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30 Sep 2010 15:55

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Tech, World: Fun facts about Gliese 581g, aka “The New Earth”

  • everyone, meet gliese 581g! Despite the ugly name, it’s actually a friendly, Earth-like planet in the Libra constellation. “Glee-G,” as we like to call it, is 20 light years away, so we won’t be visiting any time soon; however, the “conditions on the ground” (heh, military humor) are perfect for sustaining water. Here are a few more tidbits about our newest planetary sibling. source
  • No night and day One side of the planet is always facing it’s “sun,” while the other is permanently looking into the abyss of space. So, if it’s freezing and you can’t wait for summer, just cross on over to the other side!
  • 3X bigger than earth So you probably won’t be able to cross on over to the other side. However, despite its size, it has similar gravitational and atmospheric conditions to our beloved blue orb.
  • aliens exist!“The chances for life on this planet are 100 percent,” says Steven Vogt, an astronomer at the University of California. You’d think this sort of thing would have made the news rounds a bit more heavily, no? source

25 Apr 2010 11:06

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Offbeat: Protip from Stephen Hawking: Don’t talk to aliens, ever

  • If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the Native Americans.
  • Prof. Stephen Hawking • Regarding the possibility of alien life hitting Earth. “To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational,” he further notes. “The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like.” This is actually a very astute point, but one we could’ve figured out from watching “Independence Day.” *punch* Welcome to Earth! source