gliese

All of these factors add up to make Gliese the most promising evidence yet that Earth-like planets may not be such a rarity after all.

That may be for the best, though; a year on Gliese 581 c lasts just 13 days, so we'd have to spend a fortune on calendars [source: Sample].

Better still, it's located in what's known as a habitable zone, orbiting Gliese at just the right distance to have liquid water.

One of the planets, named Gliese 581g, has a mass of three to four times that of Earth and takes 37 days to orbit the star.

One of Gliese 581's planets, planet D, could be one of these "eccentric impostors, " hiding an extra planet within its signal.

The Gliese 581 star has about 30% the mass of our sun, and the outermost planet is closer to its star than we are to the sun.

But Butler has no direct evidence that Gliese 581-g actually has water.

Scientists caution that just because Gliese 581 g is the right temperature to hold liquid water doesn't mean that it has any.

Like the solar system, the planets orbiting Gliese 581 have mostly circular orbits.

But most astronomers are not yet ready to close the book on Gliese 581g.

Gliese 876 is a small, red star with about one-third the mass of the sun.

When it was announced last September, Gliese 581g was heralded as the first known planet that could harbor alien life.

The recent discovery of Gliese 581 suggests that we may be close to finding an answer.

In 2007, for instance, HARPS discovered another super-Earth, called Gliese 581d, that may lie within the habitable zone of its star.

He said there are two ways to interpret the signals from Gliese 581.

According to theory, a planet the size and mass of Gliese 581c should be rocky, like the Earth.

Even if Gliese 581c turns out to be void of little green men, there is time yet.

Gliese 581 e used to hold the title of smallest alien planet.

Second, winds would distribute heat from the permanent day side of Gliese 581d to the permanent night side, preventing freeze-out.

If Gliese 581 g does exist, though, it's interesting for a number of reasons.

The discovery of an Earth-like planet, Gliese 581g, made international news in September.

Planet G was the sixth planet found circling Gliese 581, a red dwarf star 20 light-years from Earth.

Unfortunately, subsequent research has tempered the initial excitement over Gliese 581 c.

Unlike the previously discovered planets, Gliese 581g lies squarely in the region of space were life can thrive.

The Gliese 581 system has been well studied by astronomers and comprises four - possibly five - planets orbiting a red dwarf star.

The paper reports the discovery of two new planets around Gliese 581.

Whether Gliese 581g is an actual planet remains an open question.

Like our solar system, the planets around Gliese 581 have nearly-circular orbits.

Things don't look good for Gliese 581g, the first planet found orbiting in the habitable zone of another star.

It shows that European astronomers have discovered a new planet, they name it Gliese 581 c.

It is orbiting a star called Gliese 876, 15 light years from Earth, with an orbit time of just 1. 94 Earth days.

Updates for the Hipparcos data in 2007 allowed Bobylev to calculate the likelihood that Gliese 710 might smash into our solar system.

The planet in question orbits a star called Gliese 581 that lies a mere 20 light years away in the constellation Libra.

The previous five planets found around Gliese 581 were named b to f, making the latest discovery Gliese 581g.

Gliese 581 g is unequivocally the most Earth-like planet we've discovered outside of our solar system -- assuming it exists, that is.

Gliese 581g has a mass three to four times Earth's, the researchers estimated.

What they revealed is a planet circling the red dwarf star, Gliese 581.

Unfortunately, Gliese 876 d isn't a Goldilocks planet.

The planet orbits a dim red dwarf star 20 light years from Earth called Gliese 581.

There is just one other potential super-Earth, known as Gliese 581d, which was detected by the same astronomers in Chile in 2007.

Gliese 581 is a red dwarf star 20. 5 light-years from Earth.

Gliese 581, the brightest object in this Nasa image from 2007, is only 20 light years from Earth and is one of our nearest neighbours