Earth-Like Planet Discovered!

[Kyronea]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/04/24/exoplanet.reut/index.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- European astronomers have spotted what they say is the most Earth-like planet yet outside our solar system, with balmy temperatures that could support water and, potentially, life.

They have not directly seen the planet, orbiting a red dwarf star called Gliese 581. But measurements of the star suggest that a planet not much larger than the Earth is pulling on it, the researchers say in a letter to the editor of the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

"This one is the first one that is at the same time probably rocky, with water, and in a zone close to the star where the water could exist in liquid form," said Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland, who led the study.

"We have estimated that the mean temperature of this super-Earth lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be liquid."

Most of the 200 or so planets that have been spotted outside this solar system have been gas giants like Jupiter. But this one is small.

"Its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth's radius, and models predict that the planet should be either rocky, like our Earth, or covered with oceans," Udry said in a telephone interview.

It appears to have a mass five times that of Earth's.

The research team includes scientists credited with the first widely accepted discovery of a planet outside our solar system, in 1995.

Many teams are looking for planets circling other stars. They are especially looking for those similar to our own, planets that could support life.

That means finding water.
X marks the spot

"Because of its temperature and relative proximity, this planet will most probably be a very important target of the future space missions dedicated to the search for extra-terrestrial life," Xavier Delfosse, a member of the team from Grenoble University in France, said in a statement.

"On the treasure map of the universe, one would be tempted to mark this planet with an X."

Gliese 581 is among the 100 closest stars to Earth, just 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.

A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion km).

It is smaller and dimmer than the sun, so the planet can be close to it and yet not be overheated.

"These low-mass stars are the ones where we are going to be able to discover planets in the habitable zone first," said planet-hunter David Bennett of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, who was not involved in the research.

Bennett cautioned that current temperature alone does not mean water still exists on the planet. It could have burned off ages ago, when the star was hotter than it is now.

Udry's team uses a method known as radial velocity, using the European Southern Observatory telescope at La Silla, Chile.

The same team has identified one larger planet orbiting Gliese 581 already and say they have strong evidence of a third planet with a mass about eight times that of the Earth.

Future missions, perhaps in 20 to 30 years, may be able to block the light from the star and take a spectrographic image of the planets. The color of the light coming from the planet can give hints of whether water, or perhaps large amounts of plant life, exist there.

Finally...an Earth-like planet...only twenty lightyears from Earth! This is amazing...a planet just twenty lightyears from us has the surface temperature range to hold water...and that speaks a lot more than you might think at first. The number of planets that must contain actual liquid water is astronomical.

Of course, it is five times more massive than our own planet, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. It also orbits a red dwarf.

[Chrono'99]

Interesting... I wonder what name they'll give to this planet. We need some mystical, mythologic name or something, hopefully not a scientist's name with some numbers suffixed.

[Burning Zeppelin]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb
This planet I believe was the Earthiest planet til now.

[Kyronea]

Interesting... I wonder what name they'll give to this planet. We need some mystical, mythologic name or something, hopefully not a scientist's name with some numbers suffixed.

So long as they don't name it something from a video game or a book, I'll be fine with whatever they choose. (Please no Zeal...if we're going to name any planet Zeal we should reserve that for a planet that is confirmed to be Earth-like with life and everything.)

[LegacyCrono]

Whoa, nice...
I knew it, someday we would find a planet just like ours!

Well, name it Kajar or Balamb.
SEE YA!!!!!

[nightmare975]

We should call it Midgard, not from FFVII, but from Viking mythology.

[Kyronea]

I should remind everyone that though this planet is Earth-like, the chances of life are relatively small. It orbits a red dwarf, and red dwarfs have an extremely small life-bearing zone compared to stars comparable to our own Sun. Furthermore, they are much more prone to flares, which would douse the planet in radiation. Finally, given how close the planet has to be, it might even be tidally locked, meaning one side of the planet is always facing its sun, and one side always facing away. Now, due to the fact it is a red dwarf, the temperature extremes would be much closer to Sahara vs Siberia than, say, Venus versus Pluto, but it'd still be bad.

So, I'm not holding up hopes for life on this planet just yet, but it's definitely possible. And who knows? Maybe the life there has adjusted to the amount of radiation so the radiation won't bother it.

[Lord J Esq]

Interesting... I wonder what name they'll give to this planet. We need some mystical, mythologic name or something, hopefully not a scientist's name with some numbers suffixed.

Too late! Gilese 581 C will dash your hopes against the rocks and eat them for breakfast.

[Rydis]

I am still baffled why scientists think that just because we survive this way, a alien life form has to also. Humans adapt to their environment, and not everything on earth lives off the same elements. I am confused why a alien race, if there be one, could not live of carbon dioxide or what not on their planet. They could have entirely different body systems we do.

[Kyronea]

I am still baffled why scientists think that just because we survive this way, a alien life form has to also. Humans adapt to their environment, and not everything on earth lives off the same elements. I am confused why a alien race, if there be one, could not live of carbon dioxide or what not on their planet. They could have entirely different body systems we do.

Surprisingly enough, despite the laymen's interpretation of scientists, this is not only conceivable but expected. Still, we are looking for Earth-like planets because they may contain life we are familiar with, and thus it stands to reason that we're bound to find life we can recognize as life far more easily than life that we might not recognize immediately as life.

[grey_the_angel]

Interesting... I wonder what name they'll give to this planet. We need some mystical, mythologic name or something, hopefully not a scientist's name with some numbers suffixed.

I hereby dub thee Planet of the apes X

[but2002]

It would be interesting to find twin earth

One with humanoid characters such as ourselves.

[Kyronea]

It would be interesting to find twin earth

One with humanoid characters such as ourselves.

The odds of such an event depend on certain factors. Are you talking about a twin in the sense of having all the same kinds of plant life, animal life, and sentient life? In addition to, say, the same kind of continents, in the exact formation they are on our own planet? Perhaps with the same kind of moon? Maybe even the same kind of solar system?

The odds of THAT kind of twin event are easily somewhere around 1x10^999999999999999. In other words, even with the sheer scope of the universe, that's just not happening.

On the other hand, if we limit it to a species that is humanoid, you have something far more likely. Given how useful something as simple as opposing thumbs on a hand with five fingers is, it's possible that humanoids dominate the universe when it comes to sentient life...but it's just not that likely. Actually, to be honest, we have no idea how likely it is or how likely it isn't. We don't have a true sample to dictate from. We have the one planet with life on it, and that's it...that's all we know about. Our understanding of the universe is just that limited.

[Burning Zeppelin]

Imagine if we travel lightyears to this planet, and when we land we see houses just like ours, with families just like ours sitting down and watching sitcoms just like ours? Kwazy.

I have noticed that when most people talk about contacting other life, they always assume the other life will be more advanced than us. There is just as much chance that they will be the underdeveloped species; then the question arises- should we or shouldn't we become their Gods?

[but2002]

A twin scene would be very unlikely, but I mean humanoids like us, that evolved "along-side" us.

And if we were to find a race of primitave people, I would not like to treat them in a way such as being their "god", I would simply prefer to watch in amusment.

Then the government would want to meddle with them >.<