Comment on Potentially Habitable Planet DiscoveredparentComments−hugh315yCheck out the equation towards the bottom ofhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_lockingwhich gives a timescale for how long it takes for a body to become tidally locked to the body it orbits. I haven't plugged in the numbers for this planet, but I'm gonna assume it winds up being much shorter than the age of the star.−zeteo15yWell, the link you're giving says (at the bottom)"Gliese 581 g may be tidally locked to its parent star Gliese 581"So it's not known for certain.
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Check out the equation towards the bottom of
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tidal_locking
which gives a timescale for how long it takes for a body to become tidally locked to the body it orbits. I haven't plugged in the numbers for this planet, but I'm gonna assume it winds up being much shorter than the age of the star.
Well, the link you're giving says (at the bottom)
"Gliese 581 g may be tidally locked to its parent star Gliese 581"
So it's not known for certain.