Another Red Dwarf Super-Earth Located

The Planetary Habitability Laboratory has announced the discovery of another Superearth...that is to say, a rocky planet with a mass somewhere in the ballpark of Earth's mass. In this case, Gliese 163c has a mass of 6.9 Earths (minimum) and 1.8 to 2.4 Earth radii. It has an orbital period of just 26 days! The star, Gliese 163, is a Red Dwarf Star found some 50 light years distant from us. Yes, folks. That's ANOTHER Superearth found around ANOTHER Red Dwarf. Is it possible that we will find life in a Red Dwarf system and not in a Yellow Dwarf system, like ours? Gliese 163c is apparently much warmer than Earth, so the prospect of life is minimum, but not impossible...at 60 degrees Celsius, even some Earth-based extremeophiles can dig it. 

As the PHL notes, more and more potentially rocky Earth-like planets are being found around red dwarf stars. Scientists who study these exoplanets didn't initially think that red dwarfs would be likely candidates for habitable planets. But times they are a-changin. From the stellar PHL article: 

"The potential for habitable planets around red dwarf stars has been and issue of much debate. Tidal effects on the planets around these stars might cause extra surface heating or even tidal locking (always giving the same face to its parent star). Also, these stars are more active and their stellar wind might erode planetary atmospheres much faster. These factors might preclude the potential for life on smaller planets but not for planets with thicker atmospheres, something expected for superterran planets. Our Solar System lacks an example of a superterran. Its eight planets are either the smaller terrestrial kind, like Earth, or the larger gas giants, like Jupiter. Understanding superterrans around red dwarf stars, a non Sun-like star, just adds to the challenge of assessing their habitability."

Do check out the ORIGINAL ARTICLE over at the Planetary Habitability Laboratory, which is by far the best way for the public to understand current research on exoplanets. 

Welcome Gliese 163c! Click to see in detail.