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Earth-Like Planet That Could Sustain Life Found

Posted by samzenpus on from the guess-who's-coming-to-dinner dept.

astroengine writes "An exoplanet, 20 to 50 percent the mass of Earth, has been discovered 20 light-years away and it appears to have all the ingredients conducive to sustaining life. It has enough gravitational clout to hold onto an atmosphere and it orbits well within the 'Goldilocks Zone' of its parent star. However, it would be a very different place to Earth; it is tidally locked to its star, creating one perpetual day on the world. Interestingly, this may also boost the life-giving qualities of the exoplanet, creating stable temperatures in its atmosphere."

2 of 575 comments (clear)

  1. Time dilation woes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    My math might be a little off, but if we accelerated at g half-way there and decelerated at g for the rest of the way, it would only take a ship about 6.04 years to get there. But thanks to Einstein ruining all our space travel fun with relativity, we of us left on Earth would think the journey took 21.86 years. So there and back would seem like 43.7 years to us.

  2. I work with 2 of the authors by Theory+of+Everything · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I actually work quite closely with 2 of the authors of the paper that reports these results. Any questions? I'll try to respond to posts between now and 2 October.