On 25 April 2007, the news about the `most-Earth-like-to-date
planet' (MELTDP) hit the front page of newspapers around the globe.
These fantastic findings filled radio listeners and television viewers
alike with wonder: does this new world also host Life? Could humans live
there?
Over night, the MELTDP's parent star, the red dwarf Gliese 581, had
become a super-star. However, the somewhat dry and anonymous id `Gl 581'
of this new-baked world-wide celebrity was picked up by the trained eye
of an astronomer who exclaimed: `Hey, this is HO Librae! That is, this
means...".
The red dwarf HO Lib is essentially as old as the Sun. This piece of
evidence too made the astronomer exclaim: `Hey, HO Librae is 4.3 billion
years old! That is, this means...".
Want to know what it all means? Come and find out at the Hot Topic
colloquium.