'Second Earth' found, 20 light years away

I found this article online. I read about the second Earth before on wikipedia. What are your thoughts on this??

Scientists have discovered a warm and rocky "second Earth" circling a star, a find they believe dramatically boosts the prospects that we are not alone.
The planet is the most Earth-like ever spotted and is thought to have perfect conditions for water, an essential ingredient for life. Researchers detected the planet orbiting one of Earth's nearest stars, a cool red dwarf called Gliese 581, 20 light years away in the constellation of Libra.

Measurements of the planet's celestial path suggest it is 1½ times the size of our home planet, and orbits close to its sun, with a year of just 13 days. The planet's orbit brings it 14 times closer to its star than Earth is to the sun. But Gliese 581 burns at only 3,000C, half the temperature of our own sun, making conditions on the planet comfortable for life, with average ground temperatures estimated at 0 to 40C. Researchers claim the planet is likely to have an atmosphere. The discovery follows a three-year search for habitable planets by the European Southern Observatory at La Silla in Chile.

"We wouldn't be surprised if there is life on this planet," said Stephane Udry, an astronomer on the project at the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland.

Two years ago, the same team discovered a giant Neptune-sized planet orbiting Gliese 581. A closer look revealed the latest planetary discovery, along with a third, larger planet that orbits the star every 84 days. The planets have been named after their star, with the most earthlike called Gliese 581c. The team spotted the planet by searching the "habitable zone".

-Ian Sample, science correspondent
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,,2064843,00.html

That’s some discovery, but I don’t think we’ll be living there anytime soon. Besides, even if “they” chose to go there next who will they take? Only the “good” people I suppose the rest will be left here after “they” ruined this planet.

i was watchin dis on tv.. a while bak.. i was amazedd by it. its just reall cool!!!

Never heard about it...but nice knowing..

Snoopy Snoop wrote:

That’s some discovery, but I don’t think we’ll be living there anytime soon. Besides, even if “they” chose to go there next who will they take? Only the “good” people I suppose the rest will be left here after “they” ruined this planet.

uh huh. I think if people can actually go there and live then it's just going to be another planet for us to pollute and ruin . Plus I wouldn't be surprised if they charge people an arm and a leg to go there... it'll just be people that can afford it.

I think I read on the wikipedia article that there's a middle area that's habitable but the other ends are too cold and too hot to be lived on.

My geography lab instructor said he's positive that soon we'll be going to other planets [if not in our lifetime, then the next generations (once there continues to be advancements in technology)] because only around maybe 60 years after the airplane was invented we were already on the moon.

... and I think there is life on other planets and we just don't know about it yet.

It's pretty cool though.

cool?
i honestly think thats scary...
when i heard about it i was freaked out...

lolzz..its cool and scary..lolz...

But it would be a great experience.

Yea I know... knowledge AND money = power. You're right the world does revolve around money. Let's say it is livable on that planet and people could go there and it was a matter of safety because something was threatening our planet, it would be the "big" people that get to go there. The "little" people would be left here to suffer.

I don't even know if I would want to go there (not that I could afford it). There are so many things that could possibly go wrong when people get there too.