First Livable Planet (Other than Earth) Discovered in Space

[A203D]

highwaystar101 said:

Troll_Whisperer said:

highwaystar101 said:

Ah! Gliese 581d.

You can guarantee that once every few months this planet comes back into the news as "The first planet other than Earth that can support life!". The simple fact is there are so many factors that we don't know about when it comes to this planet. We know its size, mass and distance from Gliese 581, I think anything past that is speculation.

People just really want this planet to be able to support life.

What's its size and mass? Anything like Earth? Because so far all they have discovered is gigant planets where humans wouldn't be able to live anyway.

Other than that, I agree with you, it could have an atmosphere of sulphuric acid for all we know.

Compared to the Earth it is believed to have something like six times the mass and twice the size. And you're right the vast majority of exoplanets are giant, but Gliese 581d is certainly on the smaller end.

I also heard about the size and mass, but i was under the impression that based on the relatively larger size and mass, its less likely this planet can support life.

i suppose the question is also perphaps it couldnt support sentient life, but could it support plant based life, or something more simple. but i think its possible, as you mentioned once before, for an advanced civilisation to venture to other worlds using ships that could travel fast, but still slower than the speed of light. so its not improbable that humans could one day colonise such worlds.