Gliese 677C, Revisted: Three Super-Earths in the Habitable Zone

(ESO/M. Kornmesser, via BBC News, used w/o permission)
"An impression of what the sky might look like from the exoplanet Gliese 667Cd, looking towards the parent star and featuring, at top, the other super-Earths in the habitable zone"

"Star is crowded by super-Earths"
Jonathan Amos, BBC News (June 25, 2013)

"Scientists have identified three new planets around a star they already suspected of hosting a trio of worlds.

"It means this relatively nearby star, Gliese 667C, now has three so-called super-Earths orbiting in its 'habitable zone'.

"This is the region where temperatures ought to allow for the possibility of liquid water, although no-one can say for sure what conditions are really like on these planets...."

These planets are more massive than Earth, which might make them better prospects for life than Earth. It looks like plate tectonics, the way Earth's surface keeps getting churned up, or rather down, is really important for making a planet habitable. (December 5, 2009)

Not that astronomers know if there's an atmosphere, let alone water, on any of the three super-Earths circling Gliese 677C. But if there is: there could be life there. Then again, maybe not.

It's the Lemming's considered opinion that humans don't know, yet.

Related posts:

• "Planets, Double Stars, Life: A New Look at the Odds"
  (June 14, 2013)
• "Life in the Universe: Where is Everybody?"
  (March 15, 2013)
• "Alpha Centauri B: New Planet"
  (October 19, 2012)
• "GJ 667Cc: Heavier than Earth, Maybe About as Warm"
  (February 6, 2012)
• "Earth May Not Be a 'Class M' Planet"
  (December 5, 2009)

Kleptomaniac Octopus: the Video

"octopus steals my video camera and swims off with it (while it's Recording)"

chimpsnatch, YouTube (April 15, 2010)
video 3:21

The Lemming has no trouble understanding why a human would chase after a kleptomaniac octopus. Humans like their tools, and that camera was a particularly valuable tool.

What an octopus would want with a camera: That is what puzzles the Lemming. It's not as if the octopus could have any use for the camera.

Unless, that is, humans aren't the only ones sharing videos on this planet.

Not-entirely-unrelated posts:

• "And Now, For Something Completely Different: Portable Buildings; and an Octopus Cartoon"
  (March 7, 2012)
• "Brainless Blobs Invade Hawaii! - Or - Attack of the Ctenophores!"
  (March 5, 2012)
• "Dumbo Octopus: Two Eyes, Eight Tentacles, and Wings"
  (February 1, 2010)
• "And Now, for Something Completely Different: Animated Octopuses - Octopods - Octopi - More Than One Animated Octopus"
  (November 13, 2009)
• "Squid Ink Still Good After 150,000,000 Years"
  (September 9, 2009)

Planets, Double Stars, Life: A New Look at the Odds

"Tatooine-Like Alien Planets Could Host Life"
Miriam Kramer, Space.com (June 13, 2013)

"Luke Skywalker would be proud. Planets like Skywalker's fictional home of Tatooine in the 'Star Wars' movie series might have more potential for habitability than planets in other systems, research suggests.

"Tatooine's dual suns might actually help prevent damaging solar winds from bombarding planets in their system, allowing for a wider 'Goldilocks zone' of habitability, Joni Clark, an undergraduate at New Mexico State University, said during a poster session at the 222nd meeting of the American Astronomical Society last week.

" '[The stars] calm each other down,' Clark told SPACE.com of her new work that expands on earlier studies examining binaries. 'It's like a really good marriage. They vent to each other, and they're not focused on anything else. They slow each other down and that causes increased magnetic protection of the planets.'..."

Not just any two stars will do. They have to be about the same mass, and be in a tight orbit around each other: circling every 10 to 30 days.

The difference between what we get in the Solar system and the 'Tatooine' stars isn't much. There's probably around a 0.7 percent reduction in what blows out from the stars: that's a difference of seven thousandths.

It's a very slight change, but might let a planet with a weaker magnetic field hold onto its atmosphere longer. Since new information about planets orbiting other stars shows that we've got billions of planets in this galaxy: even a very slight difference in the odds that a planet could support life could mean lots more planets with wet, sticky stuff growing on them.

And that, for the Lemming, is exciting news. Your experience may vary.

Related posts:

• "Life in the Universe: Where is Everybody?"
  (March 15, 2013)
• "Seriously Searching for Life in the Universe"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (February 8, 2013)
• "Redefining Habitable Zones"
  (February 1, 2013)
• "Earth May Not Be a 'Class M' Planet "
  (December 5, 2009)
• "Life on Ceres? Could Be"
  (March 5, 2009)