Post by auntym on Nov 29, 2011 1:18:39 GMT -6
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2066185/Gliese-581g-Newly-discovered-planet-just-like-Earth-contain-liquid-water.html#ixzz1et3jBBzq
'A very compelling case for life': Newly discovered planet is just like Earth and could contain liquid water[/color]
* Gliese 581g in 'Goldilocks zone' meaning conditions just right for life
* Planet orbits red dwarf star in Libra constellation 123trillion miles away
By Simon Tomlinson
28th November 2011
ET, are you there? The orbits of planets in the Gliese 581 system are compared to those of our solar system. The Gliese 581 star is about about 30per cent smaller than our sun. The fourth planet, g, could sustain life as it is in the Goldilocks zone
It means it tops the league of planets and moons rated as being most like Earth.
With our planet rated at 1.0 on the Earth Compatibility Index, Gliese 581g, found in the Libra constellation, scored 0.89, ahead of Mars on 0.7.
But U.S. experts believe Saturn's moon, Titan, is still the most likely so far to support life based on surface conditions and whether vital chemical reactions are possible.
The new findings are based on 11 years of observations of the nearby red dwarf star Gliese 581 using the HIRES spectrometer on the Keck I Telescope by a team of planet-hunters from University of California (UC) Santa Cruz and the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
Steven Vogt, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz and one of the leaders of the the Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey, said: 'Our findings offer a very compelling case for a potentially habitable planet said Vogt.
'The fact that we were able to detect this planet so quickly and so nearby tells us that planets like this must be really common.'
The team's new findings are reported in a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal.
The paper reports the discovery of two new planets around Gliese 581. This brings the total number of known planets around this star to six, the most yet discovered in a planetary system outside of our own.
Like our solar system, the planets around Gliese 581 have nearly-circular orbits.
It found that Gliese 581g has a mass three to four time the Earth's and orbits its star in just under 37 days.
Its mass indicates that it is probably a rocky planet with a definite surface and enough gravity to hold on to an atmosphere.
Gliese 581 has two previously detected planets that lie at the edges of the habitable zone where the atmosphere is just the right temperature for liquid water to exist - one on the hot side (planet c), the other on the cold face (planet d).
CONTINUE READING: www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2066185/Gliese-581g-Newly-discovered-planet-just-like-Earth-contain-liquid-water.html#ixzz1et3jBBzq
'A very compelling case for life': Newly discovered planet is just like Earth and could contain liquid water[/color]
* Gliese 581g in 'Goldilocks zone' meaning conditions just right for life
* Planet orbits red dwarf star in Libra constellation 123trillion miles away
By Simon Tomlinson
28th November 2011
ET, are you there? The orbits of planets in the Gliese 581 system are compared to those of our solar system. The Gliese 581 star is about about 30per cent smaller than our sun. The fourth planet, g, could sustain life as it is in the Goldilocks zone
It means it tops the league of planets and moons rated as being most like Earth.
With our planet rated at 1.0 on the Earth Compatibility Index, Gliese 581g, found in the Libra constellation, scored 0.89, ahead of Mars on 0.7.
But U.S. experts believe Saturn's moon, Titan, is still the most likely so far to support life based on surface conditions and whether vital chemical reactions are possible.
The new findings are based on 11 years of observations of the nearby red dwarf star Gliese 581 using the HIRES spectrometer on the Keck I Telescope by a team of planet-hunters from University of California (UC) Santa Cruz and the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
Steven Vogt, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz and one of the leaders of the the Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey, said: 'Our findings offer a very compelling case for a potentially habitable planet said Vogt.
'The fact that we were able to detect this planet so quickly and so nearby tells us that planets like this must be really common.'
The team's new findings are reported in a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal.
The paper reports the discovery of two new planets around Gliese 581. This brings the total number of known planets around this star to six, the most yet discovered in a planetary system outside of our own.
Like our solar system, the planets around Gliese 581 have nearly-circular orbits.
It found that Gliese 581g has a mass three to four time the Earth's and orbits its star in just under 37 days.
Its mass indicates that it is probably a rocky planet with a definite surface and enough gravity to hold on to an atmosphere.
Gliese 581 has two previously detected planets that lie at the edges of the habitable zone where the atmosphere is just the right temperature for liquid water to exist - one on the hot side (planet c), the other on the cold face (planet d).
CONTINUE READING: www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2066185/Gliese-581g-Newly-discovered-planet-just-like-Earth-contain-liquid-water.html#ixzz1et3jBBzq