The world has been searching for planets capable of sustaining life for decades and it seems that the latest find in the for of new planet Gliese 581g, has every chance of making every scientists dream come true. The world has never faced such a boom of development when it comes to population and industry, so the need for a new planet ready to sustain life has become a real issue.
The discovery of planet Gliese 581g, near the Gliese 581 star, was announced in 2012 and it is estimated to be located around 123 trillion miles away from Earth. According to NASA scientists the planet is very similar to Earth and it is located in the Goldilocks zone, a zone that is considered habitable.
Researchers at the WM Keck Observatory in Hawaii have reasons to believe, after years of observations, that Gliese 581g may contain liquid water, a crucial detail for a habitable planet. According to Steven Vogt, an astronomy and astrophysics professor at UC Santa Cruz told DailyMail that:
“Our findings offer a very compelling case for a potentially habitable planet.The fact that we were able to detect this planet so quickly and so nearby tells us that planets like this must be really common.”
Apparently Gliese 581g pertains to a solar system similar to ours, where all the planets discovered until now and surround the Gliese 581 star, have almost circular orbits. Gliese 581g, which is orbiting between planets Gliese 581c and Gliese 581d, has three times the mass of Earth and a 36.6 day orbit, as well as a believed gravitational force, calculated after its mass, of about 1.5 g.
According to Discovery News, Dr. Vogt said that he believes that there are high chances that this new planet is capable of sustaining life. He said:
“Personally, given the ubiquity and propensity of life to flourish wherever it can, I would say that the chances for life on this planet are 100 percent. I have almost no doubt about it.
This planet doesn’t have days and nights. Wherever you are on this planet, the sun is in the same position all the time. You have very stable zones where the ecosystem stays the same temperature… basically forever. If life can evolve, it’s going to have billions and billions of years to adapt to the surface. Given the ubiquity of water, it seems probable that this thing actually has liquid water. On the surface of the Earth, everywhere you have liquid water you have life.”
The new planet, which features perpetual daylight on the part facing the Giese581 star and constant night on the side facing the other way, has already divided scientists into two sides, some which believe that this planet may be habitable and others who are sceptical, so until further finds, this planet is going to raise plenty of questions.
Photos courtesy of DailyMail
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I appreciate being enthusiastic about discovering new worlds, but it seems to me they are jumping to way too many conclusions. I like to be optimistic, but we need to wait for a few more facts to come in before saying as Dr. Vogt did, that the chances for life on Gliese 581g are 100%. First of all, are they really even sure that water exists on the planet? One scientist said it ‘may” contain water. It is a huge jump, to go from “may have water” that it has life for sure. There are too many unknowns. History is full of scientific declarations that have gone down in flames when more facts came in.
I hope more amazing things are found on Gliese 581g. There will be many more incredible discoveries as we explore these worlds. Enthusiasm is great, but let’s not get so excited that we make claims that may be false. This is a sure way to turn off the public, who pays the bills.