[KevinDavis]

This can't be true.. The bible says so!!! God only created Earth!!

[airborne]

A planet that may be Earth-like — but too hot for life as we know it —

Well then, it isn't earth-like, is it?

[cookcounty]

If Earth-like, then for sure it has well-developed life on it.

Any evolutionist (or would they prefer to be called "abiogenesists?) can tell you that.

[Eaker]

Iron-cored planet ping!!

[Mon]

ping to self

[HP8753]

The discovery of the planet, with an estimated radius about twice that of Earth

The planet is inhabited by SHORT LITTLE BEINGS that resemble Helen Thomas.

[CurlyBill]

I understand it's a strange planet, very different from Earth ... one where they actually CONVICT pedophiles and murderers!

[MEGoody]

A planet that may be Earth-like — but too hot for life as we know it — has been discovered orbiting a nearby star. The discovery of the planet, with an estimated radius about twice that of Earth, was announced today at the National Science Foundation.

So what exactly is it that makes it 'Earth-like'?

[SunkenCiv]

"It is orbiting a star called Gliese 876, 15 light years from Earth, with an orbit time of just 1.94 Earth days."

Heh... a satellite in prograde rotation will enjoy a transfer of momentum from the rotating parent body. I guess we all know what that means. ;') And this has happened before...

Scientists Find Extrasolar Planet With Atmosphere Much Like Jupiter
by John Noble Wilford
March 13, 2003
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/13/science/13PLAN.html

[SunkenCiv]

Old stuff, circa 2001:

Universal Earth
by Eugenie Samuel

The rocky material for Earth-like planets is orbiting billions of stars in our galactic neighbourhood, reveals a new stellar survey. It is the first strong evidence implying that planets like ours are commonplace in the Universe. So far, 53 planets have been identified orbiting other stars but all are gas giants at least the size of Jupiter and moving in unstable and highly eccentric orbits. Some astronomers have used these data to suggest that our solar system is unusual.

Astronomers glimpse atmosphere of extra-solar planet
by Jeff Hecht

To date astronomers have found 76 planets orbiting other suns, but they are too faint to see directly with today's telescopes and it has not been possible to detect their atmospheres. Tim Brown of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado has been studying one planet with an orbit that takes it directly between us and its star, HD 209458. Different gases absorb light at different wavelengths. So by looking at what happens to these particular wavelengths as the planet passes in front of the star, Brown and his colleague Dave Charbonneau, now at the California Institute of Technology, thought they might be able to glean information about the gases in its atmosphere.