While cruising my former home town newspaper (or what survives of it)- The Star-Advertiser - I came across "Hawaii Telescope Discovers Earth Like Planet." And by golly, they just might have ...
Come below for a few snips and a few thoughts.
"Hawaii telescope finds Earth-like planet"
By Dan Nakaso
... is the headline and by-line
A telescope atop Mauna Kea on the Big Island has discovered what appears to be liquid water on a rocky planet 20 light years from Earth in the constellation Libra, astronomers announced today.
As the story notes, the finding of liquid H2O is a very significant finding - as it suggests: 1) Temperature in the correct range for life as we know it, 2) A key ingredient for life as we know it, and 3) gravity sufficient to hold down an atmosphere.
Giving credit to the observatory and at least one of the astronomers --
The research was conducted from Mauna Kea's W.M. Keck Observatory and included University of Hawaii astronomer Nader Haghighipour, who said, "By determining the orbit of this planet, we can deduce that its surface temperature is similar to that of Earth."
Others involved include Steven Vogt (team leader) from UC Santa Cruz (I thought all they did there was surf and smoke dope?), Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Eugenio Rivera from UCSC and Gregory Henry and Michael Williamson of Tennessee State.
Gliese 581g, as us humble humans have named it, has a mass three to four times the size of Earth, suggesting it is rocky, as opposed to a gas planet
Gliese 581g's mass indicates that it is probably a rocky planet with enough gravity to hold on to its atmosphere.
As Haghighipour noted:
"As we collect more and more data about how these stars are moving, we expect to find many more planets with potentially Earth-like conditions," he said. He noted that to learn more about the conditions on these planets would take even bigger telescopes, such at the Thirty Meter Telescope planned for Mauna Kea.
So, while I am not the super-duper science guy that a lot of folks are around here, I do have a couple of thoughts.
First -- if we found something this much like us this close to us, I think we need to get ready for the idea that there are lots and lots of these puppies out there, and on some number of them life will have formed, and once formed will begin the process of evolution through random change and natural selection. And garuns ball-baruns, whatever evolves will not look like us. If non-caucasian people freak out the Beckians and that ilk, I can only imagine what Gliese 581g-ians will do to their minds.
Second -- on a bit more serious note. G-581g's star is a red dwarf - rather late in a star's life, if I recall correctly ... so, if life does (or ever) exist there -- it will have dealt with some significant changes in star-power over the billions of years.... yes?
Finally -- twenty light years. Really - not so far that we couldn't actually think about trying to send something there ... or at least point a bunch of radio telescopes in that direction. How about a bit of a multi-generational BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal)?