Gliese 581 d

Gliese 581 d [ ɡli zə ː ] is an exoplanet, orbiting the red dwarf star Gliese 581. Gliese 581 d is about 20.2 light years from Earth and is part of the constellation Libra. He is according to recent findings directly in the habitable zone.

Properties

Gliese 581 d takes about 66 days to orbit its star. He has at least 5.6 Earth masses.

Discovery

The planet was discovered on April 24, 2007 by Stéphane Udrys team of the Geneva Observatory using the HARPS instrument at the European Southern.

Climate and habitability

Initially, calculations showed that Gliese 581 d is located just outside the habitable zone. Since the end of 2009, with the discovery of Gliese 581 e, it is believed that the planet is located in the habitable zone. Because of its size, one can not say with absolute certainty whether it is a pure rocky planets. There is speculation that it was a great ice planet, which was then moved further into the inner system, this would be covered by a very deep ocean. Thus Gliese 581 d is a promising material for a water world. But he could also just have a larger moon.

"Hello From Earth "

In August 2009 there was an action, were sent d in the messages to Gliese 581. People all over the world were able to 160 characters long write texts that were sent from the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex from collected on August 24. The more than 25,000 greetings are expected to arrive late in 2029 when planet.