Posted on 04/27/2012 11:32:10 AM PDT by Red Badger
Astronomers have discovered their "holy grail" - a planet capable of supporting life outside our solar system.
The planet lies in what they describe as a 'habitable zone', neither too near its sun to dry out or too far away which freezes it.
And the discovery could help answer the question of whether we are alone in the universe, which has been plagued astronomers and alien fanatics for years.
Scientists found the planet, Gliese 667Cc, orbiting around a red dwarf star, 22 light years away from the earth.
Red dwarf stars are the most common stars in the neighbourhood of the sun, usually hosting planets called gas giants, which are not composed of rock matter.
Re-analysing data from the European Southern Observatory, the astronomers found Gliese 667Cc is a solid planet with roughly four and a half times the mass of Earth.
The University Göttingen and University of California scientists have calculated the planet recieves ten per cent less light from its red dwarf star than the Earth gets from the Sun.
As the light is in the infrared area, the planet still receives nearly the same amount of energy as the Earth, meaning water could be liquid and surface temperatures could be similar to ours.
Astronomers are hailing the plant as the 'Holy Grail' of discoveries, as 20 years ago scientists were still arguing about the existence of planets beyond our solar system.
Since the discovery of the first extrasolar planet in 1995, astronomers have confirmed the existence of more than 760 planets beyond the solar system, with only four believed to be in a habitable zone.
One of the most successful tools of planet hunters is the High Accuracy Radial Planetary Searcher (HARPS) telescope, which measures the radial velocity of a star.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Space Ping!.........
Why would anybody live on a planet with such a weird name?
Isn’t it funny how everyone these days wants to find ANOTHER planet...
It's better than Ceti Alpha 5...
Only 20 light years away? Piece of cake. Let’s fill up the Buick and go see it.
Bad news is whatever you weigh now would be multiplied by 4.5 if you stepped out on that planet. If you weigh 180 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 810 pounds on that planet.
The Glieseans would............
Maybe we should call it Moochelle’s Planet...............
I want to know if it will support as a base for conservatism.
.... just trying to have in my mind a place to live in a fantasy world.
Dibs on the Starbucks franchise.
Actually, if it has about the same density as Earth, it would have about twice the diameter, so you’d only weigh 12.5% more (4.5x the gravity, but you’d feel 1/4 as much, so 4.5x/4 = 1.125x).
If Obama is reelected, I'm starting work on my spaceship, at least now I have a destination...
All you need is air, water and means of producing food.......everything else you can make yourself.................
Probably bug eyed aliens who can see in low light instead of the more esthetically pleasing Orion slave girls with their green skin and lithe, undulating, naked midriffs.
Yikes!!! Only 22 light years away. In that case we should be on the lookout for very noisy reruns of I Love Lucy beaming to us from space.
Or Double Yikes. They could have been listening to our radio broadcasts from the 30’s or earlier and already be here with their just sub-luminal drive spaceships. Hide your Al Jolson records just for safety’s sake.
Not necessarily.
It depends also on the size of the planet.
The force of gravity also depends on the distance from the center of mass.
Odds are this is not just a heavier planet, but a larger one, so the gravity on the surface would be less.
It took billions of years for a technological species to appear on Earth. Life probably does exist elsewhere. It appeared fairly quickly on Earth, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re the only technological species.
SEND ALGORE NOW!!!
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