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You don't want to live on that planet either. At 3-4 times earth's mass (and roughly the same diameter), gravitational force would press you onto the ground.. and a tidally locked planet has other living problems, too. Let's not forget a red dwarf is a star in its final life cycle. If you wanted to emigrate to another star system, choose a star that has roughly the same age as our star... |
I know I'm a bit late on this, but...I just wanted to point out that a red dwarf is not near the end of it's life. It's actually bery likely that the star will be around for many billions of years after ours is long gone. Red dwarfs start out small and burn slowly, lasting for a loooooong time.
And I also want to say that we do not know that this a habitable planet, or if life can even exist on it. So don't get too excited just yet. I'm as intrigued by the Gliese 581 system as anyone, but until we know for sure, I'll keep being skeptical of every "Earth-like" planet we find. Besides, we'll need better technology before we can actually find true Earth-likes. It's not that I don't think earth-like planets are out there, I just don't count my chickens before they hatch, as they say.
