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Undated handout image provided by the European Southern Observatory of a close-up of the sky around the star HD 85512. AP Photo/the European Southern Observatory

'Steam bath' planet could support life, say astronomers

European astronomers announcing the discovery of 50 new planets say that one in particular is just inside the habitable zone.

ASTRONOMERS BELIEVE they have found a second planet outside our solar system that seems to be in the right zone for life, just barely.

However, it would feel like a steam bath — hot, sticky and beyond uncomfortable.

European astronomers announced the discovery today along with about 50 other planets outside our solar system at a conference in Moran, Wyoming. The most exciting of those planets is only the second to be confirmed as lying in what astronomers call the habitable zone, or the Goldilocks zone.

That means it’s not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to be present. Water is the key to a planet being able to support Earth-like life, scientists say.

Only one of the past discoveries of such planets has held up. That was a planet found in 2007. And even this new one comes with an asterisk: The planet would need to have water and be a rocky, solid planet like Earth, not one that’s primarily gas like Jupiter.

The new planet is about 3.6 times the mass of Earth. Temperatures there may range from 30 to 50 degrees Celsius with plenty of humidity.

“It’s going to be really muggy, just think about the muggiest day you can think of,” said study author Lisa Kaltenegger, an astronomer with the Max Planck Institute in Germany. “We’re not saying it’s habitable for you and me.”

But other types of life — probably shorter and squatter life — could conceivably take root there, she said. They would probably be closer to the ground than humans because gravity on this larger-than-Earth planet is about 1.4 times what we experience, she said.

For it to be considered livable by astronomers, at least 60 per cent of it would have to be covered in clouds, said Kaltenegger. Earth has about 50 per cent cloud cover, so 60 per cent seems reasonable, she said.

The new planet, called HD85512b, closely circles a star about 35 light-years from Earth in the constellation Vela. Each light-year is 5.8 trillion miles. A year there is only 60 days. The only reason it might not too hot for life is that its sun is about 1,800 degrees cooler than our sun, Kaltenegger said.

The new batch of planets, including the potentially habitable one, were found by the European Southern Observatory’s special planet-hunting instrument called HARPS is based in Chile. The finding doubles the number of planets that are closer to Earth in mass than those closer to Jupiter’s size.

Reports on them appear in four papers published in scientific journals to coincide with the Wyoming conference, Extreme Solar Systems II. This new planet was observed more than a thousand times over 200 nights of tracking from Chile so astronomers are confident with their findings, said study author Francesco Pepe of the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland.

In addition to the two European discoveries of potentially habitable planets, a NASA telescope has identified more than 50 other candidates, but those still need further confirmation.

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    Mute Rear Admiral
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 5:29 PM

    I’ll be sending back that “Huberman’s Haemerrhoid Cream” so

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    Mute Bazzle Bush
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 5:36 PM

    @Rear Admiral: No! That ones legit!

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    Mute iohanx
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 5:37 PM

    @Rear Admiral: does it work?

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    Mute Shelly Levine
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 5:49 PM

    @iohanx: I’m squeaky clean. Thanks Amy!

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    Mute Declan Tooher
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 6:37 PM

    Unfortunately, this is not the first scam she has been involved in. All those awful tv shows that demand you to pay a licence fee spring to mind.

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    Mute MarkS
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 6:31 PM

    Nice to see she is branching out from the weekly Irish independent mouthpiece articles that nobody cares about.

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    Mute chinaski
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    Aug 23rd 2018, 1:41 AM

    @MarkS: You beat me to it. What is it with the indos obsession with her and him?

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    Mute David Quigley
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    Aug 23rd 2018, 6:35 AM

    @chinaski: The indo is a celebrity rag masquerading as a broadsheet

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    Mute Seriously stunned
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    Aug 23rd 2018, 9:00 AM

    @David Quigley: yea we love the journal.ie woo hoooo

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    Mute MarkS
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    Aug 23rd 2018, 9:30 AM

    @chinaski: she’s on some kind of weekly nonsense rotation with Vogue William’s, Amanda Brunker & Roz Purcell. Twink lost her place in the rotation last year unfortunately.

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    Mute Brian McDonnell
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 5:36 PM

    Beauty cream warns users to beware of the sham that is…….

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    Mute Tyler Williams
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 6:12 PM

    I’m not from these parts so I have absolutely no idea who she is. What is IFTA?

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    Mute TellingItAsItIs
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 6:32 PM

    @Tyler Williams: She’s a very popular average actress and also wife to a famous ex rugby player called Brian O’Driscoll. She’s also pretty and could sell ice cream to the Eskimos.

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    Mute David Grey
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 11:47 PM

    Tyler . Google

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    Mute Margate
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    Aug 23rd 2018, 12:34 AM

    @TellingItAsItIs: Very popular? Eh? Not with that many…she wings her way simply based on looks, fame, hubby etc, otherwise limited..

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    Mute Rhona Byrne
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    Aug 23rd 2018, 8:20 AM

    @Tyler Williams: Irish Film and Television Awards

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    Mute TellingItAsItIs
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    Aug 24th 2018, 5:52 PM

    @Margate: she’s also popular because she’s a very nice lady

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    Mute Tony Maguire
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 7:06 PM

    Ya can’t beat a bit of free advertising!!!

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    Mute James O'Brien
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 11:53 PM

    This is product of RTE. Labeling people as influencers. Vogue Williams will be next or Brunker

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    Mute Jaci Black
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 10:02 PM

    Stay away from the sun and eat healthily. Water is not your enemy.

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    Mute Maggie O'Sullivan
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 10:04 PM

    Total waste of money. Margarine does the same job as any of these expensive creams.

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    Mute Colette Kearns
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 9:48 PM

    Don’t waste your money on any of them, soap & water then some E45 cream ( 400 ml ) for under €10

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    Mute Rob Cahill
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    Aug 23rd 2018, 9:31 AM

    She has fans?

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    Mute Derek Walsh Ⓥ
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 8:41 PM

    What sort of idiot would be fooled by “anti-aging cream?”

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    Mute Ann Basquille Smith
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    Aug 22nd 2018, 11:49 PM

    Who are accepting these adverts

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