Twenty light-years away means about 120 trillion miles away, which is relatively close. Still, I wouldn't expect JetBlue flights to Gliese 581 anytime soon.The most enticing property yet found outside our solar system is about 20 light-years away in the constellation Libra, a team of European astronomers said yesterday.
The astronomers have discovered a planet five times as massive as the Earth orbiting a dim red star known as Gliese 581.
It is the smallest of the 200 or so planets that are known to exist outside of our solar system, the extrasolar or exo-planets. It orbits its home star within the so-called habitable zone where surface water, the staff of life, could exist if other conditions are right, said Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory.
- Sci-fi prediction corner: After polluting our planet to the brink of destruction, humans fly off to Gliese 581, only to find that the life-forms on that planet have polluted it to the brink of destruction as well.
