The planetary orbits of the Gliese 581 system compared to those of ourown solar system. Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation.
Steven Vogt and Paul Butler lead a team that discovered the first potentially inhabitable exoplanet.
Steven Vogt of UC Santa Cruz and UC Observatories and Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington join NSF's Lisa-Joy Zgorski to announce the discovery of the first exoplanet that has the potential to support life.
Credit: National Science Foundation
More info:
"The Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey: A 3.1M⊕ Planet in the Habitable Zone of the Nearby M3V Star Glie" (pdf) - full paper published on APJ
Newly discovered planet may be first truly habitable exoplanet - University of California - Santa Cruz
Earth-Like Planet Can Sustain Life - Discovery News
What is an exoplanet?
3 comments:
Thanks for posting Thilina, 20 Light years doesn't sound that far, but at this present time it would be a long flight.
Michael U.
To me, this is the discovery of the century!
We must do all we can to inspire the young generation to explore the space sciences, train them young through excellent citizen-scientist programs.... and then let them loose on the cosmos. Among todays kids will be the first to prove which goldilocks has life... and 4 generations later will go to those worlds on vacation and peace missions. Kids must be inspired to inhale science and believe in their capabilities no matter what or who challenges them. We must not allow the light from stars that travelled hundreds of thousands of lightyears to be snuffed out in the last split second from being witnessed by human eyes-- because of bad lighting practices. Please, let us learn how to get along with other cultures on this planet to help us prepare for what is coming... and where human kind certainly id headed. :) Audrey P.S. This first Goldilocks is only 200 travel years away. There are closer planets yet to be discovered... and will be discovered. I'd suggest to Plan now to reach this world (and stop on the way to visit the others too :)
Fantastic. Gradually almost without much fanfare we are creeping towards that close encounter... thanks!
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