14 light years from Earth is planet that may have life / is habitable.

Watch: http://money.cnn.com/video/news/201...iscovered.cnnmoney/index.html?iid=ob_hp_video

It is four times more massive than earth, but if its matter is about the same density as Earth's the surface gravity is not that much more. Sphere's volume goes as R^3 and surface gravity there is 8(r/R)^2 relative to Earth's, where r is the earth's radius and R is that Planet's radius.

If same density as earth, R is found from: 8 = (R/r)^3 or R = 2r. Then the gravity at the surface is
8(1/2)^2 = 2 or twice that of Earth's. If the density is less than the earth's then the surface gravity is less than twice that of earth's.

We might need to spend much of our time in a reclining wheel chair so the brain still gets it share of oxygenated blood, but AFAIK we could live there* if its matter is not denser than earth's

* Probably only our chldren, born during the trip, as going faster than about 0.05C makes the atomic hydrogen "floating in space" into lethal radiation. Thus the trip would take about 20x14 years and no one lives 180 years. The glactic cosmic radiation, is not well known, but stronger than when measured inside the solar system (No solar wind pushing it aside or weakening it.). So even the children born during the trip may not survive.

 

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There have been several discoveries of planets that are < 5x the mass of Earth.
Yes, surface gravity of an Earth-like rocky body does not rise proportionally with its mass.

But surface gravity doesn't really factor in to whether it may have life. Your headline may be a bit sensationalistic.

 

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