Starfleet Jedi

I'm surprised the recently discovered planet hasn't been brought up here. You know, the one they found smack-dab in the middle of it's system's habitable zone, with the following traits:

3 Earth Masses
1.2 Earth Diameters
1.1 gs.

Due to the star it orbits - Gliese 581 - being a red dwarf, the planet would be tidally locked, one side always facing the star, the other side always facing away. On the daylight side, temperatures would be around 160 F, while on the night side, they could dip down to -24 F. However, in between the two areas, there'd be a "twilight zone", an area of perpetual sunrise or sunset, where conditions would be fairly comfortable.

Due to the star being a red dwarf, plant life on the planet would be black, in order to absorb as much radiation from the fainter star as it could.

But that's not the most interesting part. Back in 2008, a laser-like pulse of light was detected directed at us, coming from the Gliese 581 system, which, at the time, was known to have planets, but the ones that were known were all too hot to support life. Now that this "Goldilocks" world has been discovered, the odds that some civilization exists there look good. As for how far away this star is? Only 20 light-years.

It's great news, to be sure. But even if we were to send a message today, it would be 40 years before we could begin to expect a response (if we get one at all). I'm excited, just not too excited.

The problem as yet is that Gilese 581 g may not exist, or may not be what was initally advertised. Hopefully it will be confirmed.
-Mike

No night and day? Oh boy, these guys will be boring.
Can you just imagine the poetry?

Whats with the random capitalization in the article?

The Dude wrote:Whats with the random capitalization in the article?

The author was hyper-active?


;)

The Dude wrote:Whats with the random capitalization in the article?

That's just how exoplanets are named. First comes the name of the star (in this case Gliese 581), followed by the letter going in alphabetical order of when they were discovered, with "b" going to the first planet discovered in that system. Why not "a"? Because that's the letter the star is assigned, even if it doesn't get it added on.