Astronomers Find First Earth-like Planet in Habitable Zone
and the official release is interesting reading as well; "On the treasure map of the Universe, one would be tempted to mark this planet with an X." So dig out those space pirates, and let us start dreaming of life above and beyond again, taking our minds off the despair and torment we put our own planet and lifeforms through - and start dreaming of heading for the stars, to go to the next step before we are forced to
"The host star, Gliese 581, is among the 100 closest stars to us, located only 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra ("the Scales")." - somehow that is a bit ironic, that right where the ancients decided to call it balanced, the Universe might have seen fit to deposit a similar enough planet (in terms of temperature, gravitational pull and water) that life might just be feasible. Not to hot, not to big, just about right
(image from the press materials from ESO)
...and the sun suddenly looks a bit different - maybe not one in a million, but at least possibly not SO unique...
