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Earth-Like Planet That Could Sustain Life Found
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."
"20 to 50 percent the mass of Earth" != "a mass three times larger than Earth's"
With a mass three times larger than Earth's, the newly discovered world has the muscle to hold atmosphere. (article)
An exoplanet, 20 to 50 percent the mass of Earth, has been discovered 20 light-years away... (summary)
My limited imagination has problems seeing how such a misstake can come about. Is the summary from a completely different article than what it links to? I also like
I would say that the chances for life on this planet are 100 percent
...as a good example of how to pull numbers out of your butt.
Slashdot "An exoplanet, 20 to 50 percent the mass of Earth, has been discovered 20 light-years away and it appears.."
Article "With a mass three times larger than Earth's, the newly discovered world has the muscle to hold atmosphere. Plus, it has the gift of time. Not only is its parent star especially long-lived, the planet is tidally locked to its sun -- similar to how the moon keeps the same side pointed at Earth -- so that half the world is in perpetual light and the other half in permanent darkness. As a result, temperatures are extremely stable and diverse."
???
We still aren't good at detecting earth sized planets but this is pretty close. I think tidally locked is a bit of a bummer (electromagnetic field), and being so close could be interesting for flares etc even concidering its star. Still excellent place to send a probe. If not for this particular planet it may have a more suitable moon or something hiding in its system.20 ly is still within reasonable probing capability (we could build a probe today that would be able to get there within a few hundred years and last that long to do it).
We should start building interstellar launching capability now. A rail gun around the moon that accellerate probes and shoots them out. Do it at the equator so you get orbital/distance benifit. Give an extra 66km/s boost at 10g. Give that probe an engine and a few slingshots from planets and your talking over 100 km/s. 100 G launch velocity and you are up to 200 km/s starting point. Not to mention a great way of launching things from luna to earth orbit.
Soon the perfect planet will be found. Oxygen, nitrogen, atmosphere, magenetosphere, sort of planet you could land on and take off your helmet and suck in the air. Pref 20 Ly away.. Will we venture to it? Run away from it? Probe it? blow it up? Fight over it? Attack it? Colonise it? What would we do?