January 31, 2008

The most "earthlike" exoplanet found to date is Gliese 581c, the smallest planet yet discovered in the habitable zone of another star, Gliese 581, which is a Red Dwarf star. Given that it is in the habitable zone, what would conditions be like on that planet?

posted by Hank Mabuse 16 years ago

Tantalising.
posted 16 years ago by Plegmund
If it is 95 C, that's 203 F surface temperature. Some bacteria (found in geysers) can stand up to that and more. Isaac Asimov describes a more habitable planet that orbits a brown dwarf behind a dust cloud between earth and Alpha Centauri in his book, Nemesis . Even so, he imagined that bacteria would be the dominant life form, and in this case they share a telepathic group mind!
posted 16 years ago by Dan Folkus
O brave new wworld, that has such prokaryotes in't!
posted 16 years ago by The Underpants Monster
Well, at least you know there'll be a Starbucks somewhere
posted 16 years ago by briank
An exoplanet whose atmosphere ripples with intense winds
posted 14 years ago by homunculus
Yup, that's what it's like here in Mtn Home. Constant winds. Took the phone line down the other day, and I lost the intarwebbs. Oh noes!
posted 14 years ago by BlueHorse

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