# Planet suitable for habitation discovered **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 19, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453 "2011-05-19T15:31:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/1 "2011-05-19T15:31:49Z")
According to[here, a planet suitable for habitation has been discovered.](http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/4321/first-habitable-exoplanet-confirmed), “just” 20 light years away. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/2 "2011-05-19T15:41:55Z")
> [@cosmos magazine](#): > > For budding travellers, though, Gliese 581d would “still be a pretty strange place to visit”, the CNRS said. “The denser air and thick clouds would keep the surface in a perpetual murky red twilight, and its large mass means that surface gravity would be around double that on Earth.” Hmm… high-gravity planet orbiting a red sun… could be we’ve found Krypton. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/3 "2011-05-19T15:42:06Z")
Fascinating. I’ve long been a staunch believer that there is life elsewhere in the universe. Sadly, I’m afraid we’ll never confirm that during my lifetime. If this planet exists as described, meeting the basic qualifications for sustaining some kind of life, then there are likely many other such planets out there. Surely at least one of them has some form of life…some creature staring at the stars like we do…wondering what else is out there… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/4 "2011-05-19T15:52:15Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > some creature staring at the stars like we do…wondering what else is out there… I hope they were listening to Elvis or a reasonable facsimile on the radio twenty years ago. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/5 "2011-05-19T17:01:14Z")
Road trip! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/6 "2011-05-19T17:02:49Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Surely at least one of them has some form of life…some creature staring at the stars like we do…wondering what else is out there… What if we’re the first? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/7 "2011-05-19T17:03:05Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > Originally Posted by cosmos magazine > For budding travellers, though, Gliese 581d would “still be a pretty strange place to visit”, the CNRS said. “The denser air and thick clouds would keep the surface in a perpetual murky red twilight, and its large mass means that surface gravity would be around double that on Earth.” I’m picturing an article in their equivalent of Cosmos: “Sol 3 would be a pretty strange place to visit. The thin air and spotty cloud cover would cause jarring variations in light level on the surface, and its small mass means that surface gravity would be around half that on Gliese 581d.” ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/8 "2011-05-19T17:14:11Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Surely at least one of them has some form of life…some creature staring at the stars like we do…wondering what else is out there… But what about some creature on a planet with continual cloud cover? Would the possibility of other suns, other worlds, even come to mind? And you mis-spelled Shirley. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/9 "2011-05-19T17:16:02Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > Road trip! We’re going to need a LOT of tunes. And everyone bring a cooler. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/10 "2011-05-19T17:17:17Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > What if we’re the first? 😃 Then we can exploit everyone else who comes along later. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/11 "2011-05-19T17:29:03Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > I’m picturing an article in their equivalent of Cosmos: > > “Sol 3 would be a pretty strange place to visit. The thin air and spotty cloud cover would cause jarring variations in light level on the surface, and its small mass means that surface gravity would be around half that on Gliese 581d.” “Additionally, the planet is too immature to be tidally locked. One imagines mind-bogglingly strange adaptations necessary to deal with habitats that are alternately bathed in light, then shrouded in blinding darkness.” ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/12 "2011-05-19T17:37:45Z")
> [@bup](#): > > “Additionally, the planet is too immature to be tidally locked. One imagines mind-bogglingly strange adaptations necessary to deal with habitats that are alternately bathed in light, then shrouded in blinding darkness.” We should send them pictures of an aardvark. Wouldn’t want to disappoint them. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/13 "2011-05-19T17:44:47Z")
Can we get the SDMB Physics Geeks to work double time on teleportation or traveling through worm holes? It’ll make the trip much more bearable 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/14 "2011-05-19T17:49:45Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > Can we get the SDMB Physics Geeks to work double time on teleportation or traveling through worm holes? It’ll make the trip much more bearable 🙂 I dunno, Pal. I’m in favor of waiting until we invent phasers, or at least 1920 Style Death Rays. There might be some damn big aardvarks over there! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/15 "2011-05-19T18:01:20Z")
[Does Anybody Here Have an Aardvark?](http://www.themadmusicarchive.com/song_details.aspx?SongID=1642) ---
**Author:** ![Frazzled](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frazzled/32/3368_2.png) [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/16 "2011-05-19T18:49:06Z")
Do they know for certain that this planet has a thick CO2 atmosphere, or is that just speculation based on their current model? ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/17 "2011-05-19T18:50:38Z")
We think Gliese 581 is between 7 and 11 billion years old (being less massive than the Sun, it has a longer lifetime. It’s not about to run out of hydrogen, not even close.). If there is life on Gliese 581d (or any other planet of Gliese 581), and if it evolved on a similar timeline to life on Earth (a pretty standard assumption in exobiology, though it should be noted it is only an assumption), it would be a good deal more advanced than we are. If we were to come upon life that was 2 billion years behind us, so to speak, we’d only find single-celled organisms. Gliese 581 is probably 2 to 6 billion years older than the Sun. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I hope they were listening to Elvis or a reasonable facsimile on the radio twenty years ago. They were, on oldies stations. [Here’s the Billboard Top 100 for 1981](http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1981.htm). ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/18 "2011-05-19T19:01:08Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > They were, on oldies stations. [Here’s the Billboard Top 100 for 1981](http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1981.htm). They were listening to Air Supply? They’re already on their vengeful way! We’re doomed! ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/19 "2011-05-19T19:02:45Z")
Er… 1981 was _thirty_ years ago… twenty years ago, the aliens would be listening to Nirvana. Counts fingers, checking math :sigh: Yup… thirty years ago. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453/20 "2011-05-19T19:05:09Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > They were listening to Air Supply? They’re already on their vengeful way! We’re doomed! ~“Here we are, The ones that you lured. Taking your world away.”~ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planet-suitable-for-habitation-discovered/582453.md?page=2)