By John Timmer | Published 4 years ago


We try not to report on "science by press release" that often, but in this case, the results appear significant enough that you'll probably forgive us. As soon as the press embargo is up, the European Southern Observatory will be announcing the discovery of the most Earth-like planet yet, discovered orbiting the star Gliese 581. The results have been submitted for publication but are not currently available.



The planet exists in what appears to be a system composed of at least two other bodies: a Neptune-sized planet and a third planet with eight times the mass of Earth. The new planet differs from Earth in a couple of key ways. For one, it's massive, coming it at somewhere around five times the Earth's mass. It's also much closer to the star, completing a year in only 13 Earth days.



But Gliese 581 is a red dwarf, which burns far cooler than our sun. As a result, despite the small distance, temperatures are pretty moderate, estimated at between 0 and 40°C. That means water is likely to be liquid, which places this star within what's been termed the "habitable zone." Gliese 581 is also one of the more approachable stars out there in terms of future exploration, residing only 20.5 light years from Earth.


The discovery was made possible by the ESO's HARPS system, which is specifically designed to search for extrasolar planets. It comes on the heels of the recent announcement that water has been discovered in the atmosphere of a different extrasolar planet. In that case, the exoplanet is so close to its star that its atmosphere is in the process of being boiled off. The newly announced exoplanet at Gliese 581 would clearly provide a more hospitable environment for liquid water.
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/...-red-dwarf.ars
Old I know but I ran across it when I was looking for an update on the Diamond planet. All this real science stuff out there and all the silly ninnies are worried about Comet Elenin destroying the earth or some mythical brown Dwarf that is going to destroy our solar system. I would like to just take those dopes and choke the silliness right out of them but I suppose that would be against some kind of rule or regulation.