Alien Planet

Last year scientists told us that they had found a new planet that could sustain life as we know it. This planet was Gliese 581g. Gliese 581 comes from the name given to its Sun, a Red Dwarf Star. Planets found around the star are then given alphabetical letters in the order that they are found.

This year the scientists say that Gliese 581g wouldn’t be able to support life, however Gliese 581d could.

Hang on; doesn’t d come before g, didn’t they find this planet first?

In September 2010, when the discovery of “g” was announced, there was a lot of excitement because it was smack in the middle of its Suns’ goldilocks zone. This is the zone around a Sun that it is considered possible to sustain life as we know it. There is now a lot of doubt as to if the planet could sustain life or if it even exists, as some scientists have not been able to verify it.

Now we are told that “d”, which is on the edge of the goldilocks zone, could sustain life.

Are these scientists trying to become famous by making claims that are not proven or are they just trying to hang on to their billion dollar budgets?

Gliese 581 is in the Libra constellation approximately 22 light years away from Earth. This means that even with our current technology it would take a probe thousands of years to reach it. We do not yet have the technology to prove the existence of life on these planets, without probes. So what is the big deal?

Scientists already get our dollars by the billions, they should not ask for our applauds as well, until they have proof of something worth applauding.