Upon learning about exoplanets, I’ve become fascinated with one 20 years light years away from Earth called the Gliese 581c, which resides in the Gliese 581 system. The Gliese 581c was discovered in 2007 using the radial velocity method of detection (tugs on its planet star). At the time of its discovery, it was the smallest exoplanet detected around a main sequence star and the known exoplanet which most resembled our own Earth.

While thought to reside within the habitable zone, it actually lies just beyond it, making it unfit for civilization. The Gliese 581c also suffers from a runaway greenhouse effect due to its proximity to its host star. 

Cool facts about the Gliese 581c:

• Located third in order from its host star
• Orbits a red dwarf
• Classed as a Super Earth (has up to 10x the mass of Earth)
• Tidally locked (one side faces its host star while the other is in constant darkness)
• Most similar to Venus

Extrasolar planets, aka exoplanets are planets that orbit stars other than our own. Astronomers employ several methods to detect these planets. One such method that fascinates me is the transit method, which is used by looking for a drop in brightness in a small world caused when they pass in front of their parent star. This alignment is known as a transit. The transit method is interesting because it only detects very large and gaseous planets from the ground, and necessitates going into outer space to detect smaller ones. Scientists are starting to identify potential habitable exoplanets using this method and have found potentially 16 candidates that are similar to Earth. This is exciting because as Earth seems like its coming to its doom for a myriad of environmental reasons, we can still be optimistic that one day, maybe not in our lifetime, but eventually, we’ll be able to set up life on another planet and hopefully care for it better than we did this one.