Earth 2: Gliese 581

[sailor]

habitable planet (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/30/alien_world_gliese_581g/) found 20 light years away.

[Furtherman]

I mentioned this yesterday in the New Planet Thread (http://www.ronfez.net/forums/showthread.php?t=85795).

This could be a HUGE discovery. We don't have the technology now to know if it is habitable or not, but hey, it could be a bug planet for all we know. Great, exciting stuff.

[Syd]

So it's a scant 1.2x10^14 miles away and the fastest manmade object is hurtling in space at 25,000 mph which would take roughly the span of human history going back to the neanderthals in order for us to reach that planet with our current technology. The vastness of space is daunting. We almost certainly won't ever reach this planet and see it in person.

[Furtherman]

Some more info:

Unlike Earth, this planet called Gliese 581g, is "tidally locked" to its star. That means one side of the planet always faces the sun, and the other faces darkness. Temperatures on the two sides would be dramatically different, with the livable area in the "terminator" between day and night. Living on Gliese 581g would put you in an eternal twilight, which doesn't sound bad at all. Temperatures in the terminator area might be between -24 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit (-31 to -12 degrees Celsius), which is the average temperature of the planet's surface. So things would be a bit chilly, but if you could always visit the perma-sun on dayside if you needed a dose of red dwarf radiation.

Daywalkers vs. Vampires planet.

[angrymissy]

Worst part:

The answer to this is simple. During 2008, in an ultimately futile* attempt to add some buzz and value to their company, the bosses of Bebo took it into their heads to beam a powerful radio message at the Gliese 581 system. This in itself might not have been such a bad a idea, but sadly they chose to use as their message a selection of text and imagery submitted by devotees of the web-2.0 teenybopper portal.

As one might expect the resulting material focused on matters of interest only to mental cripples. There were many pictures of cats, boy crooners and other prominent figures in the Bebo userbase lifestyle. There were also many personal messages, a few of which we reproduce here:

Our bodies are made of bones ... We have senses. Smell, Taste, Sight and Touch. Without any of these things, we wouldn't live.

I love Television. We watch animated cartoons and real-life drama on it. I could sit and watch Television all day.

Hi im nicole. my ambitions for when i am older is to perform, i love anything to do with drama and someday i would love to appear on the west end stage, in a hit show.i also wouldnt mind doing a few television programs whether it is as a extra or a main part i dont mind i would love to appear on doctor who as i love it. anyway laters.Nicole x

[Furtherman]

My god, Bones, what have we done?

[Willmore]

Eh, I'll wait for Earth 3 to see if I want to watch this series.

Seriously, this is a planet with a 37 day orbital period. That's less than Mercury which is a tiny rock and is still experiencing huge tectonic problems. The chances of this planet being habitable are very close to nil. The technology we need to discover actual planets that are habitable are not even close to being available. And may never be available.

It's cool science, but the media popularizing this as an earth-like planet is not helping anyone.

[Syd]

Just need more computing power and orbital telescope arrays. Even better, telescope arrays on the dark side of the Moon.

[Contra]

I bet if we set off some charges we could get that sucker spinning!

[A.J.]

Some more info:

Unlike Earth, this planet called Gliese 581g, is "tidally locked" to its star. That means one side of the planet always faces the sun, and the other faces darkness.

Daywalkers vs. Vampires planet.

Or Romulans vs. Remans.

[Furtherman]

Or Romulans vs. Remans.

Even better!


By the way, Steve Vogt is the UC Santa Cruz astrophysicist who discovered Zarmina, the first recorded Earthlike planet outside our solar system. The planet's official name is Gliese 581g, but Vogt has nicknamed it Zarmina, which is his wife's name. Awwww.


The astrophysicist who discovered Zarmina describes life on "second Earth" (http://io9.com/5653433/the-astrophysicist-who-discovered-zarmina-describes-life-on-second-earth?skyline=true&s=i)

[foodcourtdruide]

What are we waiting for? Let's nuke it!

[CountryBob]

We need to figure out how to travel at light-speed in a hurry - I am already sick of everything here and need some new destinations.