“Alien life certain to exist…”

Excerpts from news stories about life on a newly discovered exoplanet:

Sept. 30, 2010

Alien life certain to exist on Earth-like plant, scientists say

The chances of alien life existing on a newly-discovered Earth-like planet are 100 per cent, an astronomer has claimed.

Gliese 581g was discovered orbiting a nearby star at a distance that places it squarely in the “habitable zone” where liquid could exist on its surface…

It is as yet unknown whether water does exist on the planet or what kind of atmosphere it has. But because conditions are ideal for liquid, which is always a precursor for life on Earth, Prof. Vogt believes that life will undoubtedly have begun there.

“Personally, given the ubiquity and propensity of life to flourish wherever it can, I would say, my own personal feeling is that the chances of life on this planet are 100 percent,” he said during a press briefing. “I have almost no doubt about it.”

Nov. 1, 2010

Bye bye to a Lovely Planet

The planet Gliese 581g may be a chimera.

A new analysis by astronomer Michel Mayor and his Swiss team suggests that Gliese 581g is… a planet conjured into existence by other researchers’ fautly interpretations of noisy data.