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THE SEARCH FOR alien intelligent life has obsessed scientists for centuries – and the search for potentially habitable planets has gone hand-in-hand.
Currently, we has a list of five planets that scientists believe have the potential to harbour life…. (although you might want to wait a little longer before packing your bags).
Kepler 22-b
The confirmation of Kepler 22b’s existence was made in December 2011 to much fanfare. It is the first known transiting planet to orbit within the habitable zone of a Sun-like star, which excited some commentators so much they hailed the planet as “Earth 2.0″.
It’s known that the planet’s radius is roughly 2.4 times that of the Earth but its mass and surface composition remain a mystery. It has been speculated that Kepler 22-b is a watery ‘ocean world’ with a rocky core but (being 600 lights years away from Earth) confirmation of this will be tricky. For a while at least.
Image via NASA: Artist’s conception of Kepler-22b
Gliese 581 g (aka Zarmina’s World)
Gliese 581 g has also been hailed as a potential “second Earth” by some scientists, while others have questioned whether it actually exists.
The team that discovered the planet, which is also known as Zarmina’s World, reported that it had a mass similar to that of Earth and was close to the centre of the habitable zone – leading to hopes that the first potential Earth twin outside the Solar System had been discovered. However, the issue remains controversial.
The nearby star, Gliese 581, is orbited by four planets – the outermost planet, Gliese 581d, is also suspected of being habitable and, interestingly, it’s the only known case of potential habitable exoplanets orbiting the same star.
Uploaded by tdarnell
Gliese 667 Cc
The planet is a member of a triple star system in the Scorpius constellation. It’s believed to be at the centre of the habitable zone and receives only 10 per cent less stellar energy than that which the Earth receives from the Sun.
The proposed location of Gliese 667 Cc would mean it could have liquid water – an essential component of life as we know it.
Artist’s impression of Gliese 667 Cb with the Gliese 667 A/B binary in the background. Image: ESO/Wikimedia Commons
HD 85512 b
HD 85512 b is an extrasolar planet orbiting Gliese 370 star, about 36 light-years from Earth. Is one of the smallest exoplanets discovered to be on the edge of the habitable zone and considered to be one of the best candidates for habitability.
Uploaded by Jon Blevins
Gliese 581d
Gliese 581d is another exoplanet orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 581. It was initially thought to be too cold for life, with the closer-in planet Gliese 581c deemed more likely to be habitable. However, atmospheric experts later discovered that if the planet had liquid oceans like Earth, they would rapidly evaporate in a ‘runaway greenhouse’ effect similar to that which gave Venus the hot, inhospitable climate it has today.
Image via Wikicommons
The top 5…
Image via the Planetary Habitability Laboratory
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Brilliant article. To go there we would need rockets one thousand times faster and enough Journal reading material to last 600,000 years provided we could endure the boredom.
would need to be a lot more than 1000 times faster!
With 3 planets called Gliese I can envisage a futuristic Frank Spencer making some erroneous choices with hilarious space consequences
one day:-)
If people can exist out in Kildare, then they can exist anywhere.
We should worry about our own planet with all its problems – starvation, capitalism etc
Sort those problems first I say.
This space xploration is some waste of money.
Rubbish, advancement in space exploration and science bring huge benifets to the masses. Also, are you not curious?
There is always one…
Paddy the troll
And what’s your solution to the overpopulation of the planet Earth, Paddy? Enforced sterilisation? Khmer Rouge style massacres?
You can stay in your cave Paddy. God forbid we would try to learn more about our Galaxy
Curious about a big black space no? There is no chance we’ll ever live on these planets.
And I certainly wouldn’t be signing up for a ticket anyway if there was a way!
I’ll buy you a ticket Paddy :-)
paddy i’ve seen you comment on similar stories with the same sort of reply, sort starvation here and forget space etc. i’ll try and explain it to you, our planet has resources enough to support a fixed number of people, once you go beyond that number, which we are approaching, it becomes impossible to feed everyone, try splitting a mars bar with a couple of hundred people and you get the idea. so you are left with 2 solutions, colonise other planets, or kill off half the population so the other half can survive, which would you prefer?
also, if people had the attitude of “we’ll never reach those planets anyway”, we’d still be in caves.
everyone is entitled to their opinion, but in this case yours is wrong.
They/we went to the moon in the middle of the Cold War when people were living with a daily fear of atomic annihilation. Say what you will, but to date it’s mankinds greatest achievement and it gives us a sense of unity that’s still felt. We have the technology and resources to go to Mars but not the political will, BECAUSE of those things you mention. For those of us who can visualise what lies beyond our sky, this is sad and shameful.
This little quote still leaves me in awe every time I hear it: There are more stars in the sky than grains of sand on every beach and desert on planet Earth.
If the money spent on all these telescopes and space engines to mars saved one child in Africa, then I say spend the money on saving a LIFE
@Paddy^^^ Technology created during space exploration does save lives. Ill let you research this yourself but here’s a head start. Water purification, artificial limbs, artificial heart pumps….
When Star Trek ‘Voyager’ meets various alien species
during its journey through various galaxies, they all seem
to have American accents? Obviously the colonisation
has already begun!
eh that’s the universal translator device that spits out the accent.. Jesus!
Have you listened to our kids that have grown up watching Barney, Disney Channel and iCarly? I guess the aliens are catching those transmissions also :(
Earth?
potential?
fascinating stuff
My universal translator has a Canadian
accent which is much more soothing..
.. anyway how come these alien
planets also seem to have American
style shopping malls for these species to meet or am I mixing it up with the Donaghmede shopping centre.
Cornelius beat me to it, but here you go: http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Universal_translator
Are FG leading the polls there?!!
Why do people have to bring the government into every single article!!! Get a f***ing life!!!
Who gets to colonise the new earth?
Phone home!
Gliese…isn’t she that model one? Wouldn’t mind landing on her…
jk, I am aware her name is Gisele. still though…
Interesting findings, though numbers like 600 lightyears are far too great for us to even contemplate I’m afraid. Even a measly lightyear is way beyond our current tech, but one day!
I guess science has given up on looking for intelligent life on this one.
No trace. Overrun with homo stupidus stupidus.
have your say