wow its really great ****MUST READ*** A new Earth-like planet has been discovered by astronomers and it could support life. And Scientist claim this latest find has greatly improved the prospects of extra-terrestrial life being found. The new planet is located around 3,000 light years away, and appears to be around twice as big as Earth. Strangely, it sits almost the same distance from its parent star as the Earth is from our Sun. US astronomer Professor Scott Gaudi, from Ohio State University, said: This greatly expands the potential locations to discover habitable planets in the future. Half the stars in the galaxy are in binary systems. We had no idea if Earth-like planets in Earth-like orbits could even form in these systems. Astronomers say it would be in the habitable zone where conditions are potentially suitable for water and life. Prof Gould led four international teams reporting on the discovery in the journal Science. The planet was found by chance when scientists spotted an unusual signal in light from a microlensing event. This occurs when a stars gravity acts like a lens, bending light from a much more distant object precisely behind it. Data from telescopes in Chile, New Zealand, Israel and Australia, were then used to confirm the findings. In gravitational microlensing we dont even look at the light from the star-planet system, said Prof Gould. We just observe how its gravity affects light from a more distant, unrelated star. This gives us a new tool to search for planets in binary star systems. This lastest find comes just a week after astronmers discovered another planet similar to ours called Gliese 832 c. At a distance of just 16 light-years away, it’s relatively close and experts say it’s the nearest we’ve ever come to finding a planet similar to our own.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 01:18:37 +0000
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