Life on another planet?

[TotalControl]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/38/20100930/tsc-earth-lik...

The link above states:

Article said:

The planet orbits a nearby red dwarf star, called Gliese 581, in the constellation of Libra and its short distance to the star means that a total year is just thirty-seven days long and its seasons last only a few days.

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Now, I may not be understanding this fully, but how can there be life that can be formed if the planet is so near the star and a year only lasts 37 days?

[Oystercatcher]

It's life Jim, but not as we know it...

[JungleJim]

why do you think a 37 day year would hinder life?

[nammynake]

Red dwarf star, i.e. towards the end of its life and with a lower luminosity than the sun, hence the 'safe' zone in which liquid water can exist can be closer to the parent star. In comparison, many of the previous exo-planets are too close to their parent star for liquid water to exist.

[TotalControl]

So, would it mean that life would be a lot shorter on the planet due to the short years?

[iAlex]

JungleJim said:

why do you think a 37 day year would hinder life?

No, i think that length of year would see me partying like nothing you've ever seen before.

[andyjo1982]

Saw a little on this in the paper today, shame the system and planet they're talking about is so many million light years away. I'm convinced there is other life out there, maybe not in the same form as Earth, but there are millions of other galaxies out there, so surely there must be a set up similar to our own solar system which can sustain life. Doubt we'll ever know for sure in our lifetime though.

[F93]

If humans went there, we'd shrink to about 2-3ft in height if, due to its size it's also three times the mass of the earth, then there'll likely be 3 times the gravity.

Hence, it may support life, just a load of midgets who suffer from premature deaths.... interesting to say the least

[NismoGT]

andyjo1982 said:

Saw a little on this in the paper today, shame the system and planet they're talking about is so many million light years away. I'm convinced there is other life out there, maybe not in the same form as Earth, but there are millions of other galaxies out there, so surely there must be a set up similar to our own solar system which can sustain life. Doubt we'll ever know for sure in our lifetime though.

It would be an awful waste of space.

[Ayahuasca]

JungleJim said:

why do you think a 37 day year would hinder life?

Because if you lived to be say 75 years old, you would die at age six-and-a-half in earth years.

[Simpo Two]

Tesco are sending off applications for 1,000 stores right now.

Ayahuasca said:

JungleJim said:

why do you think a 37 day year would hinder life?

Because if you lived to be say 75 years old, you would die at age six-and-a-half in earth years.

No, you'd live exactly the same amount of real time and die at 740 Gliese-years.

Edited by Simpo Two on Friday 1st October 00:25

[nammynake]

F93 said:

If humans went there, we'd shrink to about 2-3ft in height if, due to its size it's also three times the mass of the earth, then there'll likely be 3 times the gravity.

Hence, it may support life, just a load of midgets who suffer from premature deaths.... interesting to say the least

Acceleration due to gravity is a function of both mass and the radius of the planet.

g = GM / R^2

[Laurel Green]

Oystercatcher said:

It's life Jim, but not as we know it...

Not another Hazel Blears.

[Bing o]

Ayahuasca said:

JungleJim said:

why do you think a 37 day year would hinder life?

Because if you lived to be say 75 years old, you would die at age six-and-a-half in earth years.

I seriously hope that there is a missing sarcasm smiley here

[ymwoods]

TotalControl said:

So, would it mean that life would be a lot shorter on the planet due to the short years?

No. Time is something we made up to help ourselves plan things. So that when I say meet me somewhere on the 15th Aug 2015 at 8:30pm you know exactly when this will be. We have furthered this by counting a year as once around the sun.

In terms of a cat, they don't know a year from a month and although they live shorter lives than us, putting them on a world where once around the sun only took 3 days would do nothing to shorten their lifespan. Only in the way we measured it.

[Mr Dave]

nammynake said:

F93 said:

If humans went there, we'd shrink to about 2-3ft in height if, due to its size it's also three times the mass of the earth, then there'll likely be 3 times the gravity.

Hence, it may support life, just a load of midgets who suffer from premature deaths.... interesting to say the least

Acceleration due to gravity is a function of both mass and the radius of the planet.

g = GM / R^2

I dont think that is the most important thing to be pointing out as wrong in that statement.

They are called little people not midgets. You heightist bar stewards.

[Blue Meanie]

The interesting thing for me is that if there is an 'earth like' planet relatively near us, even if uninhabited, and inhospitable, then I wonder how it affects the drake equation?

[Silver993tt]

andyjo1982 said:

Saw a little on this in the paper today, shame the system and planet they're talking about is so many million light years away. I'm convinced there is other life out there, maybe not in the same form as Earth, but there are millions of other galaxies out there, so surely there must be a set up similar to our own solar system which can sustain life. Doubt we'll ever know for sure in our lifetime though.

It's 20 light years away and the gravity is similar to that of earth. Also, the planet does not spin on any axix, so there is no day & night. One half of the planet is always facing its sun while the other half is in constant darkness. The zone for life (as we know it) is in the area between these areas, where the temperature is moderate and there is enough light.

Edited by Silver993tt on Friday 1st October 06:58

[jeff m]

Can't we just ask Ron Hubbard

[Neil H]

I'd say it's a dead cert that there's life of some kind on other planets, but I think it's highly unlikely the human race will ever meet any due to the distances and timescales involved.