Another Gliese planet could be in habitable zone

Earlier this year, the newly discovered planet Gliese 581g was announced to be a good candidate for extraterrestrial life. Now, researchers are saying the same thing about another planet in the Gliese 581 solar system.

According to new atmospheric-modeling research, the planet Gliese 581d, like its neighbor Gliese 581g, may lie in the star’s “habitable zone”—the region where a planet’s temperature can sustain liquid water on its surface. The new research supports similar studies from earlier this year.

Research suggests Gliese 581d is rocky like Earth, and probably seven to eight times the size of Earth.