Potentially habitable planet found (yahoo news)

nazgolol

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer
52 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - For the first time astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for "life in the universe."

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The planet is just the right size, might have water in liquid form, and in galactic terms is relatively nearby at 120 trillion miles away. But the star it closely orbits, known as a "red dwarf," is much smaller, dimmer and cooler than our sun.

There's still a lot that is unknown about the new planet, which could be deemed inhospitable to life once more is known about it. And it's worth noting that scientists' requirements for habitability count Mars in that category: a size relatively similar to Earth's with temperatures that would permit liquid water. However, this is the first outside our solar system that meets those standards.

"It's a significant step on the way to finding possible life in the universe," said University of Geneva astronomer Michel Mayor, one of 11 European scientists on the team that found the planet. "It's a nice discovery. We still have a lot of questions."

The results of the discovery have not been published but have been submitted to the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Alan Boss, who works at the Carnegie Institution of Washington where a U.S. team of astronomers competed in the hunt for an Earth-like planet, called it "a major milestone in this business."

The planet was discovered by the European Southern Observatory's telescope in La Silla, Chile, which has a special instrument that splits light to find wobbles in different wave lengths. Those wobbles can reveal the existence of other worlds.

What they revealed is a planet circling the red dwarf star, Gliese 581. Red dwarfs are low-energy, tiny stars that give off dim red light and last longer than stars like our sun. Until a few years ago, astronomers didn't consider these stars as possible hosts of planets that might sustain life.

The discovery of the new planet, named 581 c, is sure to fuel studies of planets circling similar dim stars. About 80 percent of the stars near Earth are red dwarfs.

The new planet is about five times heavier than Earth. Its discoverers aren't certain if it is rocky like Earth or if its a frozen ice ball with liquid water on the surface. If it is rocky like Earth, which is what the prevailing theory proposes, it has a diameter about 1 1/2 times bigger than our planet. If it is an iceball, as Mayor suggests, it would be even bigger.

Based on theory, 581 c should have an atmosphere, but what's in that atmosphere is still a mystery and if it's too thick that could make the planet's surface temperature too hot, Mayor said.

However, the research team believes the average temperature to be somewhere between 32 and 104 degrees and that set off celebrations among astronomers.

Until now, all 220 planets astronomers have found outside our solar system have had the "Goldilocks problem." They've been too hot, too cold or just plain too big and gaseous, like uninhabitable Jupiter.

The new planet seems just right

nazgolol

nazgolol

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/55540.html

New planet could have life  
Posted : Wed, 25 Apr 2007 11:10:00GMT
Author : Science News Editor  
Category : Science (Technology)  
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SANTIAGO, Chile, April 25 Astronomers in Chile have discovered a planet they described as the "most Earth-like planet outside our solar system." The UK Express reported that planet Gliese 581 C could support life because its temperature is similar to Earth's and it could have liquid water.

"Because of its temperature and relative proximity, this planet will most probably be a very important target of future space missions dedicated to the search for extra-terrestrial life." Xavier Delfosse of France ' s Grenoble University told the Express. "On the treasure map of the universe one would be tempted to mark this planet with an X." Swiss, French and Portuguese astronomers found the Gliese 581 C while measuring wavelengths of light at the European Southern Observatory in Chile.

Gliese 581 C is 20.5 light-years from Earth.

tyco78

Planet baru: Pakar kaji kewujudan makhluk


GENEVA 26 April

musang_pulut

Persoalannya..mampukah manusia ke sana..

aku_EnSeM

tak yah aku penat2 pikir... dah aku mati nanti, bumi masih lagi berupaya untuk menampung hidupan...

wei_loon5063

Originally posted by musang_pulut at 27-4-2007 12:54 PM
Persoalannya..mampukah manusia ke sana..

hantar galaxy-mail....

suruh mereka mari jumpa kami.....

ada lihat movie contact??

BeanDiesel

Originally posted by wei_loon5063 at 4/27/07 02:07 AM
ada lihat movie contact??

yeah, just saw it again last week.

Sephiroth

Tak cukup gaduh sesama manusia, nak pergi gaduh dgn makluk asing ke?

Manusia sekarang adalah makluk yg terlalu pentingkan diri. Mereka tengok benda2 lain yg mereka suka, mereka kebas dan sanggup berperang utknya.

wei_loon5063

betul

ussopp

20.5 light years away....hmmmm......

1 second  = 300 000 km, 20.5 years = 3 x 10^5 x 60 x 60 x 24 x 365 x 20.5 ......

=1933946400000000 km from earth...

jauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhnyaaaaaaaaaa..........

wei_loon5063

manusia tak boleh travel dengan jalan biasa........
kene guna warp t ravel dalam kedaan ini.......

aku_EnSeM

nk tau tak? ade satu doraemon, yg siri cerite panjang tu... die terangkan la pasal care nak travel gi dunie lain gune warp travel nih... doraemon terangkan kat nobita pasal nobita x phm camne diorg leh travel laju gile babeng...

doraemon kate... kalau ruang tu dilipat, kan dekat je dunie tu...

aku ingat mende ni mengarut... namun tanpa disangka-sangka, aku terlihat gambar yg serupe dalam buku "Stars, Galaxies, and Cosmology"....

wei_loon5063

fans doraemon juga ke???
betul....... ini gambarnya.........

sebenarnya........ bukan lipat... tapi cuma symbolize sebab banyak orang tak boleh imagine keadaan ini..
yang ruang dimensi lain.......



terowong itu dikenali sebagai worm hole.. yang lahir dengan dapat control kemana black hole pergi


balik ke doraemon........ pernah dengar doraemon cakap pintu suka hati?









doaremon cakap.. pintu itu pun kadan kadang tak tau pergi mana sebab terlalu banyak undertainties....

[ Last edited by  wei_loon5063 at 28-4-2007 09:00 PM ]

wei_loon5063

dulu mana ada concept time travel??

time travel muncul sejak albert einstein cakap mungkin

pihak hiburan pun ambil la....

tak lama dulu... filem tentang bio tech....
ada doom, resident evil etc....

aku_EnSeM

and untuk mengelakkan sebarang kesilapan... pintu suka hati hanya boleh travel dalam lingkungan 10 tahun cahaya.....

tapi dalam cerita tu, arghh... x ingat....

wei_loon5063

tapi cerita doaremon ini.... memang ada nilai nilai murni...

tak macam kartoon lain..... yang bunuh perang benci.............

nobita pun aggap giant tu kawan dia walaupun selalu di buli..............

aku_EnSeM

hmmm... walau macam mana jauh pun mende tu, jike kite stick pada relativity einstein:

- speed approaches c, time is slower.

- speed approaches c, distance is shorter...


consider jarak tu, dari bumi ke tempat tu...

kalau kite mampu bine space craft dengan halaju 0.99c, masa akan menjadi lambat dengan ketara dan jarak akanmenjadi semakin dekat dengan lebih ketara... so, jarak bumi ngan tempat tu makin dekat, masa makin lambat, there might be a possibility for us to travel that far... if only we could build such space craft, in which using our present technology, the answer is certainly NOT.....

nak buat kapal ke marikh pun dah tercungap-cungap, ini lagi kapal nk travel pegi tempat tu...

wei_loon5063

betul.......

science pun dah sahkan yang masa akan slow bila hadlaju meningkat....
walau pun cuma 10% hadlaju cahaya bila manusia travel dalam hadlaju space shuttle, tapi masa telah slow down beberapa nanosecond....

aku_EnSeM

sape nk awet mude... buat gitu... tapi rase mcm biase je... cume org len yg tau...