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Gliese 581d Confirmed as 'Habitable' Exoplanet

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the but-you-wouldn't-want-to-live-there dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A rocky world orbiting a nearby star was confirmed (PDF) as the first planet outside our Solar System to meet key requirements for sustaining life." The "key requirement" was actually a Starbucks — astronomers were pretty surprised to find out that they like their coffee burnt on Gliese 581d too.

1 of 451 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Gliese 581d in the 'Goldilocks Zone' by PeterM+from+Berkeley · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sir,

        We do not even have a self-sustaining colony on Antarctica, which is warmer than mars, and has unlimited air and water. Our colonies on Antarctica are nowhere near self-sustaining. Mars is colder than Antarctica, water is scarce, and there's NO oxygen and barely any atmosphere.

        In other words, calling Mars "habitable" is like calling rocks "edible". The rocks might become edible if you ground them down to dust, added plants, and then ate the plants.

    --PeterM