A team of astronomers from the University of California and the Carnegie Institute of Washington say they've found a planet like ours
"The chances for life on this planet are 100 percent," Steven Vogt, a UC professor of astronomy and astrophysics says. "I have almost no doubt about it."
So then it must be close to Earth, right?
No, it's 120 trillion miles away.
An artist rendering of Gliese 581g |
The atmosphere and gravity are similar to Earth, and if you're from the polar regions, you'd definitely feel right at home. Scientists say the highest average temperature is about -12 degrees Celcius (10 Fahrenheit), but they point out that the planet doesn't have a night and day - one side continually faces the star and the other side faces the darkness of space. This means one side is blazing hot and the other freezing cold.
The planet on the left of the image labled 'g' is the one that may harbor life.
Gliese 581g is 20 light years away. Meaning that if we had a spaceship that could travel at the speed of light (the fastest speed in existence) it would still take 20 years to get there.
The planet is three times the size of Earth, but the gravity is similar.
Dr. Elizabeth Cunningham, planetarium astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, says the discovery is a huge deal.
"It could have liquid water on the surface," she said. "That's the first step to find life."
The planet is three times the size of Earth, but the gravity is similar.
Dr. Elizabeth Cunningham, planetarium astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, says the discovery is a huge deal.
"It could have liquid water on the surface," she said. "That's the first step to find life."
Well, whatever, it's still a cool find regardless of the fact that we'll probably all be dead before we go there. Even if there is life on Gliese 581g, I think it will be some kind of protist.
But who knows, maybe we'll get lucky (or unlucky, depending) and find something like this:
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/30/100-percent-chance-for-life-on-newly-found-planet/
Or it could be a world entierly populated by kittens.
ReplyDeleteOh man I wish it was kitten planet!
I read about this and was shocked, there's no way in hell that we're the only ones in the world.
ReplyDeleteThanks for checking out my site. I like your site keep up the good work.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Wow very interesting guy thanks for the post.
ReplyDeletethe invasion has begun!
ReplyDeleteKitten planet? Come on let's get serious! It's the planet that spawned us....THe EVENT is happening now!!!
ReplyDeleteHere come the giant elves. I knew it all along.
ReplyDeleteThere's a 100% chance that the life on this new planet is a danger to mankind.
ReplyDelete1/10 chance that life exists elsewhere :D
ReplyDeletewtb epic space travel.
ReplyDeleteI'm an avid reader of yours so I'd appreciate it if you headed over to my blog and voted in my poll and stuff =)
ReplyDeletewe are gonna the aliens invading a planet! =D
ReplyDeleteThis is so avatar :P
ReplyDeleteWe have a post about this too! I'm so excited about it. I love science.
ReplyDeletehttp://monotonyasylum.blogspot.com/2010/09/legitimate-thoughts-space-opera.html
ide live there
ReplyDeleteto far away ill never see it in person.
ReplyDeleteback in like o4 the detected a signal coming from that planet. I don't know what type of signal but i thinks its why they bothered to look in the first place. Nice nic cage pic by the way.
ReplyDeleteI hope we have some new neighbors
ReplyDeleteThere's a 100% chance of ANYTHING happening. There's a 100% chance I could say "x" out loud right now. There's also a 100% chance I didn't actually do it. The chance is ALWAYS there. It's just not likely to be TRUE.
ReplyDeleteLove the picture of the guy with the top hat and beard. Following.
ReplyDeleteI heard about this today. Blows my mind, I hope we discover life on another planet in my lifetime.
ReplyDelete75% of the time, 100% of stuff happens. Nice post.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff man i wrote about same thing following
ReplyDeleteWatch it be populated with basic bacteria.
ReplyDeletedope layout. i like your style. interesting stuff too.
ReplyDeleteonly time will tell...
ReplyDeletereally like this blog. following.
ReplyDeleteand is anyone else reminded of the chronicles of riddick? crematoria anyone?
Just watched this on the news here, everyone in the room laughed. But checkout my personal blog for a video about something similar official from the CNN website.
ReplyDeletehaha i love ned flanderss
ReplyDeletekitten planet plz
ReplyDeletefrom the photo is smaller than earth and it may not support all of us
ReplyDeleteI can't seem to escape this story and it's just as exciting every time I read it. Oh and that set up you did? Do that more.
ReplyDelete@Jacob
ReplyDeleteThe planet is actually 3 times the size of Earth
I wonder what James Cameron has to say about this finding...
ReplyDelete'Life' could mean anything, this is still rather interesting news.
ReplyDeleteI'd heard about the planet, but I hadn't heard these facts yet
ReplyDeleteI like the picture editorial. Too bad we will never see this planet. or not. whatever.
ReplyDeleteit really is amazing how amazingly vast space is but how little life there is.
ReplyDeleteamazing keep bringing good stuff
ReplyDelete