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  1. Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Posts
    4,313
    #1
    http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...-30417,00.html


    Earth-like planet found

    * Leigh Dayton
    Science Writer
    * April 25, 2007

    EARTH is not the only planetary real estate in the galaxy, now that European astronomers have discovered a habitable planet a few light years away.

    The so-called “super-Earth” is the smallest planet ever found beyond our solar system and orbits within the “habitable zone” where water - and therefore life - may exist.

    At just 20.5 light years from Earth the yet to be named planet orbits one of the closest 100 stars to the Sun. A light year is 9.5 billion kilometres.

    The French, Portuguese and Swiss team - led by well-known planet finder Michel Mayor of Switzerland's Geneva Observatory - used the European Southern Observatory's 3.6-metre telescope at La Silla, Chile, to discover the planet.

    The so-called “exoplanet” is five times the mass of Earth and is part of a solar system around a dim red dwarf star named Gliese 581 in the constellation Libra. It completes a full orbit in just 13 days.

    “On the surface of this planet your Sun would be much, much larger in the sky and much dimmer,” noted University of New South Wales astronomer Chris Tinney, head of the Anglo-Australian Planet Search program for the Anglo-Australian Observatory.

    Professor Tinney said there would be very little optical light shining on the planet but plenty of infrared radiation: “It would be dark but warm”.

    The discovery team estimated the planet's temperature would range between 0C and 40C.

    Two years ago Dr Mayor's team found a larger Neptune-like planet which orbits Gliese 581 in a 5.4 day “year”.

    They said they have strong evidence of a third Earth-sized planet, orbiting the star in 84 days, making the system “quite remarkable”.

    According to team member Xavier Delfosse with the Grenoble University in France, the exoplanet is an important target for future space missions dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial life.

    “On the treasure map of the Universe one would be tempted to mark this planet with an X,” he said.

    Astronomer Seth Shostak of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in California agreed.

    “We looked at Gliese 581 twice with our SETI receivers,” said Dr Shostak.

    “While we didn't pick up any (radio) signals from this star system, it's still a good candidate for additional observations, and when we get the opportunity I'm sure we'll give any possible inhabitants another shot at getting in touch,” he added.

    Dr Mayor and his colleagues discovered the new planet by detecting the wobble it causes to its star as it orbits around it.

    Another technique used to spot planets called gravitational lensing measures the rise and fall in light waves from a star when a planet passes between it and Earth.

    That technique was pioneered by Princeton University astrophysicist Bohdan Pacznski who died last week, aged 67.

    As Professor Tinney noted, details of the team's discovery have yet to be confirmed.

    He added that the technology cannot determine whether or not the planet is a rocky planet like Earth or a gas planet like Neptune.

    Dr Mayor's team will report their findings in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

    Meanwhile, Dr Mayor was confident that even smaller, habitable planets await discovery.

    “We are confident that, given the results obtained so far, finding a planet with the mass of the Earth around a red dwarf is within reach,” he claimed. ENDS

    Read more: European Southern Observatory www.eso.org/outreach

    SETI Institute www.seti.org

  2. Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Posts
    3,152
    #2
    nice, if it were a planet wirth living then billionaire could have an alternative to live elsewhere=) next thing you know a space shuttle that could carry a hundred thousand or more would be launch into the space with the "new" earth as its destination

  3. Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Posts
    832
    #3
    Pwede na 'to. . . Makalipat na nga!

    1.939408e+014 kilometers lang naman ang layo :bike2:



  4. #4
    kasya kaya duon ang mga walang kwentang politico

  5. Join Date
    Aug 2004
    Posts
    22,705
    #5
    Unfortunately, it would take trillions to send even one person half as far... with no reassurance they'd actually get there, and a trip time totalling thousands of years.

    Ang pagbalik ng comeback...

  6. Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Posts
    246
    #6
    omg we are not alone

  7. Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Posts
    45,927
    #7
    la pa naman clue there's life.

    Basta the temp is within range that water can exist in liquid state... which is required to support life.

  8. Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    10,820
    #8
    forget the water! red sun, dim light, warm climate... it will be like being in perpetual sunset in the summer time! if man does go there he'd better bring a lot of beer, and tequila!

  9. Join Date
    Nov 2005
    Posts
    45,927
    #9
    and chicks. dont forget the chicks. and water matters... coz the chicks gotta go swimming. hehe

  10. Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    10,820
    #10
    they can always take a dunk in the beer barrel, and i'll just be too glad to lick them dry

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Earth-like planet found