Earth’s Twin Habitable?

Scientists have discovered a planet not much bigger than our Earth that may also be covered in oceans and has the right temperature to support life, about 20.5 light years away.

Scientists believe that by 2020, it will be possible for a telescope to take a close look at the planet, which has not yet been named, to search if there are signs of life.

It is the smallest planet yet discovered outside the solar system, and has about twice the gravitational pull of our planet. Creatures on the planet would need thick bones and sturdy legs due to the stronger gravitational pull.

This newly discovered planet revolves around the star known as Gliese 581, a red dwarf in the Libra constellation. It is older than our solar system and its year lasts only 13 days, since it is 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is to the our Sun. That is a very good sign, because red dwarfs are less than half the size of the sun, and cooler. In the area where the planet has been discovered, surface temperatures would be very similar to Earth’s between 0C and 40C (32-104 F) just right for oceans to have formed and life to flourish.

Astronomers also say—based on high tech models and density-mass calculations—this quasi-Earth’s surface is either rocky or ocean-covered—both Earth-like geographical qualities. With the discovery of Earth’s twin come high hopes of large strides forward in the search for .

"Liquid water is critical to life as we know it and because of its temperature and relative proximity, this planet will most probably be a very important target of the future space missions dedicated to the search for extra-terrestrial life. On the treasure map of the Universe, one would be tempted to mark this planet with an X," added Xavier Delfosse, a member of the team from Grenoble University, France.

The planet was found by Swiss, French and Portuguese astronomers using the European Southern Observatory's 3.6m telescope at La Silla in Chile.

Posted by Rebecca Sato

Related Post:

Cruising the Goldilocks Zone -The Search for Super Earths

Dead Zones in the Search for

Comments

[juantuffgai]

Sturdy-Legged Bastards! The only reason that you can abduct me is that gravity has less effect on you when you come to Earth...sound familiar Superman? If we were in a vacuum I know I would kick you thick butt all day long.

[Michael Ricciardi]

I propose that the name of this 'second earth' be TREAH or THREA (tray ah, or thray ah), which are anagrams derived from EARTH.

[xia]

i propose that we ask the inhabitants we find there what they refer to their own planet as before we go presuming to name it

[Jeffrey Munro]

I cannot wait for 50 years time when not knowing of other planet life is known as different.
Cheers, Jeff
http://jeffreymunro.com

[Mindi]

I agree with Michael - we should not try to name this so-called planet until we know more about it and its possible inhabitants.
Why do humans feel the need to conquer every single thing? Even the oceans aren't that "free" anymore.
Personally, I love space and am "all for" exploring space, but let's leave it be....I think we need to live in the present and work on preserving the planet we have now.

[dustin]

thanks mindi. great insight. did your long journey on the 'trail of tears' allow you the ability to be so free thinking in regards to labling things 20 light years away? lets send them a post card so we dont offend them...and until we get a response, we can just give it a symbol like Prince.

[A'Liya]

I can't wait til we can travel to see far off planets! Problem is being humans we'll ruin those too! But hey we're parasites, thats what we do!

[Styx]

Yeah man, you're right...

[Justin]

Actually what I would suggest is to not get your hopes up. Mars is technically in the 'Goldilocks zone', and we know it's not really habitable.

As far as naming the planet....it already has a designation based on the system it was found in. All of the other 200+ extrasolar planets are referred to the same way.

If intelligent life exists there (and that's a massive if), then we won't know what they call it for a long time.

[Andy]

guys. im as excited as everyone else about this planet. the truth about it tho is that it IS 20 some light years away. that means traveling at the speed of light (300,000 meters / second) it would take 20 years to get there. now, one, that space flight would be BOORRRING, and two, the astronauts will be exposed to enormous amounts of radiation while in space [our atmosphere acts like a shield for these unpleasantries]. it is quite likely that the crew of this mission will contract various forms of cancer, and may even die on the voyage. third, we dont have any form of propulsion, currently, powerful enough to propel a craft at a high enough speed to reach this planet in a timely matter. for now, i will continue to watch nasa and other private astronomers as they probe this planet with what we have, and i am really excited once this new telescope comes online in 2010(??). images of this planet are the best way we currently can learn more about this planet, its possible sustainability for life, and possible orgainsims already living peacefully, without war.

[Duane Frybarger]

With our current technology, a space probe traveling at 25,000 mph will take over 536,000 years to reach this planet.

[Jeff]

Do they have snack warps there? Because if not we should probably mark this one waste of time.

[HOWMANYTIMESCANIEATMYONSHITANDLIVE?]

ill bring the SUV's!

[dazy pato]

This will be a dicovery of amazing and new turn of events that can determine if we are the only human species in this or other planets. I hope I live to see the wonders our scientist make onthe journey to this new planet...

[galacticmechanic]

why would any person want to be stuck on a big gravity well when they could have the freedome and security of open interplanetary space?

[truebeliever]

The first question is,have they heard of Jesus Christ and do they accept HIM as their personal Savior ?

[Lee]

It's good to have large strides forward in the search for . (sic)

[H D Walker]

I suggest we name the new planet EA2. 1.in reference to the Earth and 2. in honor of EA the supposedly extraterrestrial known as Enki referenced in the ancient Sumerian Texts as the leader of the Annanaki who settled on Earth in their quest for gold.

By the way, who did name our planet? If the planet was named by Abraham, the Bible tells us that he was from the city of Ur witch was located in Sumer, present day Iraq. Logic would dictate that he would have been a witness to the the Sumerian teachings and beliefs.

[Phil E. Drifter]

Take your gods and stick them right up your ass. There is no god. Get over it.

[Liam]

Yeah Dude, that is so true. You remember the way and stay true, word. Life is like some cosmic cycle, you gotta a spiritual guide to walk you home in the rain, know what I mean? Peace out dude

[Darshan Chande]

It is surely interesting article. But I wonder what are we gonna do if we found another habitable planet. We destroy it too, like we are destroying the earth.

[Kmuzu]

I often thought the easiest way to destroy an alien civilization is to visit it. Face it, we're a walking bio-hazard. We constantly spew all kinds of aggressive, easily adaptable viruses and bacteria. One sneeze, barf, tear, spit ball, head scratch or looogeee - and the planet would be hopelessly contaminated

[Neill]

Finally a planet that can support some other form of life.....lets nuke it before it gets out of hand.

[Beast]

hmm a planet with twice the mass of Earth meaning at least twice the gravity or more when you do the math circling a red sun I say we name it Krypton await its destruction and expect our savior to come and spread truth justice and the American way. All hail Kal-el last son of Krypton

[Alison Robin]

Thick bones and sturdy legs? Who is to say that, if an organism exists on this planet at all, that is has legs? Or bones for that matter?
I suggest that we put off naming it until we can confirm whether or not there are organisms. If there are no organisms, we continue with the Greek-Latin names. If there are non-sentient organisms, we should go about classifying the organisms and proceed to name the planet after an apex predator.
If there are sentients of a lesser intellect than us, we should monitor them (if possible) but LEAVE THEM ALONE so we don't wreck everything. If they are of a higher intellect, we also leave them alone. If they're anything like we are, it's probably a bad idea.