A team of European astronomers have detected an Earth-like planet outside the solar system, which they hope may contain liquid water and can also host life.

The planet is orbiting a red dwarf star known as Gliese 581 in constellation Libra at a distance of just 20.5 light years or 120 trillion miles away from us, which can be considered nearby if talking in galactic terms.

According to scientists a planet can be termed potentially habitable if its size is similar to Earth and if it contains water in liquid state. This is the first planet that meets these standards.

This super-Earth planet named 581 c has been discovered by the European Southern Observatory’s telescope in La Silla, Chile and its radius is estimated to be about 1.5 times that of Earth.

The planet is 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is to our Sun, but as the host star is much dimmer and cooler than our Sun, this planet should be having a habitable temperature somewhere between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius. Researchers also believe that the planet should be having an atmosphere, but what is in that atmosphere is still a mystery.

Astronomers have not been able to directly view the planet. They used a very sensitive instrument that can measure tiny changes in the velocity of the star as it experiences the gravitational tug of a nearby planet.

581 c compared to Mars

Astronomers who are searching for habitable extraterrestrial locations feel that Mars is one of the best places for it. Let’s compare Mars with 581 c:

Mystery still shrouds the planet

Scientists have still not been able to give many details about the planet as they have not been able to view it directly. Researchers also worry that since the planet is orbiting very close to its parent star all its water could have evaporated ages ago when the star was burning like our Sun. Moreover they are also not very sure about the atmosphere of the planet. If the atmosphere is thicker than estimated then it would also add to the average temperature of the planet which means it would not be able to support life.

Another major problem for these researchers is that there is no way by which they can reach there in human life time so they still have to depend on observations made by telescopes which are mostly based on assumptions.