New Planet Discovered 2010 Called Gliese 581g: Can It Sustain Life?

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New Planet Discovered 2010: Gliese 581g aka Goldilocks Planet – Among the planets in our solar system, our planet Earth is the only one which can sustain life. Scientists have been exploring the universe for quite some time now in search for another planet which can support life. One of the most studied planet is the red planet known as Mars because of the possible presence of water. However, based on further research, the lack of a magnetosphere and its extremely thin atmosphere pose great challenge to life's sustainability.

A recent study conducted by a team of planet hunters from the University of California (UC) Santa Cruz, and the Carnegie Institution of Washington led to the discovery of a new planet using the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. Accordingly, the new findings are based on 11 years of observations of the nearby red dwarf star Gliese 581. Gliese 581 is located 20 light years away from Earth in the constellation Libra.



The new planet discovered is located in the Gliese 581 star system, in the so-called "Goldilocks zone" or an area where planets can can support liquid water on their surface. Hence the new planet discovered was named "Gliese 581g" or the "Goldilocks Planet". Reportedly, this new planet has a mass of three to four times that of Earth and orbits its star in just under 37 days.

There's one more interesting fact about this newly discovered planet called Gliese 581g. Since it is tidally locked to the Gliese 581 dwarf star, one side of the planet is always facing the star and is in perpetual daylight, while the side facing away from the star is in perpetual darkness.

New Planet Discovered 2010 Called Gliese 581g: Can It Sustain Life? | Dots Period

 

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Hope we will not have any religious disputes over there.

 

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Discovery of 'Goldilocks' planet excites scientists

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (KGO) -- The discovery of a new planet has astronomers talking with renewed excitement. After 11 years of looking, a team of scientists have discovered a planet in what they call the "habitable zone." This new planet is three times the mass of earth and circles a star called Gliese 581.

"This is really the first Goldilocks planet, the first planet that is roughly the right size and just the right distance to have liquid water on the surface," Paul Bulter of the Carnegie Institute of Washington said.

Liquid water is considered to be the key to life.

UC Santa Cruz Professor Steven Vogt says the possibilities are endless. He says the planet he helped discover does not rotate thus the bright side can be as hot as 160 degrees and the cold, dark side can drop to 25 degrees below zero, but there is a sweet spot. Dr. Vogt says

"So there's a great range of ecologitude that will create a lot of different niches for different kind of life to evolve stablely," Vogt said.

At the SETI Institute in Mountain View, the mission is to explore and understand the origin and prevalence of life in the universe. Thursday, Jill Tarter, the director of the Center for SETI Research, said she views this discovery as wonderful.

"We are heading into a time in which discoveries like this will come at a much faster pace," she said. "It's wonderful for people to know they can explore the question 'Are we here alone?' and be closer to scientific answers."

 

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1 light year is around 10 trillion kilometers. Also i read somewhere that we need 17,000 years to reach the nearest star alpha centauri which is 4 light years away. If this planet is 20 light years away we need around 85,000 years to reach it