Gliese 581g

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Places in Fenspace
Gliese 581 g
Planetary characteristics
Orbit0.146 AU from primary
Diameter150,000,000 km (equatorial, estimated)
Surface Gravity1.4g (estimated)[1]
Year37 days
Daytidally locked to primary
Mean Temperature228°K (-45°C)[2]
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Gliese 581 g, called Zarmina's World by co-discoverer Steven Vogt, is a "small" rocky planet located in Gliese 581's Goldilocks zone[3]. It was discovered by a team lead by Steven Vogt (UCO Lick) and Paul Butler (DTM Carnagie Institute) in an 11-year project that completed in 2010. The announcement of its existence caused Fen to start looking for habitable planets around red dwarf stars, the possibility of which they had largely ignored up to that point.

The planet is tidally locked to its primary, but surface temperatures are believed to be stable.

There are no current plans to colonize Zarmina's World - even the Inuit would have trouble surviving in such cold conditions and high gravity, and Fenspace's terraforming resources are being used at Mars and Venus.

Some Fen are planning to have a powerful radio telescope in operation in orbit around Zarmina's World for March 2029 in order to receive and record the message sent from Earth in 2008 by a "Web 2.0 Portal" corporation. Considering the contents of the message, opinions are divide as to whether this recording will be used as a historical record or as blackmail material.

Notes

  1. Estimates place the planet's gravity at somewhere between 1.1g and 1.7g.
  2. Surface temperatures could average between -31°C to -12°C - hotter on the light side, colder on the dark side.
  3. Not too hot, not too cold - just right for life as we know it to exist.

Sources