The Goldilocks Planet

The first among what's likely to be a multitude of similar discoveries to come.

From NPR...

The possibility of life on other planets has been a staple of science fiction for decades. Now that possibility has taken a step closer to reality as astronomers say they have found a planet orbiting a star a mere 20 light-years away that has the right conditions for life to exist.

Astronomers have found hundreds of planets orbiting other stars in the past decade, but they have all been so far from their suns that any water would be solid ice or so close that liquid water would boil away.

The new planet, called Gliese 581-g, is different. Scientists are calling it the first "Goldilocks" planet, as its temperature seems to be just right to harbor life.