Found: first rocky exoplanet that could host life

Interesting to see the comparisons between our system and that one.

Given the Sun is 30% of the mass of ours, and the other elements to the system seem (to my untrained eye anyway) to be proportionally smaller too, including their orbits, I wonder if there is a ratio equivalence between that system and our own?

Given the nature of matter and the assumed facts that the laws of physics are more or less the same throughout the universe (a big if), then it would seem likely if a planet with similar properties to our own has formed.
 
so they found a planet that COULD potentially have water and COULD possible have a rocky surface.

seems to be a lot of assumption going on here
 
Fenris said:
Just for some perspective, 20 light years is 117,573,371,500,000 miles.

So apart from the scientific discovery and all that malarky this makes next to no difference to anything.
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20 light years is pretty close, you could send a radio message and within your lifetime you might get a response, so conversations and exchanges if information and technology with the uber alien race would be viable.

Not like the galaxies 10 billion light years away that wont even exist once the radio message arrives.
 
Odds of Life on Newfound Earth-Size Planet '100 Percent,' Astronomer Says

"Personally, given the ubiquity and propensity of life to flourish wherever it can, I would say, my own personal feeling is that the chances of life on this planet are 100 percent," said Steven Vogt, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, during a press briefing today. "I have almost no doubt about it."
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http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/earth-like-exoplanet-possibly-habitable-100929.html
 
I like the section quoted below:

With a mass three times larger than Earth's, the newly discovered world has the muscle to hold atmosphere. Plus, it has the gift of time. Not only is its parent star especially long-lived, the planet is tidally locked to its sun -- similar to how the moon keeps the same side pointed at Earth -- so that half the world is in perpetual light and the other half in permanent darkness. As a result, temperatures are extremely stable and diverse.

"This planet doesn't have days and nights. Wherever you are on this planet, the sun is in the same position all the time. You have very stable zones where the ecosystem stays the same temperature... basically forever," Vogt said. "If life can evolve, it's going to have billions and billions of years to adapt to the surface."

"Given the ubiquity of water, it seems probable that this thing actually has liquid water. On the surface of the Earth, everywhere you have liquid water you have life," Vogt added.

The question wouldn't be to defend that there is life at Gliese 581g, says Butler. "The question," he said, "would be to demonstrate that there isn't."
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Amazing stuff.
 
I'm slightly intrigued.

Given we know the star is 30% of the mass of ours, and given (as far as I am aware!) stars are generally gaseous bodies, unless they know the stars composition is very different to our own, then it follows it must be roughly 30% of the diameter of our sun as well.

Now the image posted by simulatorman shows this to be roughly the case, it also shows the planet in question to be significantly smaller than the Earth, as I would expect (otherwise comparatively it would be a giant in its system, and less likely to be follow the pattern of Earth). Yet that quote by Khaaan! there states that the planet has a mass that is three times of Earth.

Can we really predict the composition of a body that well? I mean I get we can work out (very roughly) basic physical properties using our frankly crude equipment, but that would suggest that the planets make-up is very different to our own, perhaps a much larger or denser core / any other form of speculation.

I'm just interested really in case there are any experts lurking about, how can statements like that be made? Is it perhaps a result of calculations based on our knowledge of mavity and the bodies orbit patterns?
 
Superb discovery. Be a bit interesting if the "life" discovered turned out to be not just more single cell stuff. Oh, more streptococchus, ah another bacilus..... Similar environment though could mean very similar solutions.
 
Mas does not go hand in hand with diameter/size though, you can have an object heavy in mass but relatively small compared to a larger object with less mass.

The image posted earlier is not a scale image either, it's just to show the system orbit properties of Giese from what I cans ee.
 
manic_man said:
I'm slightly intrigued.

Given we know the star is 30% of the mass of ours, and given (as far as I am aware!) stars are generally gaseous bodies, unless they know the stars composition is very different to our own, then it follows it must be roughly 30% of the diameter of our sun as well.
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Not necessarily as it would have less mavity compressing it.
 
For everyone who has horribly missed the point of this article:

We have found a planet in the "Goldilocks" zone of a sun where temperatures can permit liquid water to form... this is STAGGERING news.

It means that the number of solar systems that could harbour earth-like and possibly life-supporting planets has just jumped up by MANY FACTORS. (Read 20-40 BILLION possible planets).

This is an astounding discovery in favour of the possibility of extraterrestrial life being probably in our galaxy.

Think about it!
 
Docaroo said:
Think about it!
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To be fair you have a very good point, the reason I am sceptical about the ravings of "Oh there must be billions of planets like earth because of such and such equation" is because we have nothing to actually base the equation on, the more we find, the more we can estimate the likelihood of the equation being correct or not.
 
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