There Goes the Neighborhood

Listen:

Astronomers have found a more-or-less Earth-like planet orbiting close to the red-dwarf star Gliese 581 (in the constellation Libra):

The newfound planet has a minimum mass just five times that of Earth and a diameter perhaps 50% larger, meaning gravity at the surface would be about twice as strong.

This "super-Earth" circles the star Gliese 581 every 13 days at a distance of just 11 million kilometers (7 million miles). That's just 7% of the Earth-Sun distance, and if the host star were truly Sunlike the planet would be broiling hot. But Gleise 581 is a red dwarf (spectral type M3), considerably smaller, cooler, and dimmer than the Sun.

This means the new planet orbits within the star's "habitable zone." According to Stéphane Udry, who led the discovery team, its mean temperature is probably between 0° and 40° Celsius (30° and 100° F), so any water on its surface would be liquid. Moreover, notes Udry, "Models predict that the planet should be either rocky — like our Earth — or fully covered with oceans."

Gliese 581 is 20.5 light years away from Earth. This means that if you were in a starship traveling at the speed of light and you left on the 5:15 today out of Albany/Rensselaer, you would get there just before New Year 2028--although I hear that, if life is discovered, they will build a toll road that will shave one hour off the trip.

If there is life on this planet, let's hope it's intelligent life. My litmus test would be if they have cellphones or not. If yes, let's keep the heck away from it.