Astronomers find new planet capable of supporting life

TELEGRAPH UK ^ | 04-27-2012 | Staff

[Red Badger]

Astronomers have discovered their "holy grail" - a planet capable of supporting life outside our solar system.

The planet lies in what they describe as a 'habitable zone', neither too near its sun to dry out or too far away which freezes it.

And the discovery could help answer the question of whether we are alone in the universe, which has been plagued astronomers and alien fanatics for years.

Scientists found the planet, Gliese 667Cc, orbiting around a red dwarf star, 22 light years away from the earth.

Red dwarf stars are the most common stars in the neighbourhood of the sun, usually hosting planets called gas giants, which are not composed of rock matter.

Re-analysing data from the European Southern Observatory, the astronomers found Gliese 667Cc is a solid planet with roughly four and a half times the mass of Earth.

The University Göttingen and University of California scientists have calculated the planet recieves ten per cent less light from its red dwarf star than the Earth gets from the Sun.

As the light is in the infrared area, the planet still receives nearly the same amount of energy as the Earth, meaning water could be liquid and surface temperatures could be similar to ours.

Astronomers are hailing the plant as the 'Holy Grail' of discoveries, as 20 years ago scientists were still arguing about the existence of planets beyond our solar system.

Since the discovery of the first extrasolar planet in 1995, astronomers have confirmed the existence of more than 760 planets beyond the solar system, with only four believed to be in a habitable zone.

One of the most successful tools of planet hunters is the High Accuracy Radial Planetary Searcher (HARPS) telescope, which measures the radial velocity of a star.

[Red Badger]

Space Ping!.........

[Izzy Dunne]

Scientists found the planet, Gliese 667Cc

Why would anybody live on a planet with such a weird name?

[Beowulf9]

Isn’t it funny how everyone these days wants to find ANOTHER planet...

[rjsimmon]

Why would anybody live on a planet with such a weird name?

It's better than Ceti Alpha 5...

[lurk]

Only 20 light years away? Piece of cake. Let’s fill up the Buick and go see it.

[ohiobuckeye1997]

Bad news is whatever you weigh now would be multiplied by 4.5 if you stepped out on that planet. If you weigh 180 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 810 pounds on that planet.

[Red Badger]

The Glieseans would............

[Red Badger]

Maybe we should call it Moochelle’s Planet...............

[C210N]

I want to know if it will support as a base for conservatism.

.... just trying to have in my mind a place to live in a fantasy world.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

...Gliese 667Cc, orbiting around a red dwarf star, 22 light years away from the earth...

Dibs on the Starbucks franchise.

[piytar]

Actually, if it has about the same density as Earth, it would have about twice the diameter, so you’d only weigh 12.5% more (4.5x the gravity, but you’d feel 1/4 as much, so 4.5x/4 = 1.125x).

[apillar]

Astronomers find new planet capable of supporting life

If Obama is reelected, I'm starting work on my spaceship, at least now I have a destination...

[Red Badger]

All you need is air, water and means of producing food.......everything else you can make yourself.................

[Sirius Lee]

Scientists found the planet, Gliese 667Cc, orbiting around a red dwarf star, 22 light years away from the earth.

Probably bug eyed aliens who can see in low light instead of the more esthetically pleasing Orion slave girls with their green skin and lithe, undulating, naked midriffs.

[InterceptPoint]

Yikes!!! Only 22 light years away. In that case we should be on the lookout for very noisy reruns of I Love Lucy beaming to us from space.

Or Double Yikes. They could have been listening to our radio broadcasts from the 30’s or earlier and already be here with their just sub-luminal drive spaceships. Hide your Al Jolson records just for safety’s sake.

[buwaya]

Not necessarily.
It depends also on the size of the planet.
The force of gravity also depends on the distance from the center of mass.
Odds are this is not just a heavier planet, but a larger one, so the gravity on the surface would be less.

[Moonman62]

It took billions of years for a technological species to appear on Earth. Life probably does exist elsewhere. It appeared fairly quickly on Earth, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re the only technological species.

[Keith in Iowa]

SEND ALGORE NOW!!!

[Red Badger]

[Vaquero]

THIS IS Ceti Alpha 5!!!

[dfwgator]

“Come on, let’s go Space Truckin’”

[Vaquero]

Oooooooooooooo...

...yvonne craig...

....Batgirl.

[Vaquero]

ping

[Izzy Dunne]

Ooooh.. Flashback from when I was 13. Those greenies made my pants get small.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

What a bunch of imaginative jerks.

Global warming anybody?

Here is a planet several zillion million light years from earth, yet “scientists” know it all.

[Sirius Lee]

And all natural, not plastic surgery.

[Revolting cat!]

The inhabitants, who are thought to speak Korean, call themselves the Gliesers.

[Lucky9teen]

Good. Can we send all the traitors from DC there?

[cripplecreek]

[mikrofon]

We'd be too late -- the local dominant species has already initiated Gliesal Warming...

[Red Badger]

What if they are Three Stooges Fans?................

[cripplecreek]

What a bunch of imaginative jerks.

Take it up with the writer. The scientists are saying very little.

[SandRat]

Say...didn't Krypton orbit a Red Star (Sun)?

[Revolting cat!]

Please post pictures of typical nude Gliesettes.

[Red Badger]

It sure did, but it blew up.........

[Red Badger]

[Revolting cat!]

Cast of an award winning Gliese musical.

[SandRat]

Well,..maybe it didn’t.

[Bitsy]

Why would anybody live on a planet with such a weird name?

Shhhhhh. I hear it is a perfect place for windmills, organic gardening, fair share commune living and for people who would be king (are you listening big O - your own kingdom)!. I'd be glad to chip in a few bucks for a one way ticket for some of these deadbeat leftist/communist hippie leftovers to Gliese 667Cc. Yeah, Gliese 667Cc has a nice ring to it.

[ScottinVA]

Only 20 light years away? Piece of cake. Let’s fill up the Buick and go see it

LOL!!

[ex-snook]

Well so what? God must have created such a vast universe to support life. It sure wasn’t needed by Him, the angels or earth’s people.

[apillar]

Yikes!!! Only 22 light years away. In that case we should be on the lookout for very noisy reruns of I Love Lucy beaming to us from space. Or Double Yikes. They could have been listening to our radio broadcasts from the 30’s or earlier and already be here with their just sub-luminal drive spaceships. Hide your Al Jolson records just for safety’s sake.

It sort of amusing to think if they are monitoring our TV and Radio signals, they just saw the fall of the Berlin Wall (and good music is still on MTV) as far as they are concerned all of this is just happening "now", even though it's been 22 years for us.

[GraceG]

[ Bad news is whatever you weigh now would be multiplied by 4.5 if you stepped out on that planet. If you weigh 180 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 810 pounds on that planet. ]

BZZT WRONG, the gravity depends on the density of the planet and mass and distance from the center of the planet. The Planet would have higher gravity than the earth, but it would be a less than 4.5G. Probably between 1.6 - 2.8 Gs

[clbiel]

Remember when she did that ERA commercial ( WITH both the caped castrators in tow) where she claimed to be “ paid less than Robin”?

She should have gone ahead and let that bomb go off....

[trebb]

Bad news is whatever you weigh now would be multiplied by 4.5 if you stepped out on that planet. If you weigh 180 pounds on Earth, you would weigh 810 pounds on that planet.

In other words, it can support life, but life as we know it couldn't support itself...

[Vaquero]

No. I don’t remember

Still mighty fine Green Orion eye candy

[techcor]

ten per cent less light from its red dwarf star

And heavier gravity. So someone from there that was sun powered might be super on earth.

[cotton]

Very interesting. The habitable zone a idea taken from an Intelligent Design book/video, the Privileged Planet. However, there a a great number of other factors needed to come close to the Earth as a planet that can support life.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Why would anybody live on a planet with such a weird name?

The real question is...Is it Mostly Harmless?