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Don't know if this is the right forum to be posting this in - but anyways..... A team of European astronomers has found a planet outside our solar system that is the most Earth-like ever discovered. Those who spotted it say it could be covered in water, a necessary ingredient for life.
The planet, detected using a telescope in Chile, has a mass about five times that of the Earth. It is 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is to the sun. But that star - Gliese 581 - is what is known as a red dwarf, and is smaller, colder and 50 times fainter than our sun.
This means the planet appears to lie in what astronomers call the Goldilocks zone - not too hot, not too cold for life that depends on water, rather than ice. A number of teams, including one in Canada, have been hunting for a planet that is capable of sustaining life, one that would change our view of the universe and mean that we are not alone.http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070424.whabitat-planet0424/BNStory/Science/home
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Oooops, sorry Canuck, I just posted similar under Physics Forum
Mike Kremer.
. . "You will never find a real Human being - Even in a mirror." ....Mike Kremer.
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lol - no problem - looks like we have another thread in this very same forum too!
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Superstar
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Superstar
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Perhaps we should look before we post, eh?
Amaranth
If you don't care for reality, just wait a while; another will be along shortly. --A Rose
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Well, that didn't take long to find. No sooner is the technology available than the results start to come in! 5x Earth mass...so any human pioneers would weigh nearly half a tonne. Is someone working on that anti-grav device?
"Time is what prevents everything from happening at once" - John Wheeler
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Well, that didn't take long to find. No sooner is the technology available than the results start to come in!
5x Earth mass...so any human pioneers would weigh nearly half a tonne. Very good point that. Immediately wiping the smile off the faces of our young would be space travellers. Then again since 2/3rds of all the 300 Suns nearest our Earth are Red Dwarfs, we could get lucky. -------------------- "You will never find a real Human being - even in a mirror." .....Mike Kremer. .
. . "You will never find a real Human being - Even in a mirror." ....Mike Kremer.
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The mass of the Gliese 581 C is 5X that of Earth, but the gravity is only 2.15X. Can someone help me with the physics? (Radius is 1.5X, if that helps.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_581_cMaf
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Hi Maf.
This isn't my thing, but I found the formula.
Acceleration due to gravity:
g = G(M/r^2)
where g = acceleration due to gravity (m/s2) G = universal gravitational constant (m3/kg/s2) M = mass of the body (kg or slug) r = radius of the body (m or ft) _____
For Earth:
g =(6.673*10^-11)*((5.98*10^24)/((6.375*10^6)^2))= 9.81 _____
For Gliese 581 c:
If it has 4.83 x Earth mass, and a radius of 1.5 x Earth then:
g =(6.673*10^-11)*(((5.98*10^24)*4.83)/(((6.375*10^6)*1.5)^2)) = 21.1
21.1/9.81 = 2.15 x Earth gravity
So my earlier post was wrong:
"5x Earth mass...so any human pioneers would weigh nearly half a tonne."
Oops!
"Time is what prevents everything from happening at once" - John Wheeler
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Superstar
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Doesn't matter anyway - send robots, 'cos if there's sentient life on that planet they're all going to be built like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Blacknad.
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Hehehe. Complete with two hip replacements as well?
. . "You will never find a real Human being - Even in a mirror." ....Mike Kremer.
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yup - and nobody will be able to figure out if they're right-wing or left-wing!
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Hehehe. Complete with two hip replacements as well.
Mike Kremer.
. . "You will never find a real Human being - Even in a mirror." ....Mike Kremer.
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I've never placed a bet in my life, but I would bet there's life on Gliese 581c (even if it's not Arnie look-alikes!), and I'll bet it's DNA based. I won't be around to lose my shirt, anyway.
"Time is what prevents everything from happening at once" - John Wheeler
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You and me both, Rede. Very doutful that it would be something out of "Star Trek", it might be only a lot of smelly, slimey algae, or maybe vast patches of lichens, but it's a start. They have plans to "zoom in" on the Planet in the coming years. Then, if we see the "Face of Keanu Reeves" on the surface like we did on Mars a few years back, we'll have something to talk about!
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