Astronomers Find First Earth-like Planet in Habitable Zone

ESO 22/07 - Science Release

25 April 2007
For Immediate Release
Astronomers Find First Earth-
like Planet in Habitable Zone
The Dwarf Carried Other Worlds Too!

Astronomers have discovered the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date, an exoplanet with a radius only 50% larger than the Earth and capable of having liquid water. Using the ESO 3.6-m telescope, a team of Swiss, French and Portuguese scientists discovered a super-Earth about 5 times the mass of the Earth that orbits a red dwarf, already known to harbour a Neptune-mass planet. The astronomers have also strong evidence for the presence of a third planet with a mass about 8 Earth masses.
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