VilaWeb - Diari escola: Life on planet Gliese 581g?

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dijous, 26 de desembre de 2024

> Gliese 581g and another five planets

> Located right in the middle of the habitable zone

> From Gliese 581g to Mars

dimarts, 5 d'octubre de 2010

It's been given the name Gliese 581g, and it could be the first planet outside the Solar System capable of sustaining life. This is the opinion of the team who made this recently-announced discovery.

The discovery was the result of an eleven-year study, sponsored by NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and by the United States National Science Foundation (NSF).

Steven Vogt, one of the heads of the study, said that the fact that it only took eleven years to discover the planet indicates that this type of potentially habitable planets must be quite common; that there must be a lot of them out there. He also said, in a non-official capacity, that there's a 100% possibility of life existing on Gliese 581g.

Just last year NASA launched the Kepler mission with the aim of finding habitable planets similar to ours.

Gliese 581g and another five planets

+ An artist's conception of Gliese 581g and its star. Image Credit: Lynette Cook.

At twenty light-years away from Earth, in the constellation of Libra, Gliese 581g orbits a reddish-coloured dwarf star named Gliese 581 (hence the planet's name). The planet has a mass three or four times greater than the Earth which implies that it must have a rocky structure and a well-defined surface. In addition to Gliese 581g, scientists have identified another five planets orbiting the star, more than any planetary system outside our own (the Solar System has eight planets).

Located right in the middle of the habitable zone

+ The planetary orbits of the Gliese 581 system compared to those of our own solar system. Image Credit: NSF.

Gliese581g sits bang in the middle of what's known as the habitable zone, an area of space where the temperatures could allow for the presence of liquid water (remember that water is the essence of life). Additionally, the planet has enough gravity to create an atmosphere. Habitability depends on many factors, but the presence of liquid water and an atmosphere are among the most important.

From Gliese 581g to Mars

+ Scientists have found compelling evidence that water once existed on Mars.

Gliese 581g could therefore be the extrasolar planet that most resembles the Earth. Within the Solar System, the planet that most resembles our own is Mars, often referred to as the Red Planet. Scientists have found compelling evidence that water once existed on Mars, such as the presence of canals, valleys and ravines on the planet's surface. Obviously, the great question is whether or not this water lead to the appearance of life, and this is what the Mars Science Laboratory mission, which NASA will launch a year from now, hopes to ascertain.

MATERIALS

NASA and NSF-Funded Research Finds First Potentially Habitable Exoplanet
Format:Web
Article de la NASA sobre el descobriment de Gliese 581g, el primer planeta de fora del Sistema Solar potencialment apte per a la vida.
Planeta habitat?
Format:Web
Vídeo sobre el descobriment del Gliese 581g. A càrrec del programa de TV3, Info K.
Gliese 581 g
Format:Web
Viquipèdia.
Vida en el Espacio
Format:Web
Pàgina de l'Agència Espacial Europea adreçada al jovent.

QUE HO SABIES?

It takes Gliese 581g thirty-seven days to complete one orbit around its star, Gliese 581.
It is estimated that this planet's surface temperature varies between -31 °C and -12 °C.