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New Earth Like Planet Brings Back Debate on Life Beyond Earth

Written by: Robin John McWell on 2nd October 2010 |

New Earth Like Planet Brings Back Debate on Life Beyond Earth | read this item

New Earth Like Planet Brings Back Debate on Life Beyond Earth – With the discovery of the planet Gliese 581G which is in the Gliese 581 system. The said new Earth like planet is about 20 light years from Earth’s solar system.

The planet orbits its star in just 37 days and does not rotate on its axit. Due to this phenomenon one side of the planet is in perpetual daylight while the other side experiences perpetual night time.

Besides Gliese 581G, another planet Gliese 581C is also in the systems habitable zone. With this development it seems that the possibility of life on other planets is indeed possible.

Readers who had seen the news immediately show excitement about the development. The search and query for “new Earth like planet” soared and more and more people are becoming interested to know about it. A comment on one website even suggested that once a planet is found to be habitable exploration missions should immediately be done.

The discovery was made by Paul Butler and colleague Steven Vogt of the University of California at Santa Cruz. It was a product of 11 years of observation. Discovery of the new Earth like planet was also published in the Astrophysical Journal.

Discoverers of the new Earth like planet however said that this discovery does not mean that life necessarily exists on the planet. Rather, they said, the basic conditions are present to allow it to begin and keep it going. And from their research, they strongly believe similar conditions are present in many other solar systems.

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Topics: Astronomy, Discoveries, planets