Goldilocks And The Three Planets

In December of 2009, the announcement of the first Earth-like planet was unveiled to the world

. Despite initial promise, GJ1214b turned out to be almost too much of a good thing. GJ1214b is believed to be a water world that contains no dry land and crushing water pressures so great, that life might not be able to survive in these conditions. A newly discovered planet in the constellation of Libra called Gliese 581g, may offer better hope in the search for extraterrestrial life.

Despite promising new signals, Gliese 581g is still unlikely to support higher life forms. Gliese 581g though hailed as the next Earth, orbits its star at just 14 million miles (verses the 93 million miles Earth orbits the sun). Early estimates place temperatures between 25 below to a souring 160 degrees. Although extremophiles on Earth can tolerate such temperatures, it is unlikely advanced life would be able to sustain such an onslaught.

Gliese 581g also has a short year (orbiting its star in just 37 days) and little rotation forcing one side into prolonged darkness while the other is almost consistently bright. Despite the fact that Gliese 581g is still within the Goldilocks zone where a planet is not too far or too close to sustain life and liquid water is possible, it is unlikely such conditions would support higher life forms.

Using the only model we currently have (Earth), for life to evolve, the planet must contain not only liquid water (or at least a suitable equivalent) but also be protected by an atmosphere and magnetosphere. Moreover, to prevent chaotic seasons, extreme tides and short daylight hours, the planet must also have a moon of sufficient mass or possibly even a sister planet to stabilize the planet's orbital access.

Although it is still too early to say much about this planet, Gliese 581g offers some proof that Earth-like or nearly Earth-like planets are out there. Given the tremendous number of stars in the universe, this is no surprise to scientists. What is surprising though is that Gliese 581g is perhaps within our reach for studying. At 120 trillion miles away, new propulsion systems might narrow the gap between our planets. Nevertheless, it would probably still take several generations for an unmanned probe to make the voyage but for science, anything within our reach would be a major advancement of our understanding.

Another more positive sign is the size of the star Gliese 581g orbits. Gliese 581 (the host star of the newly discovered Gliese 581g planet), is a dwarf star only one-third the strength of our sun. This increases the chance of life gaining a foothold as any hotter of a star and Gliese 581g might be another Mercury.

Gliese 581g is approximately three times the mass of Earth. Although this size difference is significant, Gliese 581g is within the realm of maximum size that a planet can be to still sustain life.

For the first time, we may actually have a near Earth-like planet within our reach for studying. Despite an unlikely promise of a new home, Gliese 581g at least gives us a new model for understanding life and hopefully will be just the first of many new Earth-like planets mankind will soon know.

by: Robert Haskell

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