Potentially Habitable Planet Found

For the first time astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for "life in the universe."

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That's what's happening as planet-hunters digest the news that European astronomers have detected planet No. 4 orbiting a star with the imaginative moniker: Gliese 581.

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There are about ten thousand billion billion habitable planets in the observable universe, and some of these Earth-like worlds could be found by a mission set to launch early next month, a leading planet-formation theorist now speculates.

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In the atmospheres of more temperate planets, carbon dioxide — along with water, methane and oxygen — can be generated by biological processes, Swain says.

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There is an ocean beneath the icy crust of Jupiter's moon Europa. Strange creatures could be swimming in these alien waters, but so far no missions have been sent there to investigate this possibility. More Articles

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A new study is underway to search for signs of habitability ... on Earth. More Articles

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SADDLE RIVER, N.J. — A neighbor who bought a mansion in a foreclosure auction later found to be littered with the feces of the more than 100 cats and dogs living there wants out of the deal.

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The Hubble Space Telescope has discovered a trove of fast-moving "candidate" planets in a narrow region near the very center of the Milky Way, and astronomers say there must be billions more of them -- including many like Earth that orbit their suns in so-called "habitable" zones …

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In recent years, with improving technology, researchers have found a handful of systems that could harbor life-bearing planets, in theory at least. A nearby star called 55 Cancri is one of the leading candidates.

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