Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Earth-like Planet Found
Gliese 581C, the 3rd planet orbiting around the red dwarf star Gliese 581, is the most earth-like planet yet to have been found outside the solar system. With a mass 5 times that of earth, a gravity of 1.6G, and a temperature between 0 and 40 degrees celsius, it orbits around its star every 13 days. With stargazing being a strong Indian tradition, it's amazing to think that we have now passed the era of searching for stars, and have now moved on to the era of searching for other earths. Only time and more investigation will tell if Gliese581C harbours enough water for life.
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2 comments:
It's not the 3rd planet in orbit. The star its self is assumed to be "a", and then the first planet they FIND is "581b" and this one is "581c". the b,c,d,etc order is based on finding, not place in orbit
Actually the primary gets an "A" because it's a star. Planemos get lower case letters. In this case they have chosen to letter "c" and "d", which were discovered simultaneously, according to their orbits.
Most of the OPs claims are bogus. There is no observational information as to the diameter so any figure for its gravity is just a guess. More seriously the claim that it is likely to harbour liquid water is a total beat-up. The planet's insolation is about 244% Earth's!
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