This piece of news is actually a few days old…I thought it was interesting.
Scientists have recently discovered a new planet that holds the potential to sustain life…but it’s pretty far away. Astronomer declared this one of the major discoveries of the decade.
This planet is called Gliese 581g and is located about 20 light-years away from the constellation Libra. This is most Earthlike planet that’s been discovered. “This is the first exoplanet that has the right conditions for water to exist on its surface.” Steven Vogt (UCSC), one of the leaders on the discovery team, remarked.
But there are still many others factors to take into account. Its atmosphere and composition is still unclear and scientist will need more advanced telescopes to further their research. Scientists have considered planets around Gliese 581g before, but they were either too hot or too cold. Gliese 581g is just right.
I think this is pretty sketchy. Temperature is only one of the hundreds of determining factors to sustain life. But…I feel very indifferent to this discovery because I’m pretty selfish. I really doubt Earth will die before I do…so no hurry for me to move to a new planet. I don’t think we should get our hopes up for the future generations.
2 comments:
Well, I'm sure this new planet can be a new alternative when global warming floods and ruins our whole planet. But yeah, I agree, I doubt this planet will be able to sustain human life for the future generations. It'll take years and years to basically, create a new planet harbored with enough organisms, plants, and people willing to migrate. Look at Mars. We thought it was able to inhabit life, but through the Mars winters, we realized humans could not live on Mars. Who knows, this new planet can easily fluctuate in terms of seasons, just like Mars. But hey, we never know--this new planet may just provide some use one day hopefully.
I agree with you LuShuang, that it is kind of a sketchy assumption to say that it can sustain life as we humans know it. Also, it takes way too long to get there with human technology as well. Humans would die out before they arrive to that planet.
On the point that Stephen brought up about global warming ruining the earth, global warming is not endangering the earth. It is endangering the human species. Global warmings and coolings happen continuously throughout the earth's history. Every single time, a few species has gone extinct and new species appear. Therefore, global warming is not endangering the earth, it is endangering humans.
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