Hurrah!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/9664167/Super-Earth-with-life-supporting-climate-discovered.html

‘Super-Earth’ with life-supporting climate discovered
A ‘‘super-Earth’‘ that could have a life-supporting climate has been discovered in a multi-world solar system 42 light years from the Sun.

The planet, which is several times more massive than the Earth, lies just the right distance from its star to allow the existence of liquid surface water.

It orbits well within the star’s ‘‘habitable’‘ or ‘‘Goldilocks’‘ zone – the region where temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold to sustain life.

The new world is one of six, all with masses a few times that of the Earth, believed to circle the dwarf star HD 40307 in the constellation Pictor.

All the others are located outside the habitable zone, too close to their parent star to support liquid water.

Three of these were originally identified in 2009 by European Southern Observatory astronomers. They used an instrument called Harps (High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher) to look for changes in the colour of starlight that give away the presence of planets.

A new analysis of the Harps data, using special computer software, has now revealed three more super-Earths.

One of them, HD 40307g, excited astronomers because it was much further from the star than its companions – between half and three quarters of the Earth’s distance from the Sun – and comfortably within the habitable zone.

So, we’ll all be able to move over there as soon as we feck this planet over. Wonderful to know, thanks BC.

Do they know if it has fuel available, oil, coal?

There’s only enough food there to support three bears.

>>A new analysis of the Harps data, using special computer software, has now revealed three more super-Earths.

Oh, they have modelled it. It must be true then.

http://star-www.herts.ac.uk/~hraj/hd40307/hd40307_final.pdf

here’s the original paper – see how far you can go reading into it before you stop and wibble. This is what/how all these planets are being discovered, ya know, the ones Brian sexy-boy Cox waxes lyrical about and goes, in his Manchurian accent “The Universe is an AMaaazing place… it’s brilliant , innit?”.

Phil explains it in nice, simple terms and with caveat lector
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/11/08/getting-closer-super-earth-found-in-a-stars-habitable-zone/

Michael V said:

So, we’ll all be able to move over there as soon as we feck this planet over. Wonderful to know, thanks BC.

awwww.. I remember a time (before the space cadet) when us simple folk could just read a space article and think little of it except “wibble” and “good-o”. I’m trying to find that place again :)