September 30, 2010
Posted by in Science and Technology | 10.06am | 154 views
Imagine there are 40 BILLION planets out there that can support life in our universe… Wow… There has to be other life forms. The mathematical chances is beyond doubt in my mind.
Tsem Rinpoche
Could ‘Goldilocks’ planet be just right for life?
By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein, Ap Science Writer
An artist rendering by Lynette Cook, National Science Foundation, shows the new planet on the right
WASHINGTON – Astronomers say they have for the first time spotted a planet beyond our own in what is sometimes called the Goldilocks for life: Not too hot, not too cold. Juuuust right.
Not too far from its star, not too close. So it could contain liquid water. The planet itself is neither too big nor too small for the proper surface, gravity and atmosphere.
It’s just right. Just like Earth.
“This really is the first Goldilocks planet,” said co-discoverer R. Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington.
The new planet sits smack in the middle of what astronomers refer to as the habitable zone, unlike any of the nearly 500 other planets astronomers have found outside our solar system. And it is in our galactic neighborhood, suggesting that plenty of Earth like planets circle other stars.
Finding a planet that could potentially support life is a major step toward answering the timeless question: Are we alone?
Scientists have jumped the gun before on proclaiming that planets outside our solar system were habitable only to have them turn out to be not quite so conducive to life. But this one is so clearly in the right zone that five outside astronomers told The Associated Press it seems to be the real thing.
“This is the first one I’m truly excited about,” said Penn State University’s Jim Kasting. He said this planet is a “pretty prime candidate” for harboring life.
Life on other planets doesn’t mean E.T. Even a simple single-cell bacteria or the equivalent of shower mold would shake perceptions about the uniqueness of life on Earth.
But there are still many unanswered questions about this strange planet. It is about three times the mass of Earth, slightly larger in width and much closer to its star — 14 million miles away versus 93 million. It’s so close to its version of the sun that it orbits every 37 days. And it doesn’t rotate much, so one side is almost always bright, the other dark.
Temperatures can be as hot as 160 degrees or as frigid as 25 degrees below zero, but in between — in the land of constant sunrise — it would be “shirt-sleeve weather,” said co-discoverer Steven Vogt of the University of California at Santa Cruz.
It’s unknown whether water actually exists on the planet, and what kind of atmosphere it has. But because conditions are ideal for liquid water, and because there always seems to be life on Earth where there is water, Vogt believes “that chances for life on this planet are 100 percent.”
The astronomers’ findings are being published in Astrophysical Journal and were announced by the National Science Foundation on Wednesday.
The planet circles a star called Gliese 581. It’s about 120 trillion miles away, so it would take several generations for a spaceship to get there. It may seem like a long distance, but in the scheme of the vast universe, this planet is “like right in our face, right next door to us,” Vogt said in an interview.
That close proximity and the way it was found so early in astronomers’ search for habitable planets hints to scientists that planets like Earth are probably not that rare.
Vogt and Butler ran some calculations, with giant fudge factors built in, and figured that as much as one out of five to 10 stars in the universe have planets that are Earth-sized and in the habitable zone.
With an estimated 200 billion stars in the universe, that means maybe 40 billion planets that have the potential for life, Vogt said. However, Ohio State University’s Scott Gaudi cautioned that is too speculative about how common these planets are.
Vogt and Butler used ground-based telescopes to track the star’s precise movements over 11 years and watch for wobbles that indicate planets are circling it. The newly discovered planet is actually the sixth found circling Gliese 581. Two looked promising for habitability for a while, another turned out to be too hot and the fifth is likely too cold. This sixth one bracketed right in the sweet spot in between, Vogt said.
With the star designated “a,” its sixth planet is called Gliese 581g.
It’s not a very interesting name and it’s a beautiful planet,” Vogt said. Unofficially, he’s named it after his wife: “I call it Zarmina’s World.”
The star Gliese 581 is a dwarf, about one-third the strength of our sun. Because of that, it can’t be seen without a telescope from Earth, although it is in the Libra constellation, Vogt said.
But if you were standing on this new planet, you could easily see our sun, Butler said.
The low-energy dwarf star will live on for billions of years, much longer than our sun, he said. And that just increases the likelihood of life developing on the planet, the discoverers said.
“It’s pretty hard to stop life once you give it the right conditions,” Vogt said.
From: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=11759961
Super awesome!
wow.. and so soon even!
Thanks Rinpoche. It was a very informative article.
How interesting! Another planet where there life can exists. And this is the 6th planet after lots of testing whether it is conducive enough for life to be able to sustain. I remember during my young days when the moon was visible. I like watching it for a very long time and thought I can see inside the moon shapes of mountains and land. And I will think could there be life like it is on earth like us. At that time I did not know about research and science. How nice if we have a choice to experience how life is on another planet like the moon. Where “Goldilocks” planet is mentioned even though proven that life can and do exist. We will not be able to experience it. Maybe after many rebirths of being a human.
Very cool. I feel like I am being teased – knowing there is likely other life forms out there but I cannot get to meet them?
Incredible! The whole universe is so huge, beyond my imagination! And it can support so many different life forms.
Thank you Rinpoche for this interesting information.
The sheer expanse of the universe is such mind-boggling and the possibility of intelligent life out there is a mathematical fact. Just considering that sheer size of the universe and there are so many possible worlds out there sure makes our world and our problems seem very small. I find this contemplation very comforting at times to know that what I am going through is really no big deal. Actually, it is really no big deal compared to many other people I know who have incredible responsibilities and problems. I feel really small and minuscule and I think that the people and problems Rinpoche have to solve would be mind-blowing too.
I have been starting to read about the hard science of the possibilities of UFO’s and life on other planets. I have decided to abandon most of the “major media” reports and stick to hard science. Issac Asimov said in our universe, with all known factors taken into account, there are hundreds of thousands of planets that have beings evolved to our human level or beyond. This is taking OUT the planets with just trees and bugs or dinosaurs, or even monkeys.
Falling back on hard science is the only way I can really get answers, I have found. That, or Enlightenment. Enlightenment is a ways away for me right now though.
I really think that the article is very interesting! Thank you Rinpoche for sharing the article! I guess just like MJ’s song, “You are not alone” We are not alone. We were never alone.
Maybe there are somethings like heavens deep in space far away from planet Earth. We may never know yet but I am sure that Scientists will discover and confirm life on other planets. I am really sure of it.
Just like what Buddha Shakyamuni said, “This planet is like that of a grain of sand in a river.”
Hey, I haven’t checked in here for a while, but I will put you on my bloglist so I don’t forget to check back.
i m hopeful that we r going to find a planit like earth and people living their will not be dangrous