254 lines
6.7 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
254 lines
6.7 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
science
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space
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8517826
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-----
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# Scientists discover habitable Earth-like planet
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## A rocky world orbiting a nearby star has been confirmed as the first planet
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outside our solar system to meet key requirements for sustaining life.
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![Scientists discover habitable Earth-like planet ][1]
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A model of the possible surface temperatures of planet Gliese 581d that orbits
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a red dwarf star called Gliese 581 (right) Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES
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7:00AM BST 17 May 2011
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[Comments][2]
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Modelling of planet Gliese 581d shows it has the potential to be warm and wet
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enough to nurture Earth-like life.
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It orbits a red dwarf star called Gliese 581, located around 20 light years
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from Earth, which makes it one of our closest neighbours.
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Gliese 581d orbits on the outer fringes of the star's "Goldilocks zone", where
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it is not so hot that water boils away, nor so cold that water is perpetually
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frozen. Instead, the temperature is just right for water to exist in liquid
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form.
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"With a dense carbon dioxide atmosphere -- a likely scenario on such a large
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planet -- the climate of Gliese 581d is not only stable against collapse but
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warm enough to have oceans, clouds and rainfall," France's National Centre for
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Scientific Research (CNRS) said in a press release.
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More than 500 planets orbiting other stars have been recorded since 1995,
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detected mostly by a tiny wobble in stellar light.
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## Related Articles
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* [Space shuttle Endeavour launches for final time][3]
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16 May 2011
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* [Gabrielle Giffords attends launch][4]
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16 May 2011
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* [Shuttle prepares for final flight][5]
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16 May 2011
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Exoplanets are named after their star and listed alphabetically, in order of
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discovery.
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Until now, the big interest in Gliese 581's roster of planets focussed on
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Gliese 581g.
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It leapt into the headlines last year as "Zarmina's World," after its
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observers announced it had roughly the same mass as Earth's and was also close
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to the Goldilocks zone.
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But that discovery has since been discounted by many. Indeed, some experts
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suspect that the Gliese 581g may not even exist but was simply a hiccup in
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starlight.
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Its big brother, Gliese 581d, has a mass at least seven times that of Earth
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and is about twice our planet's size, according to the new study, which
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appears in a British publication, The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
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The planet, spotted in 2007, had initially been dismissed as a candidate in
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the hunt for life.
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It receives less than a third of the solar radiation Earth gets, and may be
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"tidally locked", meaning that one side of it always faces the sun, which
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would give it permanent dayside and nightside.
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But the new model, devised by CNRS climate scientists Robin Wordsworth,
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Francois Forget and colleagues, showed surprising potential.
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Its atmosphere would store heat well, thanks to its dense CO2, a greenhouse
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gas. And the red light from the star would also penetrate the atmosphere and
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warm the surface.
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"In all cases, the temperatures allow for the presence of liquid water on the
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surface," say the researchers.
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For budding travellers, though, Gliese 581d would "still be a pretty strange
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place to visit," the CNRS said.
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"The denser air and thick clouds would keep the surface in a perpetual murky
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red twilight, and its large mass means that surface gravity would be around
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double that on Earth."
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Getting to the planet would still require a sci-fi breakthrough in travel for
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earthlings.
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A spaceship travelling close to light speed would take more than 20 years to
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get there, while our present rocket technology would take 300,000 years.
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[What are these?][7]
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* Share: [Share][6] [ ][8] [ ][9]
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[Tweet][10]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8517826/Scientists-discover-
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habitable-Earth-like-planet.html
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Telegraph
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## [Space][11]
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* ### [News »][12]
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* ### [World News »][13]
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In science
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[![Cosmos Close-Up: wonders of space from our solar system to the edge of the
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Universe][14] ][15]
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### [Cosmos Close-Up][15]
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[![As Nasa calls time on the Mars Rover Spirit mission][16] ][17]
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### [Nasa's Mars rover Spirit][17]
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[![The Milky Way stretches across the night sky behind a rock arch in Arches
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National Park, Utah. Bret Webster uses the night skies of the national parks
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of his home state of Utah as his canvas to create images that highlight the
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relative insignificance of the Earth in the cosmos.][18] ][19]
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### [The Milky Way over the desert][19]
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[![Space shuttle Endeavour's final mission to the International Space
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Station][20] ][21]
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### [Endeavour's final mission][21]
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[![Space Shuttle Endeavour Launches Under Command Of Astronaut Mark Kelly][22]
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][23]
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### [Live: Endeavour's final launch][23]
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[X][6] Share & bookmark
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][7]
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Share:
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* [ ][6]
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* [ ][8]
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* [ ][9]
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* [Tweet][10]
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* Advertisement
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![][24]
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telegraphuk
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[EDITOR'S CHOICE »][39]
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[![Gil Scott-Heron][41]][40]
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Composer, musician, poet and author whose writing provided a vivid commentary
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var puffs_8255319 = new Array();
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