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Terrestrial (Rocky) Planet Discovered
KilgoryTrout writes "A 'super-Earth' planet was identified in orbit around mu Arae, a star 50 light years away. It orbits at 2 AUs and surface gravity is 14gs. Two gas giants have been detected in orbit about the star. Space.com's article suggests that it is a failed gas giant's rocky core."
It says the super-earth is so close to its star that it orbits in 10 days. A nearby gas giant is orbiting at 2 AU. Also, they say the mass is 14 times that of Earth. That would imply a surface gravity of 14G only if it was the same size as
Earth, which could only happen if it were made out of uranium or something.
I guess a radius 2.4 times that of Earth, if it's made of the same stuff, or less if it has more iron and less silicates.
While researchers do not know the full range of conditions under which life can survive, the newly discovered world, with its hot surface, is not the sort of place biologists would expect to find life as we know it.
No, of course not. Life there would posess super-human strength as an adaptation to the enormous gravity. Were inhabitants of this planet to visit Earth, they would be faster than a speeding bullet, and stronger than a locomotive. I wager they'd be able to jump tall buildings with a single bound.
I wonder if anyone's thought of a name for this planet?
(How can there be two dozen comments, but nobody made this connection yet?)
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.