Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Habitable Planet Found?!
A planet has been found that might be habitable. Details below.
I expect that a lot of astronomers will be taking a closer look at it. The question is how long until someone gets a look at the atmosphere. A thermodynamic disequilibrium would mean life.
The planet has a radius only 50 percent larger than Earth and is very likely to contain liquid water on its surface...And it is close to us. Actually very close (as in 30 closest star close).
...this planet takes only 13 days to complete one orbit round its star. It is also 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is from the Sun.
However, since its host star, the red dwarf Gliese 581, is smaller and colder than the Sun - and thus less luminous - the planet lies in the habitable zone, the region around a star where water could be liquid!
Gliese 581, is among the 100 closest stars to us, located only 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra ("the Scales").This is slower than light close. It could be possible to get there.
I expect that a lot of astronomers will be taking a closer look at it. The question is how long until someone gets a look at the atmosphere. A thermodynamic disequilibrium would mean life.
