Astronomers discover lightest exoplanet yet
Swiss scientists say they have found a planet outside our solar system that is less than twice the size of Earth – unlike the monsters they had seen so far.
Astronomers Michel Mayor and Stéphane Udry from Geneva University said the new planet was probably made from rocks rather than gas but would be too hot for human life because it sits very close to the sun-like star it orbits.
As many as 300 so-called exoplanets have been discovered, half by the team at Geneva University, but most are much larger than Earth.
Mayor, who in 1995 identified the first planet outside our solar system, named the new exoplanet Gliese 581 e, a potentially Earth-like planet which orbits the red dwarf star Gliese 581 in just 3.15 days.
Gliese 581 e is 20.5 light years (200 trillion kilometres) from the earth, or 600 million times the distance from the Earth to the moon.
Mayor made the announcement at a press conference during the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science.
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