Scientists have found an extrasolar planet less than twice the size of Earth. It orbits its parent star, Gliese 581, a red dwarf star about 20 light-years from us, in 3.5 days. It’s not terribly likely to have liquid water or life as we know it, being so close to the star.
An orbital period of 3.5 days? wow, wouldnt that speed have deleterious effects too?
Pfff… big deal, every day i wake up and discover an earth-sized planet.
And then I put on my clothes and explore it…
eep. Double post.
No kidding. (Also, that’s apparently a typo, the article gives a somewhat shorter period of 3.15 days.)
Not in and of itself. The speed of a planet in an orbit wouldn’t be perceptible to someone on the surface.
Yeah. All the ones that weren’t flung off. Or died from old age.
thanks!, Ignorance fought.
No, although the tidal forces and stresses might be noticeable.
This world is unlikely to have life (at least, as we would recognize it) but it does contribute to a data set that indicates that rocky terrestrial worlds on which life similar to that on Earth could develop are probably fairly common.
Stranger
Wouldn’t going that fast affect how someone on the surface saw the night sky?
I assume that’s 3.5 earth days. I wonder how many days the planet experiences in its year. They probably can’t tell, huh?
No, I don’t think they can.
I don’t think it would at all. How fast the planet is rotating might, though.
I imagine that if it is close enough to have a 3.15 day orbital period, it’s probably much more likely than not that it’s tidally locked, no?
Although I don’t know the physics, that sounds right. :o
Well, then it’s even less likely to have water/life, except perhaps in the perpetual twilight area.
The tidal issue has to be pretty bad. Unless everything is lined up perfectly, the tidal compression has got to be horrible. Look at what Jupiter does to Io and scale up.
Forget the heat and light from the star, the planet is probably boiling hot from tidal energy alone.
If you want to see some interesting reactions of the local life; switch the order you do that.
The cool thing, is that if I lived on this planet, I’d be 4,172 years old… oh, wait… annnnnd… 4,173 years old…
God, Birthdays would be a bitch.