And there could be millions of them!
Astronomers have found the first alien world that could support life on its surface. It is both at the right distance from its star to potentially harbour liquid water and probably has a rocky composition like Earth.
"That's the most exciting exoplanet I've seen yet," says James Kasting of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, who was not involved in the discovery.
"The planet orbits a dim red dwarf star 20 light years from Earth called Gliese 581. Four planets were already known around the star, with two lying near the inner and outer edges of the habitable zone, where liquid water – and therefore potentially life – could exist on its surface.
One of those, which travels on a 13-day orbit, seems too hot for liquid water. The other, on a 67-day orbit, may be just warm enough for liquid water, but its status is not completely settled, says Kasting. Opinions "may continue to swing back and forth because it is hovering right near the outer edge", he says.
The newly found "Goldilocks" planet, called Gliese 581 g, lies in between the hot and cold ones. "You're smack dab in the middle of the habitable zone, so that's perfect," says Kasting, who has studied the two planets on the zone's edges."
Source:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19...-life.html
Astronomers have found the first alien world that could support life on its surface. It is both at the right distance from its star to potentially harbour liquid water and probably has a rocky composition like Earth.
"That's the most exciting exoplanet I've seen yet," says James Kasting of Pennsylvania State University in University Park, who was not involved in the discovery.
"The planet orbits a dim red dwarf star 20 light years from Earth called Gliese 581. Four planets were already known around the star, with two lying near the inner and outer edges of the habitable zone, where liquid water – and therefore potentially life – could exist on its surface.
One of those, which travels on a 13-day orbit, seems too hot for liquid water. The other, on a 67-day orbit, may be just warm enough for liquid water, but its status is not completely settled, says Kasting. Opinions "may continue to swing back and forth because it is hovering right near the outer edge", he says.
The newly found "Goldilocks" planet, called Gliese 581 g, lies in between the hot and cold ones. "You're smack dab in the middle of the habitable zone, so that's perfect," says Kasting, who has studied the two planets on the zone's edges."
Source:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19...-life.html
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