Somara mentioned this discovery while I was half awake watching a throwaway episode of Enterprise on the DVR. I went with Dr. Plait’s site because he gives the best no-nonsense explanation about the possible planet. The American Media tends to fumble or gloss over key details when it comes to Science, see Stem Cell Research.
An earth-like world is exciting news though. If our astronomers can spot these with the means at our disposal today, imagine what the near future holds as the technology and quality of information improves.
Gliese 581c doesn’t seem very habitable due to the estimated gravity being double on Earth so I don’t think anyone will be in a hurry to build a colony there. Someone said I was negative for mentioning such a fact. No, the upside is this, conventional wisdom in Astronomy has always been that habitable planets, let alone earth-like, existing in solar systems with red dwarfs are impossible for numerous reasons. Usually F, G and sometimes K type stars were branded as the best shot because our sun is a G2. Now if Gliese 581c proves to be the rule and not the exception, then habitable worlds with conditions closer to Earth (without all the pollution) may also be more common than originally thought. Definitely changes up the outcome of Drake’s Equation, see the second and third categories since I don’t know how to do subscripts in HTML.
Now comes the contest on what to name the new world!
Correction, Apr 25: Turns out the planet has the designation of 581c from the further reading I’ve done. I guess the ‘c’ stands for ‘third object from the star it orbits (every 13 days).’ I was also wrong about Vulcan’s location, although Epsilon Eridani has been used in the past, the general consensus is 40 Eridani A.