From the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
The planet, which is probably 30 percent larger than Earth, was discovered using one of the telescopes of the W. M. Keck Observatory on Mauna Kea. It orbits a relatively small star, Gliese 581, that is 20 light-years from Earth in the constellation Libra.
“By determining the orbit of this planet, we can deduce that its surface temperature is similar to that of Earth,” said Haghighipour. This means that at least some of any water on the surface of the planet and in its atmosphere will be in liquid form rather than ice or vapor. The discovery of liquid water in space is an important step in the search for extraterrestrial life.
The team estimates that the new planet, called Gliese 581g, has a mass three to four times that of Earth, and orbits its star in just under 37 Earth days. Its mass indicates that it is probably a rocky planet with enough gravity to hold on to its atmosphere. It is one of six known planets orbiting the star.
To discover the planet, the team looked for the tiny changes in the star’s velocity that arise from the gravitational tugs of its planets. They used 238 separate observations of Gliese 581 taken over a period of 11 years.
Haghighipour said that the team is keeping tabs on many nearby stars using the Keck Observatory. “As we collect more and more data about how these stars are moving, we expect to find many more planets with potentially Earth-like conditions,” he said. He noted that to learn more about the conditions on these planets would take even bigger telescopes, such at the Thirty Meter Telescope planned for Mauna Kea.
The team that made the discovery is led by Steven Vogt of the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) and Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Other team members include UCSC associate research scientist Eugenio Rivera, and Gregory Henry and Michael Williamson of Tennessee State University.
This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the NASA Astrobiology Institute.
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For a related press release, see http://news.ucsc.edu/2010/09/planet.html.
For more information, visit: http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/press-releases/Gliese581g/
Contact:Dr. Nader Haghighipour, (808) 956-6098
Associate Astronomer, Institute for Astronomy
Publications Editor, Institute for Astronomy
Posted: Sep. 29, 2010
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The solar system in which this planet exists is in its death throws. It would have been a very different place when its star was younger.
We have a more immediate problem – we need to re-discover Earth and reclaim it from the assorted scum who seek to deny its power and to control/enslave its life-forms…
“…it has a 100% chance of having life on it.”
This is the head line; when you actually read the article, the scientist says it’s his personal opinion, not scientific. I hate the media.
Fascinating stuff, but surely the planet will have no rotation? Meaning very hot on one side and very cold on the other? I guess there would be very strong winds permanently as well. Not exactly the conditions to set up a home and write a book.
It’s life Jim but not as we know it. (With respect to Spock).
Honestly – really honestly – what does it matter? Some floating ball of rock 20 light years away shows that it might have had water on it during the time how-ever-many-millions-of-years ago in which we can now view it.
I’m sure I can’t think of any better ways to spend research grant money.
Yawn.
Just 20 light years huh? I understand ACORN is making plans to get up there and get those Democratic microbes registered ASAP.
Keep in mind that there has been no actual direct observation of this purported planet. It is an inference drawn from observations of the primary star’s motion. Maybe in some few decades we will have telescopes capable of imaging stellar planets. Then, we will be in a position to know some details.
The planet is tidally locked, so IF it has water, and IF it has an atmosphere:
1. The water is evaporated on the hot side, and carried by the wind.
2. All water that travels to the dark/frozen side turns to snow, and is deposited.
3. The water cannot get back to the hot side, except for:
a. Small amounts that flow down hot-side facing mountains. Even this would decrease to nothing over time.
b. Sublimation could liberate small amounts.
c. Glaciers could push small amounts of ice back towards the hot side.
d. Deep oceans that span the terminus might keep liquid water. OK this one might work!
It’s too bad it is so far away. It would be quite an adventure to explore it. Warp 2. Engage!
Too bad we don’t know more about the geomechanics of tidally locked planets in the Goldilocks zone. I think best case it has some some simple anaerobic life in wet areas in a temperate terminator — but even that seems very unlikely. The weak anthropic principle says there could be many, many, many very unlikely prerequisites for complex life which we enjoy only because they would have to be here in order for us to exist to observe them.
The most salient question here is how soon we can get a more detailed look at these kinds of planets.
crosspatch says:
September 30, 2010 at 3:21 pm
The planet is likely tidally locked to the star and if it has no magnetic field it likely has no atmosphere. So it is likely scorching hot on one side and freezing cold on the other . The “average” of the two might be nice, but I don’t think you will find much living there except maybe microbes inside rocks.
That probably doesn’t matter – it means there will be a ring of habitation around the planet. Non tidally locked would mean that either the creatures/plants there could move at the speed of rotation – or they’d be frozen then roasted…
What I find amusing is the Earth-centrism of it all. It could well be some alien nation has looked at our planet and said “Liquid water? No life exists there – liquid water is nasty stuff…”
What a load, no offense to the scientists who built the telescope/study the start/wrote the paper. They’re doing their jobs. But please… this article is being spread all over the place… all the space sites I read, blog sites, news sites…. why? Its 20LY away that is a fantastical (is that a word?) 117,492,033,468,146 miles away (give or take a few million). Why does it even remotly matter? And if we can resolve planets that far away, why not turn these satelites onto studies of extreme resolution of Mars? Or Venus? Or Jupiter? Or Europa? Or Titan? (and yes, I understand the physics, we’re not actually “seeing” anything here but still). Why look for worlds we can never-ever-ever get too in the lifetimes of me, my future children, grand-children, great-grand-children, great-great-grand-children, and on and on and on ? Hmm? Why care? But feasibly, I could make the journey to Mars or Titan… or at least Luna… I wouldn’t mind mining for metals or He3 on Luna… I’d wouldn’t even mind drilling for oil. More likely to disover petroleum on Luna than getting to Gliese581g for goodness sake.
It’s life Jim but not as we know it……..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCARADb9asE
So your all smarter then the guys that have spent 11 years watching and calculating the distance of then new earth like planet ? These guys know what they are doing and know where the habitable zone is this isn’t the 60’s to say otherwise is very ignorant, need I remind you that life can be a micro organism a few dinosaurs perhaps it will be our future earth where humans will end up living after our star dies. Alien’s on another planet may not be intelligent at all yet and they may be even be more intelligent life way beyond our comprehension. Perhaps the Gilesians have discovered us, and are theorizing the same as we are the only real way to know is by future mission’s or more advanced telescopes.They have reported a planet with 100% probability of life “as we know it” that does not mean humans or complex thinking beings like us they could be early stages of us, marine life animals, all sorts of insects, maybe even some sort of monkey. We need to find habitable planets now for the sake of future space missions so human kind can go on existing forever we are crafty people and we are not just going to give up and die with the earth we will continue on somewhere out in space.
Peter says:
October 2, 2010 at 10:32 pm
We need to find habitable planets now for the sake of future space missions so human kind can go on existing forever we are crafty people and we are not just going to give up and die with the earth we will continue on somewhere out in space.
Peter, get real. There are no habitable planets remotely within travelling distance – that much we do know. We also know that our sun and solar system will be around for billions of years yet. So you can stop your bed-wetting now.
i think that the planet may have life after all the universe is infinite and theres millione of planets with life on them and because we need oxigen to live it doesnt mean that other planets may need it to have life on them