same side would always face its sun (due to the closeness it would need to be to such a sun to support life). This would cause a giant perpetual, stationary storm to exist on the light side. This means that most life would have to exist around the perimeter of that storm, but not on the dark side where it would be too cold.