discovered orbiting other stars, this is the first, first to potentially have liquid oceans. perhaps even fish. perhaps even life forms like we find on the earth. we don t know for sure. this is the holy grail of astronomy. finding an either-like twin. ric: where there is water there is usually life? detectives say, follow the money. we scientists say, follow the water, liquid water. liquid oceans. that is where life and dna first got off the ground. if this planet has a liquid ocean, chances are is has at least microbial life and who knows beyond that, intelligent creatures. ric: how do we know this? i was reading even though this is right next to our solar system, hop, skip and jump. ric: it would take generations to get out there. so what is the technology that allows us to know that water exists on this planet? which i should say, tell everybody is called gliese 581g? we look for the wobbling of the mother star. if you have a star system, the planet is invisible.
we have ast row physics professor joining us now. good to see you. thanks so much for joining us. glad to be on the show. how whiting of a discovery do you think this is? this is big. real big. astronomers develop ad lifetime to discover 50 dead planets in outer space. for the first time in history we hit the jack pot. yes. a live planet, perhaps. not just dead planets. i love the way you put that. we talked about it being the goldilocks planet. temperatures between a negative 24 degrees and 10 degrees fahrenheit. what kind of light could survive there? there could be a liquid ocean. it s one of the most precious substances in the universe. one side of the planet is hot. the other side is cold. in between we have a zone where liquid waters, oceans may exist.