Professor Steven S. Vogt of the Lick Observatory at UC Santa Cruz is apparently 100% sure that life does or will exist on the planet he discovered late last month, affectionately known to the scientific community as Gliese 581 g. Gliese 581 g (the planet) lies in the so-called 'habitable zone' of its parent star, the red dwarf Gliese 581, meaning that it's close enough for there to be liquid water -- not boiling, not frozen -- making it just right for life. The planet has a rocky atmosphere and enough gravity to hold onto its atmosphere.
But don't pack your bags yet, as far as science can tell, our little Goldilocks of a planet (or maybe it should be a Mama Bear of a planet??) appears to be tidally locked to its parent star, meaning that the same side of the planet always faces its sun. The border zones where it's eternally sunrise or sunset might be nice, though.
Gliese 581 (the star itself) is located 20 light years from Earth in the constellation Libra.
On All Things Considered.
On Talk of the Nation Science Friday.
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