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Gliese 581: one planet might indeed be habitable

alphagalileo.org — More than 10 years after the discovery of the first extrasolar planet, astronomers have now discovered more than 250 of these planets. Until a few years ago, most of the newly discovered exoplanets were Jupiter-mass, probably gaseous, planets.

Who dugg this? Made popular Dec 14, 2007

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  • BeefBaron, on 12/14/2007, -3/+39Maybe if the largest portion of the world's money wasn't wasted on killing everyone who is slightly different we could afford the research into the tech that could get us there.
  • listed, on 12/14/2007, -0/+34perhaps the Piratebay should move there..
  • cmccool, on 12/14/2007, -0/+31help me pack the bags honey,--we are going to Gliese 581!
  • bugsy187, on 12/14/2007, -2/+21Thanks for reminding us, Debbie Downer. ;)
  • keozen, on 12/14/2007, -1/+18I'd put money on there already being a Starbucks there
  • Monti0, on 12/14/2007, -2/+16Space oil!
    Let's invade!
  • EarlOfLade, on 12/14/2007, -1/+15"Ron Paul - survives in space without a spacesuit!"
  • Hipple, on 12/14/2007, -0/+13An uncharted world! I call shotgun in the Mako...
  • Etchii, on 12/14/2007, -0/+13I volunteer to be frozen and sent to check it out. I will then take pictures, samples, videos & tests. Then i can be re frozen and sent back to earth.
  • Coven, on 12/14/2007, -0/+13*mass
  • rossmills, on 12/14/2007, -0/+12£10 to buy your very own acre of Gliese 581!
  • flamingmb, on 12/14/2007, -0/+125-8 earth masses?! You are gonna weigh a ton there!
  • JQP123, on 12/14/2007, -0/+12"Now all we need to do is invent FTL"

    Yes, at light speed, it will only take 20 years to get to Gliese 581. So what is the best way to research faster than light travel? By spending billions to send people on publicity stunt joyrides to low earth orbit or to the moon with crude chemical rockets. Eventually, one day, someone on board one of these vehicles will have an epiphany that makes FTL possible.

    Or at least this seems to be the NASA plan.
  • Golov, on 12/14/2007, -0/+12Note: All the discovered planets Jupiter-mass and above because that's the lower limit of detectable planets in most cases with current technology, not because those stars didn't have smaller planets.
  • EarlOfLade, on 12/14/2007, -3/+11Most Americans already do, so no biggie!
  • CrackyJSquirrel, on 12/14/2007, -1/+9This is an interesting post? Dugg down for delusions of grandeur ..
  • Salomas, on 12/14/2007, -0/+7Who decides who's a terrorist and who gets a lawyer?
  • Croaton, on 12/14/2007, -1/+8Yes... becasue the world was such a peaceful place before those darn militant islamists started their modern terrorist reign.

    Humans (indifferent to religion or ideology) have always spent enourmus amounts of their resources on killing other humans that they consider thier enemy at that specific time.

    If you actually belive that any side is acting in selfdefence in todays major conflicts I truly feel sorry for you...
  • FloppyLlamaDigg, on 12/14/2007, -0/+7Only to realize that the world has since been taken over by damn, dirty apes!

    THAT WAS OUR PLANET!
  • bongle, on 12/14/2007, -0/+7Terrestrial Planet Finder: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrestrial_Planet_Fi ... (currently in funding limbo)
    New Worlds Mission: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Worlds_Mission (in extremely early stages)
    ESA Darwin Mission: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_%28ESA%29 (planned launch 2015)
    And the only one that is actually launched:
    COROT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COROT - Looks for planets transiting in front of their stars. This allows for accurate determination of mass, and some determination of atmospheric characteristics.
  • sporg, on 12/14/2007, -0/+7Dont fall for it people he is selling lots that are swamp land !
  • hmugabe, on 12/14/2007, -3/+9I found your comment to be both useless and uninteresting.
    P.S. RONPAUL BAYBEE BAYBEH
  • EarlOfLade, on 12/14/2007, -0/+6Ok, got ya!

    So.... Only right wingers and terrorists will be left on earth then? Have fun!
  • CrackyJSquirrel, on 12/14/2007, -0/+5Thats not the point. But thanks for trying.
  • cyberoidx, on 12/14/2007, -0/+4thanks for sharing this with us. Really appreciate it.
  • inactive, on 12/14/2007, -0/+4If all the wars stopped and there was "peace on earth and goodwill" who would even want to leave?
  • directive0, on 12/14/2007, -0/+4This is about space. You know that place that doesn't have annoying arguments about "moonbats" and "Neocons"? Shut the ***** up, the moderates are trying to dream about what the silence of a world without ignorance would sound like.
  • Narcism, on 12/14/2007, -0/+4*touché
  • sandygmaharaj, on 12/14/2007, -1/+5you mean...we will have to move again?!!
    it's only a few millions years since we invaded and screwed earth!!
  • sandygmaharaj, on 12/14/2007, -1/+5write a blog, create a fake profile, digg it!
  • NismoZ32, on 12/14/2007, -0/+4This is the chance for the U.S. government to control an entire world. Maybe they won't mess things up this time. Bring back Bill Clinton as king for wild sex parties with alien women!!
  • sanman, on 12/14/2007, -0/+4Now all we need to do is invent FTL
    Or else we can re-invent sour grapes:
    bah, those planets are all probably borderline toxic and grimy anyways!
  • TheDHC, on 12/14/2007, -0/+4a cosmic blowjob from yours truly to whoever lands on it
  • GrubFisher, on 12/14/2007, -0/+4More like Howdy, Agent Smith.
  • Coven, on 12/14/2007, -0/+4bon voyage
  • bentman78, on 12/14/2007, -0/+3Cool, now how the hell do we get there?
  • MerryMortician, on 12/14/2007, -0/+3 I volunteer to go. I don't care if I ever make it.. just build the craft and lets populate that bitch already and my great-grandkids will be the first to set foot on it. I wonder how many folks would support a world-wide effort to build the enterprise (we'll work on the warp drive on the fly) and set sail for a new world?
  • xobecide, on 12/14/2007, -1/+4what if... that was the case? life here started when beings from another planet shot a missile at this one cause it looked nice and covered it with their single cell organisms in hopes it would create more? I just created a new religion...

    Now how to exploit it...
  • 1337Einstein, on 12/14/2007, -0/+3Too bad it's over 20 lightyears away(our most distant active probes are around 20 lightyears short of this distance)
  • sporg, on 12/14/2007, -0/+3You have to take the crosstown expressway.
  • 4degrees, on 12/14/2007, -0/+3the moon and those planets DO rotate. It just so happens that their rotational period is the same as their orbital period. I think the phenomenon is called "orbit lock" or something along those lines, It is a normal gravitational effect.
  • ByteGuerilla, on 12/14/2007, -0/+3Why? Why would you take that away from us?
  • Etchii, on 12/14/2007, -0/+3What is that coming out of her nose??
    SPACE BALLS!?
    OH *****! THERE GOES THE PLANET...
  • Bamborzled, on 12/14/2007, -1/+4Actually, probably the #1 driving force behind new technology is, you guessed it, the military. I mean, I'm sending this comment via a military invention right now, the Internet.
  • warriorscot, on 12/14/2007, -0/+3M class star, probably like a K planet.
  • dajuggernaut, on 12/14/2007, -1/+4it's actually right across from the WallMart
  • cJw314, on 12/14/2007, -1/+4...or we could all burn in hell.
  • minipri, on 12/14/2007, -0/+3No. It's " Help me pack the bags honey, --YOU're going to Gliese 581! "

    (And now I'm being nice. I could've send her to one of those 250 others you know)
  • 0crabby0, on 12/14/2007, -0/+3I can't go to Gliese 581 - I'll lose all of my superpowers under the light of a red sun...
  • catfish182, on 12/14/2007, -1/+4ok say we stop killing each other then what would the media have to report about?
    we stop the killing and a lot of stupid people would be out of work and i just dont want that on my mind
    would you want katey couric serving you taco bell?
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