Spooky coincidences.

[Anomalocaris]

James Webb may be much more powerful than Hubble, but its aperture is not 800 kilometers. The only way to get that kind of aperture is to use speckle interferometry with two or more widely spaced, ground based telescope. AFAIK, the necessary resolution hasn't come close to being achieved in practice with that method either.

Distribution of heavier element from a supernova and the basic rules of chemistry is not nearly enough. All sorts of very complex chemistry and planetary geology factors can readily get rid of a planet’s entire initial inventory of liquid water despite it staying in Goldilocks zone. Look at Venus. Many other extra-solar planetary system we've discovered also shows signs that planetary orbits were quite unstable. So any planets now in the Goldilocks zone might well have been well outside of it in the past, or have moved in and out of it several times in the past and giving any desiccating exterminatory factor plenty of opportunities to work.

[theVOID]

That's all granted, but the fact remains our best mathematical models place the likelihood of liquid oceans as being relatively high. That is not an ultimate conclusion as all these models are tentative, but we have more reason that not to suspect that is the case. I agree that it is far from enough to make a conclusion, that's why nobody has. The Spectroscopy data that will be available in the next few years has the potential to substantiate or dis confirm our suspicions about the composition of this planet, and while that too will not be enough to fully confirm the existence of life on the planet, it will go a long way towards raising the likelihood.

As for Venus, it was believed to have once been in the goldilocks zone, this is no longer the case, unlike 581g which most certainly is in this zone.

Also, 581g does not have an unstable orbit, the aphelion/perihelion is around 0.3 (earth is 0.2), and while it is possible that it's orbit has evened out over time this is unlikely.

All of the conditions we currently know about support the idea of liquid oceans even though it is by no means necessarily the case. Like i said this will only be made more or less likely with the arrival of impending data, the likes of which won't help us to reach any real conclusion on the matter.

[A Theist]

. To find life forms on another world (potentially sapient) I wonder how that would affect religion as a whole here?

The shock will cause the holy trinity to undergo parthenogenesis, resulting in holy quadranity - the father, the son, the holy ghost, and the holy silicon based green octopus.

Isn't your celebrating a little premature at this point? While scientists seem excited over finding a planet that may 'potentially' support some sort of lifeform, the best they're hoping to find is bacteria akin to here on earth. Scientists don't have enough data yet to make any definitive conclusions. Everything about the planet, its atmosphere, whether or not conditions there can support life, whether or not it has liquid water, at this point is just speculation. Nevertheless, it would be interesting to compare the conditions of a planet from another solar system with our own earth, or even with planets in our own solar system. I think what ever is found will be exciting.

Why are you restricting it to bacteria?
If you'd read the original post one of the things seen was lasers eminating from that system. Highly advanced bacteria then.
There could be nothing or there could be something really cool.
What we need are better telescopes. 20 light years showed be no problem for a next gen space based telescope.

Why are you restricting it to bacteria?

See the video in post#33.