Could there be life on GJ 357 d ? Image Credit: YouTube / NASA Goddard
Astronomers have announced the discovery of a large, potentially habitable world in a nearby solar system.
Named GJ 357 d, the new planet has a mass approximately six times that of the Earth.
"GJ 357 d is located within the outer edge of its star's habitable zone, where it receives about the same amount of stellar energy from its star as Mars does from the Sun," said astronomer and study co-author Diana Kossakowski from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.
"If the planet has a dense atmosphere, which will take future studies to determine, it could trap enough heat to warm the planet and allow liquid water on its surface."
The new world was discovered quite unexpectedly using data from NASA's planet-hunting TESS satellite following the discovery of another planet - GJ 357 b - orbiting the same star.
"It was like a freebie, because it was discovered in the follow-up," said co-author Lisa Kaltenegger.
"I was on vacation at the time, and I was completely surprised."
I always assumed that gravity would be much stronger for planet 6 times the mass of Earth. This is great tho, even much more massive planets would have similar life.
what is really dense, is debating this topic. There is no way to reach any of these planets ever, so the topic becomes pointless/ dense. Until an actual probe can be sent to these plants to take actual photographs and make more detailed analysis then all I can really spare for these planet hunters is a slow golf clap and maybe play a tiny violin when they explain they found a possible habitable planet.
Yes lets not explore the universe. Lets just be content in our own little corner and not dream of something bigger. Lets just sit back and laugh at the people who want to know whats out there. Btw we don't neccesarily need probes to explore, we have telescopes that are orders of magnitude better than they were just a few decades ago and we have even better ones under construction or in the advanced planning stage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremely_large_telescope A 39,3 meter telescope is being built right now in Chile by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). The Hubble telescope... [More]
Thats incorrect. The Space Shuttle accelerated at 3g and, not at 5-6 and the operation orbit was reached after 8.5 minutes into the flight, not 20 minutes.
Nah, golf claps for science finding un reachable planets is all i am saying. and telescopes are great, but until one can get better proof via photographs that are as clear as can be and something more concrete than using telescopes that rely on light wave lengths , it is just drops in the ocean. I just find it pointless, less there is bigger plan, which there isn't. If these institutions were to say, we have a bigger plan ,we are locating what we think are Earth like habitable planets, so that in so many years we can send probes to these planets to verify what our telescopes can't .... then... [More]
You’re missing the point! Astronomy is not about finding us potentially habitable planets, that’s a more recent idea which may become viable in the future. Have a read: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomy The discussions in this thread are just clarifying peoples misunderstanding. Do you think astronomy has not changed your life? There are still learnings going on from past and new discoveries that would be! So please change the slow golf clap to a full-fledged palm-burning applause, for all of the astronomers out there putting in work! These are great people doing great wo... [More]
Yes! Dad has that book. One of my favorite quotes (and there aren’t many!). I’m not sure if he first told me that quote, or if I heard it elsewhere. But I know that I didn’t appreciate/feel it at the time. I was too young and ignorant! Being a bit older and a little less ignorant, I do now appreciate the magnitude of it, and the strange emotion that comes with it. Thinking there has to be something out there, and just hoping for confirmation before I die...
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