Picture from October 1, 2010
This picture, although merely an artist's rendition, represents something that may be very important for astronomers and non-astronomers alike. This is a depiction of what Gliese 581g (pronounced "gleeza"), a newly discovered extrasolar planet, might look like. The planet, only about 20 light years distant and 3.1 times the mass of Earth, is in what astronomer's call "the Goldilocks Zone" of its parent star, Gliese 581 (in the constellation of Libra). This is the area around a star where temperatures and conditions on a planet would be suitable for liquid water, and therefore, for life. There is one catch, however. The planet is thought to be tidally locked, meaning that one side of it always faces it's sun, which will cause perpetual daytime on that side and perpetual night on the other. Temperatures on the daytime side would be hotter than Earth's average temperature, and colder on the nighttime side. Regardless, finding a potentially habitable planet relatively close by could mean that there are many others like it throughout the galaxy.
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