Exoplanetology: Gliese 581e: The Most Earth-like...
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Today, a ground-breaking discovery was announced by Michel Mayor: A 1.9 Earth mass exoplanet has been found. It\'s name is Gliese 581 e, located only 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra ("the Scales"). Gliese 581 e is the lightest known exoplanet to date. Among all known exoplanets it is the most similar to earth in terms of mass.
It has a period of 3.15 days, it lies so close to it\'s host star and orbiting so fast that a full year on that planet takes only 3 earth-days.
It is most likely a rocky planet, says Xavier Bonfils. If that is true, Gliese 581 e may have hills and mountains similar to Earth. And you could probably walk on it\'s surface but you\'d weigh almost twice heavier, so you won\'t get very far. And because it orbits so close to it\'s parent star (at 0.03 AU) it probably won\'t have any atmosphere or air to breathe, and it\'s surface is probably scorchingly hot. Obviously it\'s not within the Habitable Zone of the Gliese star system.
It has a period of 3.15 days, it lies so close to it\'s host star and orbiting so fast that a full year on that planet takes only 3 earth-days.
It is most likely a rocky planet, says Xavier Bonfils. If that is true, Gliese 581 e may have hills and mountains similar to Earth. And you could probably walk on it\'s surface but you\'d weigh almost twice heavier, so you won\'t get very far. And because it orbits so close to it\'s parent star (at 0.03 AU) it probably won\'t have any atmosphere or air to breathe, and it\'s surface is probably scorchingly hot. Obviously it\'s not within the Habitable Zone of the Gliese star system.
