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

Oooops, sorry Canuck, I just posted similar under Physics Forum

Mike Kremer.

lol - no problem - looks like we have another thread in this very same forum too!

Perhaps we should look before we post, eh?

Amaranth

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?

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.
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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_c

Maf

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!

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.

Hehehe. Complete with two hip replacements as well?

yup - and nobody will be able to figure out if they're right-wing or left-wing!

Hehehe. Complete with two hip replacements as well.

Mike Kremer.

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.

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!