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Astronomers report discovery of a planet that may be most like Earth around the solar system. Planet larger than Earth, but scientists say their technique is sophisticated enough to identify more planets similar to earth's size.

Since the mid-1990s, astronomers have discovered more than 170 planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. But the latest one found in the center of our galaxy is different, and gives scientists believe there could be many Earths out there.


So far, most planets found around normal stars are gaseous giants like Saturn and Jupiter, a planet the size of Earth that allegedly had been found in rocky, but they orbit dead stars called neutron stars. So far, only one rocky planet found orbiting a normal star, but the magnitude seven and a half times larger than Earth. And again, all the planets discovered recently located too close to the star to be able to harbor life.
New planet - by artist Trent Schindler at the National Science Foundation
Identified a new planet outside our solar system more similar to Earth. The 73 scientists in 10 countries who tracked estimates that only five and a half times the amount of the earth, and more distant from its star than the other planets, that is two and a half times the distance of Earth from the sun.

Co-discoverer David Bennett of the University of Notre Dame in Indiana says this means it is outside the habitable zone, because the surface temperature of 220 degrees below zero Celsius. However, he said, is more interesting than the planets high temperature outside our solar system.

Basically, David Bennett added, "We said it has opened a new window, and we approached the planets similar to Earth, even though we pay more attention to the planets where the temperature is lower than the earth."

CfAPlanetaryLightBerman23Mar052150
This invention involves a novel search technique different from the one used to find other planets. The old way did not see the planets directly, but estimate its presence by observing the stars rocking, which is caused by the gravity of an orbiting planet. This procedure tends to find the planets is the biggest, hottest and closest to the star that can not support life.

New ways to use natural phenomenon called the Microlensing. With this technique, light from a distant star is magnified by the gravity of a nearby star, such as floodlights light that passes through a magnifying glass. If a planet orbiting a star in the background, can increase the brightness cahanya gravity.

French astronomer Jean-Pierre Beaulieu of the Astrophysics Institute of Paris was surprised to see big increase in the brightness of this light: "Initially we suspect that the star is much fainter than we observe. So we decided to take another measurement and second measurement was even brighter. We are very excited because this is what we've been looking for a long time. "

Researchers said the extra Microlensing is a technique that can detect low-mass planets. Of course, this technique can observe the big stars like Jupiter is easier, but so far it has found only two. Bennett says, if the big stars are more numerous in the universe, Microlensing should have found more. David Bennett and colleagues who reported these findings in the journal Nature says, Microlensing are likely to find low-mass planets more, in the coming months.

Michael Turner of the U.S. National Science Foundation, which helped fund the research, said the discovery is an important breakthrough in the effort to find the answer to the question "Is there any other creature in this universe, other than on earth?."