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New "super-Earth" with water, air discovered

Published: 17/12/2009 05:00

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Astronomers have discovered a new “super-Earth” with water and probably significant atmosphere, orbiting a red dwarf star on our cosmic doorstep, according to media reports Thursday.

An international team led by Harvard astronomer David Charbonneau reported that they had discovered the planet, dubbed GJ 1214b, composed mostly of water.

Will this planet be another place that holds life other than our own? The answer is: it may be too hot to sustain life with around 190 degrees C on the ocean surface. But the discovery still gives much hope of finding a planet that something could live on as its atmosphere makes the pressure a lot higher than on Earth and increases the odds of liquid water.

“This probably is not habitable, but it didn’t miss the habitable zone by that much,” said Charbonneau.

The exoplanet is only 2.7 times the size of Earth and 6.6 times as massive, which makes it a “super-Earth.” A “super-Earth” is defined as an exoplanet with a mass of five to ten Earths.

Of over 400 exoplanets found over the past 15 years, only one other super-Earth has been confirmed and some candidates announced, while others we know of are many times bigger and are often referred to as “hot Jupiters” (many orbit very close to their host stars, getting roasted).

“It’s a top-of-the-top discovery in the quest for Earth-size planets,” said Geoffrey Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley, who is the world’s most prolific planet hunter and is credited with discovering 70 of the first 100 exoplanets.

The new planet takes 38 hours to circle a dim red star in the constellation Ophiuchus — about 40 light-years from here.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet

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