Astronomers spot 'super-Earth' 80 light years away

dlofnep

WASHINGTON — US astronomers have detected the second smallest exoplanet ever discovered with a mass just four times heavier than the Earth, adding to a growing number of low-mass planets dubbed "super-Earths."

"This is quite a remarkable discovery," said Andrew Howard, an astronomer at the University of California at Berkeley.

"It shows that we can push down and find smaller and smaller planets," he said in a presentation at the 215th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington DC this week.

The exoplanet, a name given to planets outside our solar system, has been dubbed HD156668b, and is located around 80 light years from Earth in the direction of the Hercules constellation.

A light year is rough 9,460 billion kilometers.

The planet orbits around its parent star in just over four days.

The smallest exoplanet previously discovered by astronomers was Gliese 581 e, detected by a Swiss astronomer in April 2009 some 20.5 light years from Earth in the Balance constellation.

But it orbits much closer to its star, making its temperature much higher than that on Earth.

Earlier this week, the scientific team responsible for the Kepler US space telescope -- launched in March 2009 to find planets similar to Earth outside our solar system -- announced at the same meeting their discovery of five new exoplanets.

Full story: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g0qrgdom3Fe-x9ovaeuOuF-IdOTg

rccaulfield

Just a 4 day orbit- shame- but good progress!

ronbyrne2005

rccaulfield wrote: »

Just a 4 day orbit- shame- but good progress!

why is that so bad? too close? or moving too fast? what would life be like with 4times the gravity say on earth here?

djhaxman

ronbyrne2005 wrote: »

why is that so bad? too close? or moving too fast? what would life be like with 4times the gravity say on earth here?

Temperature. If it's a rocky planet it would be just molten lava, way too hot for life to develop as we know it.

I don't think living in 4g would be an issue - lifeforms would just evolve to get used to that.

rccaulfield

ronbyrne2005 wrote: »

why is that so bad? too close? or moving too fast? what would life be like with 4times the gravity say on earth here?

Yea just temperature- Unimaginably hot! But great news finding a planet a bit smaller! Gradual progress!:D

Sykk

ronbyrne2005 wrote: »

what would life be like with 4times the gravity say on earth here?

You'd implode and stick to the surface. Someone with more knowledge than me correct me if I'm wrong! :rolleyes:

djhaxman

Sykk wrote: »

You'd implode and stick to the surface. Someone with more knowledge than me correct me if I'm wrong! :rolleyes:

Dunno about that, but we'd all be walking around built like powerlifters.