Scientists discover a nearly Earth-sized planet (water world found?)

AP via Yahoo! News ^ | April 21, 2009 | JENNIFER QUINN

[Aussiebabe]

Great comment, I will have to steal it!

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Gliese 581 is a red dwarf sun 20.3 light years away from Earth. This would mean a travel time of over 200 years with an unmanned Orion thermonuclear powered spaceship.

However, if that spaceship had an entangled qubit communications system, effectively creating faster than light communications, it could likewise be used as a deep space Hubble telescope.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks! JPB sent a link, and despite my couple of hours online tonight, hadn't gotten past the point of opening it in a so-far unused tab. ;')

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[SunkenCiv]

from the BBC news story:

THE GLIESE 581 SOLAR SYSTEM

From closest in to furthest out

Planet e is 1.9 Earth masses

Planet b is 16 Earth masses

Planet c is 5 Earth masses

Planet d is 7 Earth masses

The first planet to be found is always given the 'b' designation

[SunkenCiv]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8008683.stm

...Gliese 581 e takes just 3.15 days to orbit its host star... The team now believes planet d (which is about seven Earth-masses in size) circles Gliese 581 in 66.8 days.