[Space] Gliese 581

[dataweaver]

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

I'd wait for information on atmospheric composition before attempting to guess at any ecology. If it has measurable atmospheric oxygen, well ...

You'd be in for a long wait. The planets of Gliese 581 do not transit their star from the angle we've got on the system; so the usual (and, to date, only known) method of identifying chemical compositions of exosolar planetary atmospheres is unavailable in this case. We are unlikely to learn more about these planets (beyond refining the details that we already know) until such time as we can send a probe - which won't be any time soon.

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

I would also note that we have multiple types of infrared-specific photosynthetic bacteria (and plankton) in the here and now. One type of which we've done up a full DNA map / sequencing for the purpose of transferring that capability into more complex plants to increase photosynthesis efficiency. GMOs are so fun. :)

Yeah; I was thinking along these lines myself. A case could be made that these infrared-specific versions of chlorophyll are in the minority on Earth precisely because the solar distribution favors their higher-energy counterparts; if the same biochemical stock were to end up on a planet of a red dwarf, I'd expect the IR versions to fare better.