US scientists find potentially habitable planet near Earth

Yahoo! News - September 29, 2010

US astronomers said Wednesday they have discovered an Earth-sized planet that they think might be habitable, orbiting a nearby star, and believe there could be many more planets like it in space.

The planet, found by astronomers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the Carnegie Institution of Washington, is orbiting in the middle of the "habitable zone" of the red dwarf star Gliese 581, which means it could have water on its surface.

Liquid water and an atmosphere are necessary for a planet to possibly sustain life, even it it might not be a great place to live, the scientists said.

The scientists determined that the planet, which they have called Gliese 581g, has a mass three to four times that of Earth and an orbital period of just under 37 days.

Its mass indicates that it is probably a rocky planet and has enough gravity to hold on to an atmosphere, according to Steven Vogt, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and one of the leaders of the team that discovered the planet.

If Gliese 581g has a rocky composition similar to Earth's, its diameter would be about 1.2 to 1.4 times that of the Earth, the researchers said.

Read more: Yahoo! News

 

Newly discovered planet to save human race?

Russia Today - October 1, 2010

[YOUTUBE]ZPaadZzPGUk[/YOUTUBE]

A team of astronomers from the University of California and The Carnegie Institute of Washington say they've found a planet like ours, 20 light years (120 trillion miles) from Earth. RT talks to Space entrepreneur Jeff Manber about the prospects of the discovery.

 

I'm not moving there, I love earth to much. This is still very important news, surprise it's not on the news as often as it should be. If life is discovered on this new planet it means the universe is governed by chance, create as many stars and planets as possible hoping one or more develop organic life forms to host our spirits.

Is the planet really that colourful or is this computer generated?

 

Great! It'll just be the *perfect excuse* for Mankind to screw up *this* planet...and then go colonise *that* orb...and eventually expend/exhaust/destroy *all* the available resources thereof...:smt010

You *know* it's an **inevitability!**:smt011












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