i think this is a very valuable discovery and that we should send a little space thing to investagate it

michael elliott, ashland , ohio

well i think that we should go there but it is so far away and what if ther are other things living there and we dont want to send austronauts there b/c we dont have the tools yet

Dillon Cyrus, Ashland, u.s ohio

Their sun is a red dwarf? Could this be the planet from which Jor-El launched his son Kal-El into the vast void of space on his journey to Earth where the yellow sun would give him super-human strength?

Or is this planet actually Caprica from which a rag-tag fugitive fleet is now making it's way toward Earth after having lost a battle with the Cylons?

It's all soooo exciting - think of the possibilties!!

Steve Butkovich, Ft. Worth, TX

this planet is an awesome discovery! but how could we get there? there might be know way we'll get there. in my opinion, god might've made that planet for us to live on in the future generations to come. im just sayin.

Alonzo Mckee, Dayton, Ohio

20.5 years away ? 554,000 years to get there ?
Rubbish. At warp speed the USS Enterprise could get us there in a matter of days. Ask the nice Cpt Kirk.

Pravin, Uk,

I think this is great news and a brilliant reason to step-up studies on communication and exploration, there must be life out there somewhere, we cant be that arrogant to believe that we are the only ones. Just because we won't visit this planet in our lifetime it's well worth the attempt of communication.

Lesley Hutchings, Redhil, United Kingdom

Now then let us not forget that scientist have not yet 100% confirmed there is even WATER on the planet and beside you guys are over-doing it i mean come on ET's etc. We would be lucky if there is even plant life on it...And those that ask why we should even concern ourselves with this well it would be cool to have a pen pall alien...i mean i am sure signals from our satellites can reach that planet relatively fast.

Boris, Sofia, Bulgaria

it is impossible to reach even with the fastest spacecraft in the world. we humans like your self can not live for 554000 years and ONLY 100 YEARS. you are wasting your time on finding out about this new planet.

MASTER CALIPH, baghdad, IRAQ

Yes, it's a great find. Just to know that there could be a planet that is like Earth, not the same. It's not like we are going to pack up the whole world and move there. For one, the article states that it's ~1.5 the diameter and the dwarf star(sun) is cooler to pemote some type of living micro-organisms. Just the same as Earth. It could hold some life of some sort. I think that it's pretty neat. The more you know the better of you are.

Jimmy , Calgary, Canada

THE GIRL FROM 581 C

You know, I met this girl a fortnight ago in a pub in Brighton.
A gorgeous lass with lovely green eyes and snow-white hair! Blimey! That's the first Sheila that I've EVER seen with white hair! Anyhow, we became really chummy...had a couple of drinks...a little kiss here...a little kiss there...we started to dance and that's when I noticed something very strange when my hand..er.. accidentally...well .. she had THREE ..yes THREE instead of TWO ! ! ! Cor strike a light! NEVER felt.. I mean seen ...well I never really SAW them...anything like that before in me whole bloomin' life!

We went back to our table..she asked me where I was from and I told her Brisbane..then I asked her where she was from and she said "Gliese 581 C!" I laughed at her and said "Yeah, right, Sweetheart! Is that in London?"

She looked at me with angry eyes that glowed with a piercing white light. I lost consciousness for a moment, then when I recovered...she was...

Garth Rex, Glendale Heights, USA

I do find the underlying supposition of this story quite amusing - that every tale of UFOs and aliens ever recorded is false, and that no technologies exist or will exist to cover the vast distances of space in very little time at all. A little bit of research and open mindedness suggests we shouldn't be quite so sure of ourselves on these points. The science that you hear about in the media does not describe all the technologies that are currently in labs, or hidden away in military projects. And the Disclosure Project and other sources indicate large numbers of highly reputable witnesses to possible ET interaction on this planet. But of course we are free to keep our heads in the sand if we wish...

John Corry, London, UK

Adam,
The Metro paper quotes 20.5 light years, so relatively close as stars go, which is probably why they were able to find it ..

(Astrophysics research Institute, Liverpool John Moores Uni.)

Jonathan Duke, Liverpool,

It's 20.5 light years away from us (this info courtesy of the BBC News website)

paul , zurich, switzerland

I'm sorry to disappoint you guys, but they burnt a load of fossil fuels and asphyxiated their planet, that's why they aren't talking to us...

Ed, Manchester, UK

When it is found that this planet does not have water/does not contain life, I hope The Times will give the headline the same prominence. Also, when stating that "Life on Earth emerged about four billion years ago." try to remember that this is not fact at all, and phrase it as such.

David Filmer, Lytham, UK

I think James Hendersons maths is way out here - a spacecraft travelling at 30,000 mph would take around 500,000 years to reach this system - not 5 billion!

D Ball, Canterbury, UK

Why are with bothering with a Planet that is so far away it is beyond comprehension to even think about a visit, and you are thinking about like a long weekend!

Look closer to home guys. Unless ET's have some fuel source / craft that can get to us within a couple of hours I think we are safe for the foreseeable future. 20.5 light years miles away, can't think in those terms.

Alan Massey, aberdeen,

the fact it would take humans about 5 billion years to reach this planet does not make it 5 billion light years away (as the link on the main page suggested.) In cosmological terms this planet/star is a neighbour down our own street!

Mike, Bournemouth,

whats the craic hope its not gonna be like war of the worlds and if there is people on ther not hostile they might just be little green men if there is sighns of life i hope they have haggis a good supply of coka cola good shops and mmmmmmmm chocolate lol to infinity and beyond i say

mandy roulston, bangor.co. down, n ireland

This could be the impetus we need! It is the manifest destiny of mankind to spread throughout the galaxy. For some time we've had the 'push' factor - we're rapidly using up our own planet's resources - and now here is the 'pull' factor - a planet within (in galactic terms) an easy commute. All we need to do is to develop the technology to accelerate macro-particles (spaceships) to the same speed that we can already achieve with sub-atomic ones. Of course, we may go extinct first....

Ric, Gosport,

is Cherie Blair going to buy a flat up there? or is Tony Blair going to run as Earth ambassador with Gliese by the end of the month?

Riccardo, London, UK

Even if we could get there by next week, what would we look for ? Their bodies my be onsuch a scale that we may crush a few billion alien life froms before we even know what we are stepping on.
Also, any intelligent life in this universe is likely to be either far more technically advanced than us or far less. They would either be terrified upon our visit, or would look down on us as we do our pets. That is assuming that they have not destroyed themselves first
( see Drakes Equation ).

Allen, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A..

May I suggest that Mark Henderson needs to check his arithmetic.

Dividing 120,519,500,000,000 by 24,791mph gives 4.86 billion but that is the number of hours, not years, to get there. There are 8760 hours in a non-leap year. Dividing 4.86 billion by 8760 gives just over 550,000 years. There is no reason to believe this speed cannot be beaten - the Helios probe went 6 times faster: http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/F/fastest_spacecraft.html

Can Mr Henderson also check the figures for mass and size. If Gilese 581c is 3 times the diameter of the Earth it is not "only slightly larger" than the Earth. Its volume is 27 times larger! If its mass is 5 times that of the Earth then its average density is 5/27ths that of the Earth. It has been calculated that the average density of the Earth is about 5.515g/cm3 (water having a denisty of 1g/cm3). Therefore Gisele 581c would have a density close to that of water. In which case one must ask what it is made of.

Ian, London, England

I would like to put in my order now for the latest fuel efficient rocket, in trust for my grandchildren, in exchange for my boat, car, and house.

Tracy, PSL, Earth 4 now,

try to invent a rocket that exceed the speed of light and excceed the limit that can go in the future an be quick to go there.
and how it was discovered by sateilites or what???

Melvin, Zabbar, Malta

I would think that if it is 20 light years away and we could travel at light speed we would arive just in time for lunch 20 years after leaving....

However unless my math is wrong and it is not my stong point.
this planet is 5,874,601,670,040 miles away and if we traveled at 60 mph it would take us just over 11,176,943 years to get there....
I might just live that long... :)

stixx, Florida, usa

20.5 years to the astronauts, considerably more from here on earth

pete, southampton UK, UK

"It is by far the best candidate yet identified for the existence of living organisms elsewhere in the Universe. It could have liquid water on the surface, which is thought to be a prerequisite for life, and it is several billion years old, allowing sufficient time for evolution to have progressed."

What a bunch of Evolutionary Propaganda...

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In six days. Then He rested.

bj735, Bend, OR

if it is so many TRILLION miles away, how do we know what it looks like, or what it has actually on it? of couse, you have a telescope, but that can only tell you so much! How do we know the temperature? can you tell that by looking at it? i didn't believe so, but what do i know? i'm not a scientist!

Caitlyn, Delmont,

We can't stop looking, and trying to communicate. The point to this is to learn about a civilization that could have developed thousands, to perhaps billions of years ahead of, and totally independent of us.

There is also the possibility that nothing lives there, or if there is any semblance of life, they are plants, or some other type of simple life form.

Humans tend to think that alien life would operate similar/according to our "rules", or very limited understanding of the universe around us, which is indicative of our short-sighted and self-centered collective mindset.

We have to reach out. You never know who's been "listening", how they do it and for how long...remember, sometimes...the truth is stranger than fiction!

J, Columbus, Ohio, USA

It's a total beat-up. Simple arithmetic shows that its insolation (for want of a better word) is 244% Earth's. This is way above the runaway greenhouse threshold so habitability is out of the question. Then there's the fact that it's almost certainly tidally locked to the primary...

Tim Benham, Ngunnawal, Australia

the bad thing about it is...gravity on this planet would be greater than that of our Earth. We wouldn't be able to get used to that kind of gravity pulling on our mass. now IDK how much more it would actually be, but it could be a problem

aaron W, Holland/Ohio, USA/Ohio

very interseting can someone please explain how many standard years are in one light year?

trigg, london, uk

That's 4 minutes tv time at warp 2

J Bub, London, UK

No one can do even simple math anymore. Fastest spaceship (let's say 30,000KpH) vs light (300,000KpS) goes 36,000 times slower than light. It's 20.5 light years away, so it would take the spaceship 20.5 X 36,000 = 738,000 years. That's a long way from 5 billion years.

Not to boast, but I did the math in my head that a 'science editor' could not seem to do presumably with a calculator on his desk. No wonder no one trusts the news media anymore.

Regardless, it's still an exciting discovery. I can't wait for some organization to field a space-based intereferometer that can resolve these planets directly and do some spectral analysis on their compsotition. Imagine if we found oxygen lines? I'd be dancing in the street!

James, Cottage Grove, Oregon

//Adam
20 light years.

Leepard, Stockholm,

I believe the BBC reported it was 20.5 light years away! FYI.

Nic, London,

Mark Henderson, Science Editor?

Dan, B'ham, UK

This is all so depressing. Astronomers can only detect planets moving round the nearest stars, and we're talking very near astronomically speaking - a few tens of light years perhaps. These stars are very close to us compared to most stars in the Milky Way galaxy, most of which are tens of thousands of light years away. Other galaxies are up to thousands of millions of light years away, quite astonishing distances and nothing to do with the article on this newly discovered planet. 20 or so light years away would mean that any radio signal would take 20 years to get there, and 20 years to receive a reply if "they" responded immediately. This is the true nature of extraterrestrial communication, should it ever happen. What I find irritating is that replies here are from people who have read the "paper" and not the online version. I can find nothing wrong with the latter. Joe from Arizona? Your Hubble Space Telescope can see galaxies out to ten or more billion light years......

Grahame Veale, Newton Abbot, England

If you could travel at light speed it would take you no time at all to get to this planet or anywhere else in the universe.
Slightly less than light speed would take a little longer!!

Roger Clements, Rugby, UK

I think after nuclear warfare, hurricanes, and Global Warming, we should be able to go to this planet and make some friends with the Gliesians. =)

Kayla, Psl,

"Gliese 581c may be three times the diameter of our own planet but in galactic terms it is only slightly larger."

“Moreover, its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth’s radius".

Hmm, and I thought D=2R.

Tim, Winchester, England

And this information is beneficial to us now how??

M Carroll, Covington, LA USA

This planet is our paradise. 5 times bigger than Earth, 0 to 40 degrees, Close to the red sun and full of water. 554,000 years in what speed? lightspeed? Aircrft speed? Why do not be more certain on this?

caruso, são paulo, brazil

The reports - I checked a couple of web sites - say that the planet's radius is 1.5 times earth. Your 'geometers' therefore computed that its diameter is 3 times earth and then in the printed edition of the paper compunded the fellony by darwing such a sphere. Your maths does not improve.

John Ludley, Bognor Regis, UK

Space.com reports the star's distance as 20.5 light-years.

Brook, Redmond, WA

ok Smart bottoms out their! if we could travel at light speed , how long would it take to reach this planet?

pete jones, London, uk

20.5 Light Years :)

John, Lake Elsinore, CA

A more useful measure of the distance would be how long it would take a spacecraft under, say, constant 1g acceleration / deceleration to get there, taking relativistic effects into account. But, oh dear, the Science Editor didn't do Einstein in his Physics GCSE. Maybe a more knowledgeable reader would care to enlighten us. (My PhD is in Finance.)

Dr. Keith Anderson, Durham, England

We should send a message immediately asking for advice as to how to manage a planets resources. We may get the reply in about 41 years which may be just in time to help us out. We could suggest we visit but I think we ought to wait until we are asked.

Richard Evans, Huntingdon, Herts

E.T. phone home

Denver Watt, Osakad, Japan

The Gliese system is 20.4 Light Years away from us (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_581 ), so if there is life there, and the Gliesians have super sensitive radio telescopes pointed at us, they will just now be getting pictures of the space shuttle Challenger exploding.

Robin Prior, London, UK

anyway, the discovery of life on an earth unlike planet would be fare more exiting ;)

Samuel, NE, CH

It is therefore misleading to claim it would take us 5 billion years to get there.....

Alain Michaelis, Oxford, UK

Brilliant. When's the next flight, I'm off, had enough of this place.

Oh thats right, its not all that close is it. Why not save all the money we're going to waste figuring out that actually, nothing lives there, and instead spend the billions on improving this hellish planet.

Just a thought

Dan, Birmingham, UK

When is Richard Branson going to set up trips - for the publicity?

Paul Whelan, Umhlanga, South Africa

Creationists will not have any problem with this. The whole story is full of ifs buts and maybes. Unlike the Bible, which hasn't changed.

John Palfrey, Almeria, Spain

Hmmmmmmm.

If it is "three times the diameter of our own planet" and I weigh 11 stone, how heavy would I be on that planet?

Do we know if they have their own version of "The biggest looser"? Do they have diet Coke?

These are the biggest scientific questions that need to be answered.

Arthur Gibson, Melbourne, Australia

This is another example of the fact-free zone in which at least the headline writers work in. Five billion years is presumably how long it would take for astronauts to walk there. Five billion LIGHT years is way outside our own galaxy and more than one-third of the way to the edge of the observable universe. But as long as it's, ooooh, a big number, who cares whether it's correct or not?

Dr. Keith Anderson, Durham, England

Light years are a measure of length, the distance light travels in a year not time as suggested in the article.

George, Liverpool, UK

I put it to you that 5bln light years, as stated in the front page, is mildly incorrect. it's just 20.5.

Marco Greco, laleham,

With distances and time scales of this magnitude, there's a very good chance this planet no longer exists. Even if it does and we could get there at ten times the speed of light, it would be a pointless exercise. All aboard would perish millions of years before arrival. Even trying to communicate is of little benefit in terms of practical time scales.

Makes one wonder why we spend so much seeking out signs of life so far away.

Edward O'Brien, Cam, UK

It's 20.5.

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=b2dcb0be-56c5-4a01-b9d6-734974dd44ac&k=0

Anthony M, Seattle, USA

20.5 light years according to the story on cnn. Conceivably, they could already be talking to us via laser.

chris, san diego, CA

The Economist says its 20 Light years away.

bk, toronto, canada

I wonder what Creationists will make of this? One day it should be possible to establish whether any form of life exists on this planet. How will this fit in with God, Adam, Eve & co? Will they want to know the answer? A science story that will inspire many I think.

J Riding, London, UK

Someone's maths is wrong, if it is 20.5 ly then Apollo 10 would''ve made it there in a just over a half million years.
I could walk there in less than 5 billion years (including comfort breaks).

Simon Newton, Bristol, UK

The only way we would be able to reach it, would be if we could 'warp' or travel through blackholes, or wormholes, perhaps there is life on that planet, who knows what we could find, and learn! from the genetics of alien life forms! Interesting stuff, Just need to master space travel, lol

Adam Webb, MK, UK

I think the planet is 20.5 light years away or something like 120 trillion miles. The article seems misleading, I thought the planet is 5 billion light years away.... We can't even detect galaxies that far yet, let alone lone planets!

Joe, Arizona,

Can't you work that one out for yourself? It's about 20.4 light years away love!

Sarah, BKK, Thailand

20.5 light years.

James Carson, Saint Paul, USA/MN

Why can't any news reports mention the planet's distance,
in light years, from our own system?

adam, Scottsdale, AZ