Earth-Like, Water-Rich Planet Discovered

[filkertom]

SCIENCE!

ETA: I have no idea what happened to the original Yahoo News link. Got it fixed, and found another take at Wired.

Comments

[banjoplayinnerd.livejournal.com]

“We only look at a handful of stars before finding this planet, said Charbonneau. “Either we got lucky, or the planets are very common.”

Woot, either way.

I wouldn't necessarily put it past life to be present on this planet. Sure the ocean is hot at the surface, but there are life forms right here on Earth that live in the "shadow" of volcanic tubes far below the surface of the ocean, at a depth and temperature that's nice and cozy for them.

It might also be reasonable to assume that if the oceans are deep, somewhere beneath the surface there's a temperature zone we might consider habitable. I'm not expecting giant squids or anything, but . . .

[saganth.livejournal.com]

>>>I'm not expecting giant squids or anything, but . . .

...No one expects the Spanish Insquidsition? (Couldn't resist...)

Water holds heat very well. Yes, here on Earth you don't have to go very deep into the ocean to reach near-freezing temperatures, but if this planet is indeed so much hotter and closer to its sun than our world is, it may be a watery version of Venus. The temperature is well above the boiling point of water (at least as we know it at sea-level here on Earth), so that would make the chemistry of life much more difficult. There may very well be a habitable zone in the depths, and it may be possible that extremeophile life could exist there, but it's also possible that conditions are *juuuust* a bit too hot even for extremeophilic life.