Gliese 581 C

Astronomers are very, very happy!

A team of eleven European scientists found a planet, dubbed "Gliese 581 C", using the European Southern Observatory's telescope in La Silla, Chile. The buzz on the planet is that it possibly could support 'our kind' of life - its the right size, has the right temperature range for liquid water and very likely has an atmosphere. The cool kids (i.e. the astronomers who discovered it) are calling it 'C'.

I have to echo Scott Adams and say that I am not digging the name. As stated in his post:

The scientists named the planet Gliese 581 C, evidently to showcase the reason scientists can’t get laid. Science fiction writers all over the Earth are muttering, “F**k you very much.” No one is going to buy a book titled “Escape From Gliese 581 C.”

He's right. But, I noticed that there may be some science fiction planet names that might fit 'C' to a 'T'.

First off, they revealed is a planet circling the red dwarf star, Gliese 581. Now, Krypton was a planet orbiting a red star (sure, it was a red giant...but, our info is decidedly sketchy on the subject). If it blows up in the near future, it's a good thing that we recently discovered Kryptonite!

In the Battlestar Galactica universe, Kobol is the name of the planet where the human race began. Glen Larson, the creator of the original BSG series, invented this name based on the planet Kolob, which, in Mormonism, is mentioned in the "Book of Abraham" as being the planet or star nearest to the throne of God.

Or, we could go with the simple, yet underused "Earth 2".

Whatever the name, this discovery is a great opportunity for the space program to adopt a goal. Instead of discussing Mars, or the Moon, or the Space Station, we can get back to our true exploratory roots. I wonder if any of the 2008 Presidential candidates has the guts to do a Kennedy-like commitment to find out if this planet has life - and if it does, commit us to going there.

Sure, it's 120 trillion miles away and we can't get there in a human lifetime. But, we are an ingenious race. When presented with a goal, we can figure out a way to reach it - just remember the moon! And, I bet Science Fiction can help show us the way.

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