Astronomers discover earth like planet
 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070424/...ce_planet_dc_1

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 (32 to 104 degrees F), 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.

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.

That's pretty cool. I really think it's only a matter of time until we discover other sentient life out there. I have a hard time believing that with billions and billions of stars out there we are the only intelligent life.

Sometimes I have a hard time believing we are intelligent life. :P

But an awesome discovery. I look forward to seeing what they find.

You read my mind. :nod:

Finally. Here's hoping they are sentient and that we don't make contact until after the 2008 election.

Sentient? I don't want sentient life to be on there! If no one lives there, it's prime real estate. Who wants to move in next door to ET?

See, on Earth, you get a 24 hour virus and you just barf all over the place. On Planet Gliese, you get 24 hour virus and a native larva bursts out your chest, escapes from your family by fleeing into an air duct, matures, then methodically picks them off one by one before getting blown out an escape pod by Sigourney Weaver.


However, I can't help but think that everyone from that planet would be proud of their heritage.

A sort of GLIESE PRIDE if you will?

GLIESE PRIDE!

us? intelligent? when did that happen?

it's not hard to imagine that they'd find another planet with life...i've read somewhere that at any given moment, there are countless planets out of our reach (as of yet) that could be creating perfect conditions for life. what's amazing is that we're close to finding one.

Late 1980's. I remember sitting at the kitchen listening to the radio when it was announced there was intelligent life on earth. Seriously...I think it was around 1989. One of those little random things one never forgets. :lol:

I still don't understand how anyone could possibly say whether or not an alien planet is capable of sustaining life. Who says any aliens even need water?

We won't know for sure, 'till we have the technology to find out. And that's not happening anytime soon.


I apologize for assuming, but I just don't think its happening in our lifetime.

I predict that by the year 2050, We'll have a colony on Mars and begin exploring the moons of Jupiter. That's how confident I am about the pace at which our technology is advancing.

If you think about it, in 1907, we didn't have practical air travel. Now we have rocket ships in outer space.

In 1907, the telephone was a marvel of science. Now we have the intertnet.

We've split the atom.

Today, we're tinkering with the human genome.

I think that, given the proper motivation, we can reach the stars in fifty years. Fifty. That's my assumption.

Well, I guess inter-stellar travel was never out of the option. But I think that traveling to other plants, and colonizing them are two different things.

Sure, sure, for we may have the proper technology to reach them. But to colonize? To make a barren desert hospitable for us? I don't believe so, no offense.

I just don't think we'll be capable of having Mars being the proper reciprocal that can support us. Or planets like Mars.

Altering something's atmosphere seems to be a bit of stretch, but I respect your thoughts.


Maybe we will have something big. Maybe we won't. Time will tell.

A mission by 2050 I could believe, but a colongy by then is a little soon. Mars is over 35 million miles away. It takes months to get there. During that time astronauts are in danger from the extra hazards of being outside of Earth's protection. Once you do get there, you are still in danger, plus the uknowns. People speak fondly of terraforming Mars, but apart from that taking a really long time, I'm not sure Mars has the mass to hold an Earth-like atmosphere in (the lighter gasses can bleed off into space, although it's been a while since I looked closely at this stuff). A colony would take another 100-150 years... assuming we have a real reason to go there.

I do think we'll have the technology to go to mars pretty soon. Right now we're developing energy systems that could possibly workl in harsh environments and contribute to a kind of biodome situation. It can be done. But it's more likely we'd have a colony or base on the moon by 2050. That's only like 250,000 miles away! ;) lol

Do you really think we'll ever travel to the stars? I do really like that idea. But the nearest star to earth (other than the sun) is either proxima centauri or vega (I forget) and it's like 5 light years away. That's to say, IF we could travel at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) we'd get to that star in about 5 years.

It's about a parsec away. That's less than five light years. Aren't you studying science? Don't you keep up with this stuff? They're discussing all sorts of wacky inventions to get us there. Before you say "That's just hypothetical and might not even work!" remember that they said the same thing about the Earth being round. Go back to 1950 and tell everyone about the internet, and see what they say. Hell, scientists predicted that computers would only be the size of rooms by now.

Also, as scientists have repeatedly stated, a biodome really isn't the way to go, it's much more practical to use what you have available on the planet.

I don't think fifty years is too soon. Is it a difficult challenge? Absolutely. But I bet if you convince someone there's money out their we could be living on Mars in the decade.

Humans have an alarming potential.

Apperantly a year on this planet lasts only 13 days... :o

I'm not too knowledgeable on science, but I do think just being able to travel the stars is possible. I've never been beyond the concept of it.

I just don't think we'll be traveling at lightspeed, though.

I think it all depends on what happens as we continue to become more advanced. For one thing I am not a UFO chaser or anything but I do think that there is life out there somewhere and I am not above believing that at least some of it has already discovered us. Maybe one day we'll know for sure hell maybe they can even help advance our civilization. *shrug*

It's not that I don't think it's possible to do it in 50 years, I just don't think it's going to happen. We're having enough problems keeping up enthusiasm for ISS.

Haha... no, scientists don't keep up with every new theory. As specialized as subjects are these days, you're doing well if you keep up with your own field. I have a side interest in astrophysics, quantum mechanics, and aeronautics, but my work is actually in the biological sciences.

Not everyone was skeptical in the past. I have to say, though, that as far as we've come in the last 50-75 years, I'm still skeptical about interstellar travel within any reasonable time frame... unless you think a thousand years is reasonable. It seems like before we work out a practical method for that kind of travel, we'd need a better working understanding of subatomic manipulation. We need to be able to control the new technologies. Maybe I'll be a believer when I get my flying car. ;)

But what methods of travel are you talking about? You've got me curious now.

Cool, but 20.5 light years away? Even though it's not as far as some stars and planets I still wouldn't call that close. Still, I hope we never get technology to travel that far. The last thing the human race needs is another planet to screw up. If there is intelligent life on it we'd probably end up killing it off so we could live there.