Stellary Starry Universe

 

An Earth-like planet found orbiting a nearby star is rich in water – a major step forward in the search for worlds like our own, U.S. scientists say.

Thursday, 17 December 2009
The so-called “super-Earth” is about 42 light years away. It’s in another solar system. This new planet’s radius is nearly 2.7 times the Earth’s, according to the researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge.

This newly discovered planet, called GJ 1214b, represents a “major step forward” in the search for worlds similar to our own, the University of California’s Geoffrey Marcy said in a commentary. His and another paper were published yesterday in the British journal Nature. [...]

Source: Cosmos Online – click here for full article