It would not be logical to assume that we are alone in the universe, given the fact that 5% of all stars in our little galaxy (spanning 100,000 light years in diameter) can support life around them. Our galaxy has approximately 200-400 billion stars, so 5% means “only” 10-20 billion stars that would be able to handle life as we know it. This is still a huge number and it is safe to assume that many of those stars do have planets around them, and at that number, chances are, some of those planets happen to be in the safe zone around the star for life to be evolving.
The Earth-like Gliese 581C circles a star in the constellation of Libra that is cooler than our sun.
The newly discovered planet is named Gliese 581C, is about 1.5 times as big as Earth, and makes the round around its star in just 13 days. Now, that is dangerously close to the star itself – one would think. The star has a surface temperature of about 3,000 degrees, that’s about half as hot as our sun. And suddenly, the planet is in the safe zone.
On the planet itself there seem to be temperatures between 0 and 40 degrees, so it’s nice and comfy. It is highly likely that this one has an atmosphere, and many believe it would NOT be surprising if there actually is life down there.
This discovery is a find they believe dramatically boosts the prospects that we are not alone.
The planet is about 20 light years away from Earth. So the images and data we have is pretty recent – well, just 20 years old.
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