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Small Earth-like planet found beyond solar system
A small, Earth-like planet has been discovered beyond our solar system orbiting a star like the sun, according to a team of US astronomers. The team of excited astronomers announced that the planet is the most Earth-like found so far outside the solar system, although its surface would be far too hot for humans to live on. "We keep pushing the limits of what we can detect, and we're getting closer and closer to finding Earths," team member Steven Vogt, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said in a statement released Monday. "Today's results are an important step toward answering one of the most profound questions that mankind can ask: Are we alone in the universe?" said Michael Turner, head of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate at the National Science Foundation.The astronomers said the new planet is about seven-and-a-half times the size of Earth, with about twice its radius. They believe it may be the first rocky planet ever found orbiting a normal star not much different from the sun. The newly discovered "super-Earth" orbits the star Gliese 876, located 15 light-years from the Earth in the direction of the constellation Aquarius. The star also possesses two larger, Jupiter-size planets. The new planet orbits the star in two Earth days. The planet is so close to the star's surface that its temperature probably tops 400 to 750 degrees Fahrenheit (200 to 400 degrees Celsius), the astronomers said, adding such "oven-like" temperatures would be far too hot for humans. Nevertheless, the ability to detect the tiny wobble that the planet induces in the star gives astronomers confidence that they will be able to detect even smaller rocky planets in orbits more hospitable to life. Posted by: Spavirt Pheng6042 2005-06-15 |
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