2007-05-18 | SCIENCE
Habitable World Around Gliese 581?
For the first time, astronomers have discovered a planet far, far away that might be similar to Earth. This distant world, which pirouettes around a dim bulb of a star with the unglamorous name Gliese 581, may possibly sport a landscape that would be vaguely familiar to us - a panorama of liquid oceans and drifting continents. If so, there's the chance that it's a home to life - perhaps even advanced life.
It's been a dozen years since the first planet around a star other than the Sun was uncovered. Since then, small teams of astronomers have been flushing out fresh planetary prey at the rate of about one every two weeks. Today, it's easy to have a blase attitude about this continuing drizzle of new worlds. With more than two hundred planets already on the scoreboard, adding yet another sounds redundant.
But this planet is different. Read More
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from SETI, May 18, 2007
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