Zarmina's World. Discovered nearly two years ago by Steven S. Vogt and his team, this planet (officially designated as Gliese 581g, Gl 581g or GJ 581g) has been the topic of discussion, debate, and controversy ever since. Nestled perfectly within the habitable zone of its parent star, Zarmina's World (Zarmina for short) was the first planet ever discovered by man to fit so perfectly into our hopes for a habitable world. Dubbed "Goldilocks Planets" because of the story where Goldilocks had to have everything "just right" these perfectly habitable worlds were expected to exist, but had never been found. Until Zarmina. Zarmina, more than any other discovered exoplanet to date, deserves the nickname of "Goldilocks Planet" because of how perfectly situated within the habitable zone it is.
However, not everyone was excited by the news. Michael Mayor and his team, who with Stephane Udry had been crucial to the discovery of the first four planets in the system, wasn't so sure that Vogt had really found two new planets. They analyzed the data, reanalyzed it, and did it again. When they were finished, they published a paper with their own conclusions: Vogt's two new worlds did not exist. The controversy was born. Had Vogt discovered two new planets, including the most unimaginably perfect Goldilocks Planet to date? Or were his findings wrong?
As mentioned in my early "Planet Profile: Gliese 581g" post, other astronomers quickly went to work assessing the data. Some supported Mayor and said the facts just didn't fit, Zarmina and Gl 581f did not exist. Others countered that the data is sufficient to support Vogt's claim. It was no small matter within the astronomical community. Either Vogt had found the sweet-spot, or he hadn't.
Vogt and his team weren't going to give up. They took all of the data that Mayor et al. had studied, and went through it again. Very thoroughly. On August 1 of this year they published their results. The outer world, Gl 581f was still up in the air, but Zarmina was confirmed. Vogt told space.com that the data they studied, "point to there being at least one other planet beyond the confirmed 4, a 5th planet, with a[n orbital] period in the 26-39-day regime." (source: huffingtonpost.com) Vogt would add that although the data examined does not support planet f, the idea of that planet is not dead yet. Further studies may yet prove its existence. But as for Zarmina, the planet is definitely there.
While the scientific and academic community as a whole has not yet accepted the planet's status as "confirmed" some academic institutions are taking initiative. The University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo's Planetary Habitability Laboratory recently published a list of habitable exoplanets, and Gliese 581g makes the top of the list. UPR may not be the most prestigious school in academia, but it is nevertheless a solid, accredited academic institution. And they have accepted Vogt's new data as sufficient to settle the case. Zarmina exists, and her status as the truest of Goldilocks Planets is secured. The list ranks Gliese 581g at the number one spot, with an SE (Similarity to Earth) rating of 0.92. Her sister planet of Gliese 581d (the original gem of the Gliese 581 system) ranks number 5 with a rating of 0.72. Numbers 2 - 4 are Gliese 667Cc (0.85), Kepler-22b (0.81), and HD 85512b (0.77). In the near future, look for me to do some Planet Profiles on these other top-rankers in habitability. But for now, I think it is safe to say that Zarmina's World exists, and she is fit snugly in her habitable zone.
What wonders has God placed on this world for future generations to explore? God-willing, we may be able to get our first tastes within our lifetimes, but that would require revolutionary new advances in space travel. The Voyager probes only recently reached the edges of our Solar system, and have a bloody long way to go before they could even reach a next-door-neighbour like Alpha Centauri. On a galactic scale, the 22 light-years between the Solar system and the Gliese 581 system is a mere stone's throw. But with current technology, it is an almost unbridgeable gap, and certainly one we cannot bridge in a single lifetime. But we can dream, can't we?
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