In a few billion years our sun is going to grow hotter and turn red meaning life as we know it will not be able to exist on our burnt-cinder Earth. Of course, by that time we may be human-robot hybrids able to live without aging for centuries; self-contained bio-mechanical spaceships exploring the farthest reaches of the Milky Way but, if a few of us classic flesh-and-blood bipeds are still around, maybe they can relocate to the planet mentioned below, only a mere 50 years away if you’re traveling just under the speed of light. I only hope by that time they have a better name for the place than the antiseptic ‘HD 85512 b’ — that sounds like some kind of 22nd century WD-40.
‘Super-Earth,’ 1 of 50 Newfound Alien Planets, Could Potentially Support Life
By Denise Chow
Space.com
Sept. 12, 2011More than 50 new alien planets — including one so-called super-Earth that could potentially support life — have been discovered by an exoplanet-hunting telescope from the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
The newfound haul of alien planets includes 16 super-Earths, which are potentially rocky worlds that are more massive than our planet. One in particular – called HD 85512 b – has captured astronomers’ attention because it orbits at the edge of its star’s habitable zone, suggesting conditions could be ripe to support life.
The exoplanet findings came from observations from the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher instrument, or HARPS. The HARPS spectrograph is part of ESO’s 11.8-foot (3.6-meter) telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. [ Illustration and video of alien planet HD 85512 b ]
“The harvest of discoveries from HARPS has exceeded all expectations and includes an exceptionally rich population of super-Earths and Neptune-type planets hosted by stars very similar to our sun,” HARPS team leader Michel Mayor of the University of Geneva in Switzerland said in a statement. “And even better — the new results show that the pace of discovery is accelerating.”
The potentially habitable super-Earth, officially called HD 85512 b, is estimated to be only 3.6 times more massive than Earth, and its parent star is located about 35 light-years away, making it relatively nearby. HD 85512 b was found to orbit at the edge of its star’s habitable zone, which is a narrow region in which the distance is just right that liquid water could exist given the right conditions.
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Copyright 2011 Denise Chow and Space.com.