New Planet May Be Able to Nurture Organisms

[Turborama]

Source: NYT

By DENNIS OVERBYE -

September 29, 2010 -

It might be a place that only a lichen or pond scum could love, but astronomers said Wednesday that they had found a very distant planet capable of harboring water on its surface, thus potentially making it a home for plant or animal life.

Nobody from Earth will be visiting anytime soon: The planet, which goes by the bumpy name of Gliese 581g, is orbiting a star about 20 light-years away in the constellation Libra.

But if the finding is confirmed by other astronomers, the planet, which has three to four times the mass of Earth, would be the most Earthlike planet yet discovered, and the first to meet the criteria for being potentially habitable.

“It’s been a long haul,” said Steven S. Vogt of the University of California, Santa Cruz, who, along with R. Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, led the team that made the discovery. “This is the first exoplanet that has the right conditions for water to exist on its surface.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/30/science/space/30planet.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&src=ig

---

National Science Foundation and NASA
A planet, as depicted in this rendering, orbits the habitable zone of a star 20 light years from Earth,
meaning it could have water on its surface.

[comtec]

1. Sounds about like Vulcan

20 light years is a lazy afternoon by warp standards ;)

[Systematic Chaos]

2. How convenient of that planet to *poof* into existence just in time for Mr. Overbye to write...

...an article about it!

How about "Newly discovered planet," you nimrod!

Meaning the author of the article, not the OP.

And we wonder why our media is in the gutter.

:eyes:

[Turborama]

3. LOL, I was hoping someone would make a point about that

I couldn't work out how to add that to the title without changing what the NYT had written. Normally, they're better than that.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. New, pre-owned or refurbished…

What's the big deal? Sounds like a bargain to me.

[Turborama]

10. Here's a better one from Al Jazeera English: "Newly discovered planet 'habitable'"

Scientists describe conditions on Earth-like planet orbiting nearby star as "just right" for life to develop.

Last Modified: Sept 30 2010 07:56 GMT


The planet orbits Gliese 581 at the perfect distance for potential life to develop
(National Science Foundation)

Astronomers have discovered the first planet outside the solar system with the potential to support life.

The planet orbits a red dwarf star called Gliese 581, 20 light years from Earth, in the middle of the star's habitable zone, meaning that temperatures on its surface are just right for life to develop.

US-based scientists found the planet using precise measurements from the Keck telescope in Hawaii, which has been scrutinising Gliese 581 for more than a decade.

The new planet, called Gliese 581g, is one of several known to be orbiting the star, but is the first to be discovered in the so-called Goldilocks Zone, where the distance from the star means that temperatures are neither too hot or too cold for life to exist.

Full article: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/09/20109306265202563.html

[Uncle Joe]

5. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Turborama.

[AngryAmish]

6. Things like this make me sad we don't live in the future.

[Javaman]

7. Personally, I like to welcome our new lichen or pond scum overlords. nt

[guitar man]

8. fantastic!!

Now we know where to send the repugs. If it's a good fit for pond scum they should feel right at home!!

[lunatica]

9. Bottom feeders delight!

There's a planet for everyone.

[Xithras]

11. Even if it had an atmosphere, it wouldn't be a pleasant place to visit.

Liek all planets in that star system, this one is tidally locked to its sun. One side always faces the sun, the other side is always night.

Though a habitable ring would exist around the transition zone, the atmospheric impact of the tidal lock would be intense. The huge temperature difference between the sides would lead to massive imbalances in atmospheric pressure between the two sides of the planet. Those, in turn, would generate nearly constant hurricane force winds at the planets surface.

The winds would also have the effect of dessicating the sunward side of the planet. Our planet has a water cycle, where water evaporates from the oceans, is moved elsewhere by the wind, falls on the land, and eventually runs back into the ocean. On this planet, water would evaporate on the sunny side, be carried to the dark side, and quickly be frozen out of the atmosphere as snow. Because that side never sees the sun, the snow would never melt. The only water that would return to the sunny side would be meltwater in the transition zone from glaciers extending outward from the dark side.

[Devil_Fish]

12. WOW what a cool planet for Curk to visit! NT

[jimlup]

13. Pandora!

[primavera]

14. For a minute...

... I thought the headline referred to the prospects of life on this planet after we've reduced it to a toxic wasteland.

[TexasObserver]

15. This is a very interesting new story.