“[T]his is really the first Goldilocks planet.”
Astronomer Paul Butler on Gliese 581g.
Not too hot, not too cold.
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“[T]his is really the first Goldilocks planet.”
Astronomer Paul Butler on Gliese 581g.
Not too hot, not too cold.
Comments are closed.
I believe he means it is the first M-Class planet (StarTrek).
It orbits the sun every 37 days! That can’t be right, can it?
I’ve read that the planet’s sun, Gliese, is just one-third as large as our Sun.
I tried other links on the site, but couldn’t resolve this. The red dwarf has six planets orbiting it, designated 581-A through 581-G. Isn’t that SEVEN? And, is A closest to the sun or furthest? At a 37 day orbit the planet would have to be so close that the sun would be much too hot, unless it was way cooler than our sun. Ken, you’re much, much better at this computer information than I am. I don’t want you to go through a lot of hassle, but would appreciate a link that would answer this.
It’s six. They don’t use “a” and they number out from the star.
Gliese is a dwarf star, one-third the size of our Sun and apparently only 1% as bright. The planet g always faces its sun though, so it’s hot on one side and cold on the other.
See also A Habitable Exoplanet — for Real This Time | Wired Science.