Inner Four Planets of the Gliese 581 System (IMAGE)

U.S. National Science Foundation

Inner Four Planets of the Gliese 581 System

Caption

This artist's conception shows the inner four planets of the Gliese 581 system and their host star, a red dwarf star only 20 light years away from Earth. The large planet in the foreground is the newly discovered GJ 581g, which has a 37-day orbit right in the middle of the star's habitable zone and is only three to four times the mass of Earth, with a diameter 1.2 to 1.4 times that of Earth. The other three planets are visible along a diagonal from the upper left to GJ 581g.

Credit

Artwork by Lynette Cook

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