Scientists find most Earth-like planet yet
European astronomers have spotted what they say is the most Earth-like planet yet outside our solar system, with balmy temperatures that could support water and, potentially, life. They have not directly seen the planet, orbiting a red dwarf star called Gliese 581.
"This one is the first one that is at the same time probably rocky, with water, and in a zone close to the star where the water could exist in liquid form," said Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland, who led the study.
About the Planet :
"We have estimated that the mean temperature of this super-Earth lies between 0 and 40
degrees Celsius (32 to 104 degrees F), and water would thus be liquid."
Most of the 200 or so planets that have been spotted outside this solar system have been gas giants like Jupiter. But this one is small.
"Its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth's radius, and models predict that the planet should be either rocky, like our Earth, or covered with oceans," Udry said in a telephone interview.
It appears to have a mass five times that of Earth's. Gliese 581 is among the 100 closest stars to Earth, just 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.
via [ Reuters ]
Note : A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, about 6 trillion miles.