Gliese 581C: Our New Home?

Among the other stars, the following stand out:
γ Librae, that's an orange star, in the north-central part of the constellation;
HD 140283, which has an incredible age of about 14 billion years, so it's useful to set limits on the age of the universe;
Gliese 581, a red dwarf. Perhaps, the most special one.
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Follow me in this video to get to know more about Gliese 581 and exoplanets. I promise you won't regret it!

On April 24 2007, it was discovered an exoplanet in the Libra constellation.
The discovery was announced by a team of astronomers from the University of Geneva, Switzerland.
At that time, the group was using the HARPS instrument, installed in 2002 on the 3.6 m telescope of ESO La Silla observatory in Chile.
HARPS actually became operational in February 2003, and since then it was used to detect exoplanets, based on measurements of the variations of the radial velocities of stars subject to gravitational forces of bodies rotating around them.
Therefore, HARPS, which stands for High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet, was an amazing high precision spectrograph for radial velocities.
Astronomers that happened to use HARPS, were very lucky.

However, the planet was called Gliese 581c, because it is part of the Gliese 581 star system, i.e. it orbits around Gliese 581. 
As we said in the intro, Gliese 581 is a red dwarf star, that lies about 20 light-years distant from us. 
Do you know what a red dwarf is?
A red dwarf is a very small and cool type of star. 
Red dwarfs are by far the most common type of star in the Milky Way, at least in the neighbourhood of the Sun.
So here comes the big answer: could Gliese 581c become our nem home?
Well, I mean, it's a hard question. 
We know that our modern technology can't bring us to another star system distant 20.5 light-years away.
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Credits: Ron Miller
Credits: Nasa/Shutterstock/Storyblocks/Elon Musk/SpaceX/ESA/ESO
Credits: Flickr

Video Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:23 ESO La Silla observatory in Chile
01:46 High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet
03:43 Gliese 581c is an exoplanet with a radius only 50% larger than the Earth
03:54 It is capable of having liquid water on its surface
04:40 This exoplanet should be either rocky or fully covered by ocear
06:43 ESO 3.6-m telescope at La Silla, Chile
09:18 Do you think Gliese 581c could become our new home?

#InsaneCuriosity #Gliese581c #star

[InsaneCuriosity]

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[hoouwit]

Wouldn't it be funny that our ego makes us think we can just go takeover planets, but then we get there and there's already beings living there and they're like GTFOH!

[aidasyafiqa]

I simply think its easier to change our lifestyle instead of changing our planet

[Xeno_Bardock]

Red stars have a unique property as they all have a very bloated plasma atmosphere surrounding them which glows red, mostly in infrared spectrum. All planets orbiting inside this plasma atmosphere will always experience almost even temperatures which is very hospitable for life. Its like siting inside a sauna for the orbiting planets so the earth-like planets don't necessarily need to orbit within goldilocks zone and planets wont have ice caps.

[desmcharris]

Isn’t the radiation from Red Dwarf Stars now been shown to be too toxic to life as we know it? There are too many dangerous flares erupting from the ancient Star.

[mm-dwrr]

A big "A+" to all our Insane Curiosity Team. The changes you've made are so very well done. 🤩

[mickhealy]

Pretend the space craft left yesterday for Gliese 581c at whatever speed you like thats possible, whatever, between time, time dilation and our life spans, we here on earth will never know what happens or be alive to know what the result is, makes you think.

[hbman]

Sorry peeps, won't happen. Humans have 1 place to live. If we don't fix it we're doomed. So get to fixin'

[Cola_]

Gliese 581c Radio Signal is about to go in year 2029.

[jonathanlindsey]

i’ll be glad when the earth like exoplanets we discuss r orbiting stars like Sol instead of red dwarfs... i understand red dwarfs r about 75% of the stars, but hopefully jwst will open the door for finding exoplanets orbiting yellow or orange dwarfs

[rolandthethompsongunner]

How is any planet 50% larger than earth earth like ? Wouldn’t it’s gravity be crushing?

[tonylalangue]

I don’t understand the excitement over planets of red dwarf stars. Among other things, the their tendency to generate large solar flares makes survival, especially in the habitable zone troublesome. Of course, the relative ease for astronomers to detect planets orbiting them, might have something to do with it.
Note: I replied, based on new information from an expert on red dwarfs.

[TheJer]

If I get there early can I get something on the beach?

[woldenzacharie]

You still didn't explain how is it our new home

[shawnsereal]

What do we do if we finally were able to make it to another planet and it's already inhabited?

[voodoochile]

I subscribed cos of no ads. I hate ads much.
Oh an ads played just as I put this comment up. Well as long as the uploaded don’t take the piss with ads I stay subscribed. 👍🐿

[michaelgrabert]

Why did you pronounce it Gill ease when it is spelled like glee esse?

[michal]

0:42 how is HD 140283 around 14 billion years old when the universe is 13.8 billion?

[mbt]

Our new home...my home is earth and always wil be....

[ufosrus]

Just another planet we can invade and ruin. How about fixing this one instead of looking for another?