I just geeked in my pants (Earth-like exoplanet discovered)

[iHateWindows]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb

[SiliconAddict]

Be careful using wikipedia as a reference. Have you googled the planet as well?

[Kernow]

I've seen this in a few places - notably the BBC news site (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4647142.stm), so I guess that it is reliable here. You do have a point though - Wikipedia is generally pretty reliable, but can sometimes be far from definitive.

p.s. the title of this thread really made me laugh.

[Mr. Anderson]

The planet is estimated to be about five times Earth's mass (5.5+5.5?2.7 M?). Some astronomers have speculated that it may have a rocky core like Earth, with a thin atmosphere. Its distance from the star, and the star's relatively low temperature, means that the planet's likely surface temperature is around 53 K (?220 °C, ?364 °F). If it is a rocky world, this temperature would make it likely that the surface would be made of frozen volatiles, substances which would be liquids or gases on Earth: water, ammonia, methane and nitrogen would all be frozen solid. If it is not a rocky planet, it would more closely resemble an icy gas planet like Uranus, although much smaller. [2]

Earth like is relative - 5x Mass means higher gravity and those temps aren't going to be any more favorable to life as we know it.

Still cool though.

D

[comictimes]

Earth like is relative - 5x Mass means higher gravity and those temps aren't going to be any more favorable to life as we know it.

Still cool though.

D
Yea it kinda makes me sad that the most earthlike planet discovered to date is still completely incapable of supporting life, at least as far as we know. I mean, as far I can tell from this article, the only things that are similar between this planet and Earth are its small(ish) size and how far away it is from its star...