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Study questions existence of planet thought to potentially support alien life

The Columbian
Published: July 3, 2014, 12:00am

WASHINGTON — The discovery four years ago of a rocky, not-too-distant planet that seemed a prime candidate for alien life was a thrilling development in the search for other Earths — proof, it seemed, that our planet was not the only one with just the right mix of life-sustaining conditions.

But two scientists at Penn State University say they have debunked the possibility of a “Goldilocks” planet once believed to revolve around Gliese 581, a faint dwarf star that is 20 light-years from Earth.

Using a new technique they are developing to confirm the existence of small, hard-to-detect planets, the researchers say they have determined that physical changes within the star itself created the illusion of an orbiting Goldilocks planet and a second one that also does not exist.

Three other planets do exist, they said, in the Gliese 581 planetary system, but none within the star’s “habitable zone” — an area just the right distance from the star to allow the presence of liquid water.

“It’s bittersweet,” said Suvrath Mahadevan, one of the researchers who conducted the study, published Thursday afternoon in the journal Science. “We are pleased the technique works, but on the other hand, we have disproved these two planets. It would have been nice if they had existed.”

Steven Vogt of the UCO/Lick Observatory at the University of California at Santa Cruz, one of the astronomers who first reported the existence of the “Goldilocks” planet, did not respond to emails this week. Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, his co-researcher, declined to comment for this story.

This is not the first time the planet’s existence has been questioned. A Swiss team reported that it was unable to find evidence of the planet. Vogt and Butler published a follow-up paper defending their research.

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