+591 They've just discovered a planet that is only 20 light years away in a solar system like ours that is about the same size as Earth and the right distance from it's star so that it could have liquid water. The chances of this planet having life are more then 50%. This is the most important discovery of the year, but it will be under reported, amirite?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Holy shit, really?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Took the words straight outta my mouth

by Anonymous 13 years ago

link plz

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Search "Goldilocks planet".

by Anonymous 13 years ago

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_581_g

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Hehe, Goldilocks! Because it's "just right". I'm sorry, but I cannot get over how perfectly this new planet has been named.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Noo that's not the name of the planet. That's just a "cute" name for the habitable zone of any star because it IS just right for liquid water. The planet is just called Gliese 581 g for now.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I am quite aware that's not the actual name, I am just in love with the fact they are calling it Goldilocks, for the moment being. It's quite a clever nickname. :3

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I always thought it would be named 'Pandora', after all of them movies (Not just Avatar) would name a second Earth; 'Pandora'

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Sweet. Now all we have to do is find a method of traveling faster than light. Way faster than light. That is, if we want to wreck more planets than just Earth.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

We wouldn't have to go faster then light since it's only 20 light years away, but we would still have to go very very very fast. And something tells me that by the time we develop that technology, we will be past our "wrecking" phase.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

I hope so too. And you're right also that it would take a long time to be able to travel at near-light speed. Of course, there's the question of how we would be able to sustain life in space for over 20 years, but I'm sure we'll have worked that out by then too.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

We wouldn't need to go into space for 20 years. To get there in a lifetime, we would have to go at relativistic speed, meaning time would go extremely slow, feeling for us like a matter of months or even a few years, while, depending on our speed (because it's impossible to go faster than the speed of light) it would really be over 20 years for us to travel.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

OMG you guys are so dumb, a light year isn't one year it's a measure of distance. One light year is 6 trillion miles. We will probably never ever develop technology to travel 6 trillion times 20 miles and survive, let alone send back information or people.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

and dear if you travel at the speed of light how much time does it takes to cover a distance me 6 trillion miles? Because i think he said that we would probably develop a technology that would allow us to move in space at such a velocity.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Really? Wow. But you're right, the media are more interested in the fact that Megan Fox has had plastic surgery who cares) than anything like this.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

That's so awesome. Hopefully the future is like Futurama...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Oh and just think if there is intelligent life on that planet, what if they're just now discovering us? Or they already knew about us... gets your mind thinking.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Goldilocks, isn't it? What kind of name is that? Anyway, I personally don't feel comfortable with the idea of living on another planet. :|

by Anonymous 13 years ago

How does it have more than a 50% chance at harboring life?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Because it's not too cold or too hot, and it could have water.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

It's more likely bacteria and fungi that will be there, but hey, that's better than a bunch of rocks.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

But until we discover a planet that actually harbors life, how could we possibly conclude that a planet has a 50% chance at harboring live. It's one thing to say a planet has the *possibility* of harboring life.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Whether or not it has life hinges on whether or not it has water. If it does, then the odds are almost 100% that it has life. If it doesn't, the odds go very low, but still not zero. There is a good chance that it has water, but because there are so many things we don't know, I just said "above 50%".

by Anonymous 13 years ago

As a journalist, I'm trying to bring real news stories to my college paper, not just ones that are lame and uninformative. The media's job is to provide fair, accurate stories that intrigue the reader and give them information helpful to their lives. People need to remember this and get back to real reporting, instead of trashy tabloids. /rant

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Dude. Thanks for sharing. F'reals.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

When I first read this I thought to myself, "Discovery of the year? It's only the beginning of the year!" Then I realized it was October... god this year has gone fast...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Amen.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Who says life needs water and light to survive? I mean yeah, that's how it is on Earth, but what if lifeforms on other planets don't need water or sunlight?

by Anonymous 13 years ago

GUYS!!! Lady Gaga just ate a muffin!!!!! OMG!!

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Lemme guess. Is your source for this gizmag.com? That's where I found out about it like three days ago.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

OMG you guys are dumb, a light year isn't one year it's a measure of distance. One light year is 6 trillion miles. We will probably never develop technology to travel 6 trillion times 20 miles and survive, let alone send back information or people.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

Most of us realize that...

by Anonymous 13 years ago

(Janae17):We understand that... And I see no reason why we won't be able to do that eventually. It will take time, but humans have always found ways to get stuff done. People from 200 years ago would have said that we will probably never develop the technology to instantaneously send these messages back and forth to each other.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

This news isn't that new. I read about Gliese 581 g about three years ago and even wrote a paper on it. I even suspected your post was talking about that planet. But yeah, if you just heard about it then it's really under reported.

by Anonymous 13 years ago

The discovery of G was announced on september 29th of this year, so unless you have inside info, then no you didn't. You might have done it about another planet in the Gilese system though.

by Anonymous 13 years ago