A new planet has been discovered, GJ 1214 b.  GJ 1214 b orbits close to a red dwarf star (GJ 1214) located just 40 light years from earth.  Because GJ 1214 b transits the star, both its size and mass can be determined. 

GJ 1214 b appears to be an ocean world, six and a half times the mass and just over twice the diameter of earth.  Orbiting once every 1.6 days, the mean surface temperature of GJ 1214 b would be between 120 and 280 °C.  Orbiting so close to it’s parent star, GJ 1214 b is almost certainly tidally locked, so that while the surface ocean would most likely be boiling on the “day” side, it would be frozen into a permanent ice cap on the “night” side.  And, between day and night would exist a perpetual storm.  On the “day” side, water would boil and enter the atmosphere, circulating the “night” side where it would fall as rain (near the twilight edge) and snow. The movement of water, constantly boiling on the “day” side and accumulating as glaciers miles thick on the “night” side, would be enough to unbalance the entire planet.

Is there life on GJ 1214 b?

·         There is liquid water present

·         There is plenty of solar energy for life, enough to boil it’s ocean

·         The range of surface temperatures spans the habitable zone

·         Deep oceans would shield life forms from hazardous solar flares and other radiation

·         Turbulent surface conditions would create dynamic disequilibrium, which would fuel complex chemical interactions which could lead to life