Astronomers using the HARP instrument on the European Southern Observatory 3.6 meter telescope in La Sille, Chile found the first Earth-like exosolar planet in habitable zone of a star jut 20.5 light years away.
Prepare your diving or spearfishing gear, and enough of sandwiches for the journey!
SPACE.com -- Major Discovery: New Planet Could Harbor Water and Life
Prepare your diving or spearfishing gear, and enough of sandwiches for the journey!
SPACE.com -- Major Discovery: New Planet Could Harbor Water and Life
The new planet is about 50 percent bigger than Earth and about five times more massive. The new “super-Earth” is called Gliese 581 C, after its star, Gliese 581, a diminutive red dwarf star located 20.5 light-years away that is about one-third as massive as the Sun.
Computer models predict Gliese 581 C is either a rocky planet like Earth or a waterworld covered entirely by oceans.
“We have estimated that the mean temperature of this super-Earth lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius [32 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit], and water would thus be liquid,” Udry said.