A new planet, or exoplanet, has been found this year that may support existence. World seekers have focused on a red dwarf star about 20 light years away called Gliese 581 which they suspected may offer a world similar to Earth. The finding of Gliese 581g was announced Wednesday. It is considered a rocky planet, as opposed to a gas giant, that orbits at a distance called the “Goldilocks zone” where conditions are not too hot or too cold to preclude the existence of existence.
Make our way to discover the Goldilocks zone
Of the University of California, Santa Cruz, Steven S. Vogt took part in the announcement of Geliese 581g as the new world discovered in 2010. Of the Carnegie Institute of Washington, R. Paul Butler also took place in this announcement. As reported in the NY Times, Gliese (GLEE-za) 581g orbits Gliese 581, a dim red star, once each 37 days at a distance of about 14 million miles. Scientists explain that in the Goldilocks zone, this is the only place where it isn’t too hot or too cold generating it feasible for water and existence to survive. Vogt said the chances “are almost 100 percent” that there is life on Gliese 581g.
The reason why Gliese 581g may sustain existence
We know that the star, Gliese 581, it only a third the size of the sun however is one hundred times brighter. It has six known exoplanets orbiting it, including Gliese 581g. A report on two of the Gliese 581 planets comes from Scientific Americans. It says the Goldilocks zone has these two exoplanets in it. Gliese 581g, about three times the mass of Earth, orbits between those worlds. It is the first Goldilocks exoplanet to be found. But it’s not exactly Earthlike. The planet hunter’s suspect Gliese 581g is “tidally locked,” which means only one side faces its star, like the moon does to Earth. You will find comparable temperatures to our world on the planet. It is expected to be somewhere between negative 31 to 158 degrees Fahrenheit. Somewhere in between permanent daylight and permanent night, which Vogt called “eco-longitudes,” some form of life could become established.
In 2010, planets are now being discovered
We found Gliese 581g by using the radial velocity technique. This is also called the “wobble,” technique sometimes. The Los Angeles Times explains how the wobble technique works. It involves detecting a gravitational pull during orbit the world has on the sun. The planet hunters made sure for making some brightness measurements. These showed that Gliese 581g was causing Gliese 581 to make some wobbles.
Citations
New York Times
nytimes.com/2010/09/30/science/space/30planet.html?_r=1 and ref=science
Scientific American
scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=habitable-exoplanet-gliese-581
Los Angeles times
latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-earth-like-planet,,7897054.story
