A team of European scientists have discovered 45 new exoplanets using the HARPS instrument on the 3.4-m telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile. The planets are all less then 30 times the mass of Earth and all orbit very close to their stars (it is easier to detect small planets if they orbit very close to their star, so these are the ones found first).
It was only in 2005 that the first earth-sized exoplanet was discovered and only in April 2007 that the first Earth-sized exoplanet was discovered in the habitable zone (distance from star that allows for liquid water to be stable).
Now the team has found one sun-like star that has three super Earths orbiting it-- the smallest of which is only 4 times the mass of Earth. The host star, HD 40307, is located 42 light-years away towards the southern Doradus and Pictor constellations. "We have made very precise measurements of the velocity of the star HD 40307 over the last five years, which clearly reveal the presence of three planets," says planet hunter Michel Mayor of the Geneva Observatory.
Oh, tease us some more. Like we can jump in the Enterprise to go check it out once we find them. =P
Posted by Muddy at June 17, 2008 02:53 PM