A planet 20 light years away from Earth will be able to be habitable.

Gliese 581g belongs to the system of six planets that revolve around the star Gliese 581 (which is located in the constellation Libra).

The researchers believe it could hold its own atmosphere, oceans and rivers may be rocky, thus enhancing the possibility of being able to support life.

The discovery was made by U.S. researchers at the University of California at Santa Cruz and the Carnegie Institution in Washington, and was published in the Astrophysical Journal.

“The fact we have discovered so quickly and that this planet is so close, tells us that other planets may be common as this. The number of solar systems with potentially habitable planets will be in the order of 10 or 20%,” noted astronomer Steven Vogt, who participated in research that is being made 11 years ago.
Gliese 581g has a mass three times that of Earth and the diameter is 1.2 to 1.4 times greater.

The big difference is that a year on this planet lasts 37 days, ie the time taken to get around the star. This planet is not rotating, ie, one side always faces the star, which makes it ever day, while on another night is permanent.

On the “daytime” temperatures are quite high, hot, according to scientists, the “night” are around -31 and -12 degrees. For researchers, the best place on earth is the “border” between the two zones.

“The life forms that could arise on the planet would have a great variety of climates to develop stable, depending on the longitude where they met,” he said.