New alien planet is perfect for life, scientists say

[Chris]

A potentially habitable alien planet — one that scientists say is the best candidate yet to harbor water, and possibly even life, on its surface — has been found around a nearby star.

The planet is located in the habitable zone of its host star, which is a narrow circumstellar region where temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on the planet's surface.



"It's the Holy Grail of exoplanet research to find a planet around a star orbiting at the right distance so it's not too close where it would lose all its water and boil away, and not too far where it would all freeze," Steven Vogt, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, told SPACE.com. "It's right smack in the habitable zone — there's no question or discussion about it. It's not on the edge, it's right in there."


Vogt is one of the authors of the new study, which was led by Guillem Anglada-Escudé and Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution for Science, a private, nonprofit research organization based in Washington, D.C.


"This planet is the new best candidate to support liquid water and, perhaps, life as we know it," Anglada-Escudé said in a statement.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/...#ixzz1lIBVFeaz

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/02/new-alien-planet-is-perfect-for-life-scientists-say/

[rdunk]

At only a "mere 22 light years distance", you would think that this planet would be a keen Seti listening target for current (22 year old) signals. It may already be supporting intelligent life, as we speak. Any communications would be most difficult at 22 light years distance, but for starts, maybe we can be sending that way, as well as listening in that directio, while we find some type of high speed signal technology (as if light speed is not "high speed")

We just never know what we new thing we might learn by morning!!

[Doc]

New super-Earth detected, 'best candidate' for supporting life

By James Trew posted Feb 3rd 2012 1:37PM

"A new potentially life-bearing "super-Earth" has been discovered orbiting a relatively nearby star. Described as the "best candidate" for supporting liquid water -- and therefore life -- the planet (GJ 667Cc) is believed to be about 4.5 times the size of Earth. The parent star (GJ 667C) is 22 light years away, and this is the second potentially Earth-like rock scientists have discovered orbiting the M-class dwarf. With a 28.15 day cycle, it's calculated to receive 90 percent as much light as Earth, and much of that is infrared (meaning the actual energy delivered is about equal) -- crucially hinting at similar temperatures and favorable conditions. Not enough is known about the atmosphere right now to fully nail the water prospects, but it's still our best hope of discovering life as we (don't) know it yet."

http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/03/n...share_facebook


Sources who are occasionally reliable say they are waiting to see if this is a feeler for a wider Disclosure to come. They claim two reasons for their hope: 1) They know some of the people pushing this and related stories in the recent past 2) The absence of the usual caveats and debunking that accompany or follow these stories.