Physical Characteristics
The motion of the parent star indicates a minimum mass for Gliese 581 d of 5.6 Earth masses (earlier analyses gave higher values). Dynamical simulations of the Gliese 581 system assuming that the orbits of the three planets are coplanar show that the system becomes unstable if the masses of the planets exceed 1.6 – 2 times the minimum values. Using earlier minimum mass values for Gliese 581 d, this implies an upper mass limit for Gliese 581 d of 13.8 Earth masses. The composition of the planet, however, is not known.
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“I hope I may claim in the present work to have made it probable that the laws of arithmetic are analytic judgments and consequently a priori. Arithmetic thus becomes simply a development of logic, and every proposition of arithmetic a law of logic, albeit a derivative one. To apply arithmetic in the physical sciences is to bring logic to bear on observed facts; calculation becomes deduction.”
—Gottlob Frege (1848–1925)