Astronomers find first habitable planet outside solar system
The
first habitable planet similar in size and conditions on Earth was
located in a distant solar system, which once again raises the
possibility of life on other planets, scientists said Wednesday.The
planet name has not yet is only about one and a half times the size of
Earth and five times more massive, a team of European astronomers
announced at the European Southern Observatory in Garching, Germany."We
estimated that the mean temperature of this super-Earth lies between
zero and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be liquid," said
Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory. "Models predict that the planet
should either be rocky like Earth or covered oceans. "The
planet is orbiting a star known as Gliese 581, 20.5 light years from
Earth's solar system and one of the 100 closest stars to the Sun. Although
the planet is much closer to its star than the Earth is the Sun, the
conditions are similar because the Gliese 581, known as a red dwarf, is
smaller and colder. A year lasts only 13 days on the planet."Red
dwarfs are ideal for finding these planets targets, since they emit
less light, and the habitable zone is much closer to them than it is
around the Sun," said Xavier Bonfils of University of Lisbon.More
than 200 so-called exoplanets - planets outside our solar system from
the Sun - have been discovered over the past 12 years, since the first
was found. Most are massive cuts gas similar to Jupiter.The
same team of astronauts discovered another planet around the same red
dwarf two years ago - a planet Neptune size about 15 times more massive
than Earth. A thorough analysis of the latest find is to be revealed in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.Xavier
Delfosse of Grenoble University in France said the new planet could
inhabit life and will definitely be a target for future space missions
to find extraterrestrial beings."Liquid
water is essential for life as we know it," he said. "On the treasure
map of the Universe, one would be tempted to mark this planet with an
X."
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