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Thursday, September 30, 2010

Gliese 581g

An exoplanet has been found that exists in its solar system's sweet spot, where life is likely - not too hot, not too cold.

This is a major discovery.

Space.com: Odds of Life on Newfound Earth-Size Planet '100 Percent,' Astronomer Says
An Earth-size planet has been spotted orbiting a nearby star at a distance that would makes it not too hot and not too cold — comfortable enough for life to exist, researchers announced today (Sept. 29).


If confirmed, the exoplanet, named Gliese 581g, would be the first Earth-like world found residing in a star's habitable zone — a region where a planet's temperature could sustain liquid water on its surface.


"It's both an incremental and monumental discovery..."

3 comments:

Glynn Kalara said...

It's just a matter of time before we discover more and more of potential earth like planets. The problem is that most will be so far away as to be unreachable with our present understanding of how the Universe works. I expect that however will change.

Jim Sande said...

Yes, it will. That is the future indeed, provided we can keep our heads together long enough.

Glynn Kalara said...

One of the great Sci Fi writers, forget which one said that he felt most technological societies out here probably self-destruct before ever spreading very far from their home planets. Not sure why, but he wrote that at the height of the Cold War so it made sense in that context. I'm not so sure though he was right. Hopefully, one day we'll find out. In the mean time we still haven't as of yet found one non-earh created form of life anywhere. Very odd if u ask me.