'Second Earth' found, 20 light years away

[Dion]

Scientists have discovered a warm and rocky "second Earth" circling a star, a find they believe dramatically boosts the prospects that we are not alone.

The planet is the most Earth-like ever spotted and is thought to have perfect conditions for water, an essential ingredient for life. Researchers detected the planet orbiting one of Earth's nearest stars, a cool red dwarf called Gliese 581, 20 light years away in the constellation of Libra.

Measurements of the planet's celestial path suggest it is 1½ times the size of our home planet, and orbits close to its sun, with a year of just 13 days. The planet's orbit brings it 14 times closer to its star than Earth is to the sun. But Gliese 581 burns at only 3,000C, half the temperature of our own sun, making conditions on the planet comfortable for life, with average ground temperatures estimated at 0 to 40C. Researchers claim the planet is likely to have an atmosphere. The discovery follows a three-year search for habitable planets by the European Southern Observatory at La Silla in Chile.

"We wouldn't be surprised if there is life on this planet," said Stephane Udry, an astronomer on the project at the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/20...aceexploration

[The Bismarck]

Wow...13 days...

[iggypop]

old news...???

[MelBridgeman]

20 light years is pretty close in terms of the universe

[arsenal]

forget mars!! lets go here instead!!

[Stranger]

How many light years is Mars away?

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Stranger

How many light years is Mars away?

mars is 0.00000596 light years from earth. 20 light years may be close universally speaking, but it's still farther than man will ever travel in our lifetime

[arsenal]

Originally Posted by Stranger

How many light years is Mars away?

About 4 minutes... 4 / 525600 light years away... what ever that works out to be.. some tiny number..

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

mars is 0.00000596 light years from earth. 20 light years may be close universally speaking, but it's still farther than man will ever travel in our lifetime

No bother. 20ly may sound like alot, but it's not. If this planet had intelligent life, communication would take a mere 20/40 years. That's a blip on the cosmic radar.

[if.away]

They probably already are addicted to JR Ewing's evil plans. WHAT WILL HE DO NEXT?

[evman150]

Originally Posted by Stranger

How many light years is Mars away?

I know I will come off sounding like an ass here, but this is a statement more directed at society than directly at you.

How does one even pose this question? How are there gaps that big in our education that someone can pose this question?

It is so fundamental...so fundamental. It really is a sad commentary on the science education the general public receives.

As for this old article, for those wondering, the planet has such a short year (period) because it is so close to the star, which is because the star only shines at 2700K, because the star is a red dwarf. And the luminosity of a star is proportional to the temperature to the fourth power. So a star with a temperature of 2700K is (5760/2700)^4 ~ 21 times less luminous (Solar temperature = 5760K). And that doesn't include the square dependence on radius. Assuming it's about half the radius of the Sun (reasonable assumption), that's another 4 times less luminous, for a grand total of ~ 80-85 times less luminous than the Sun. So that is the reason the so called "habitable zone" is so close to the star, and also why the period is so small.

[if.away]

It is fundamental, but perhaps you should explain to him what a light year is. He'll get something useful out of this thread.

Basically a light year is the DISTANCE light travels in a year, it's not a period of time as some people would believe. The speed of light is considered to be 3.0x10^8 m/s. Take that, and multiply it by the number of seconds in a year. I don't have a calculator, but the number is pretty large and it it is in meters. Divide that by 1000 to get KMs. In one year, light travels that many KMs. The distance between us and this new planet is that result x 20. This makes traveling to such place absolutely impossible...

[evman150]

What's fundamental is not that he doesn't know what a light year is. I don't expect society to know the definition of a light year.

All I'm hoping for is an appreciation of the distance. The appreciation that light travels really fast. And that a light year is a really long distance.

Asking how many light years away Mars is shows a gross misunderstanding of the concept.

Again, I apologize to the guy this is seemingly directed at. You are but one case of a problem that is no doubt endemic in our society.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by evman150

What's fundamental is not that he doesn't know what a light year is. I don't expect society to know the definition of a light year.

All I'm hoping for is an appreciation of the distance. The appreciation that light travels really fast. And that a light year is a really long distance.

Asking how many light years away Mars is shows a gross misunderstanding of the concept.

Again, I apologize to the guy this is seemingly directed at. You are but one case of a problem that is no doubt endemic in our society.

I don't know why we shouldn't expect society to understand what a light year is, it's a pretty simple concept that everybody should know...then again, many Americans have no concept of what a Kilometer is. I would expect somebody to undestand the lightyear concept but not maybe something more useful (in talking about the distance to Mars) like AUs.

I still like the odd discussions on CP with people who claim that they don't believe FTL is impossible (nevermind Einstein) simply based on the fact that supposedly, scientists thought supersonic travel was impossible 50 years ago (false). People just don't grasp the whole speed of light concept when they try to frame it in familiar terms.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by if.away

They probably already are addicted to JR Ewing's evil plans. WHAT WILL HE DO NEXT?

He'll get shot and they'll be hanging on the cliffhanger.

[Boo Radley]

Originally Posted by evman150

All I'm hoping for is an appreciation of the distance. The appreciation that light travels really fast. And that a light year is a really long distance.

Asking how many light years away Mars is shows a gross misunderstanding of the concept.

I disagree. Knowing the distance to Mars, as a comparison, gives one a greater appreciation of the concept.

I would recommend patience when dealing with the general public on matters of science.

Radley

[evman150]

Originally Posted by Boo Radley

I would recommend patience when dealing with the general public on matters of science.

I would recommend teaching the public more about science in the first place.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Boo Radley

I disagree. Knowing the distance to Mars, as a comparison, gives one a greater appreciation of the concept.

I would recommend patience when dealing with the general public on matters of science.

Radley

Telling somebody that Mars is 0.00000596 ly away often doesn't make people realize just how faraway Mars actually is. You'd have to tell them something fun like...Mars is 2,675,840,318,660 Hot Dogs from Earth!

That's what's missing in astronomy, units people can relate to.

[Boo Radley]

Originally Posted by evman150

I would recommend teaching the public more about science in the first place.

I agree with you 100%.

I deal with science students in University and I am often surprised at what they do not know.

Radley

[Boo Radley]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Telling somebody that Mars is 0.00000596 ly away often doesn't make people realize just how faraway Mars actually is. You'd have to tell them something fun like...Mars is 2,675,840,318,660 Hot Dogs from Earth!

That's what's missing in astronomy, units people can relate to.

Mmmm Hot dogs. Which ones? Schneiders or fat franks? Please say fat franks, please say fat franks!

There are two issues here:
1) Understanding what a light year is. As we agree it is a difficult distance to understand. You will likely lose most of your audience with these units.

2) Comprehending the distance of said planet. The original article stated that it was a distance of 20 light years away. Comparing this distance with that of Mars, in the same units (hot dogs), is a useful comparison.

Radley