We recently reported on the discovery of an Earth-like planet that is fairly nearby (in space terms, anyway). We wrote that astronomers are already making plans to explore it. In the meantime, they can find out if there is life there from right here on earth.
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Astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet they’ve ever seen outside our solar system. It should even have water running on its surface.
The planet orbits a star which is 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra. BBC News quotes astronomer Stephane Udry as saying, “We have estimated that the mean temperature of this ‘super-Earth’ lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be liquid. Moreover, its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth’s radius, and models predict that the planet should be either rocky?like our Earth?or covered with oceans.”
Astronomer Xavier Delfosse adds, “Liquid water is critical to life as we know it.” He thinks this planet may become a target for future space explorations.
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Mountains of diamonds, free for the taking? Astronomers say a planet like this may someday be discovered orbiting a newly-discovered nearby star.
Ker Than writes in space.com that astronomers have detected large amounts of carbon gas in a newly forming solar system around Beta Pictoris, a young star that nearby. This means that in a few million years, planets could form around this star that, according to astronomer Marc Kuchner, might be ?covered with tar and smog,? but which could ALSO harbor “mountains made from giant diamonds.” He adds, “Life on such a planet is not implausible, but it certainly would be exotic.”
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Spaceref – A team of astronomers has found the most Earth-Like PlanetYet to be discovered outside our solar system. It’s aboutseven-and-a-half times as large as Earth, and it may be thefirst non-gaseous planet ever found that is orbiting arounda normal star like our Sun. Astronomer Michael Turner says,”[These] results are an important step toward answering oneof the most profound questions that mankind can ask: Are wealone in the universe?”
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