Earth-like planet discovered outside solar system
Source: telegraph.co.uk
Astronomers have discovered an Earth-like planet outside the Solar System, 'shortening' the odds that alien life could exist.A new study of the planet, which orbits a star 500 light years away, has shown that its density is similar to Earth's, indicating it is a solid rocky world.
The existence of COROT-7b suggests other similar planets could exist in an orbit that is cooler and less hostile. Photo: EPA
Known as COROT-7b, it was discovered in February this year by the European space telescope COROT, which had been tracking the star it circles.
It is the first planet to be discovered beyond our Solar System with a solid structure that could support living organisms.
However, because COROT-7b is only 1.6 million miles from its parent star, 23 times closer than Mercury is to the Sun, it is too hot to harbour extraterrestrial life.
Despite this, its discovery suggests that other similar planets could exist in an orbit that is cooler and less hostile.
Dr Didier Queloz, from the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland, led the study. He said: ''This is science at its thrilling and amazing best.
"We did everything we could to learn what the object discovered by the COROT satellite looks like and we found a unique system.''
When it was first observed seven months ago, COROT-7b's diameter was shown then to be about 80 per cent larger than the Earth's. However, its mass, and hence its density, could not initially be calculated.
These values have now been worked out from new data collected by the High Accuracy Radial-velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) instrument at the European Southern Observatory’s La Silla Observatory.
Scientists found that its mass was five times that of Earth, which makes its density similarly solid.
COROT-7b orbits its star at a speed of more than 750,000 kilometres per hour, more than seven times faster than the Earth's motion around the Sun.
Temperatures on its ''day'' face are believed to exceed 2,000C while those on its ''night'' face may be as low as minus 200C.
Measurements also suggest that COROT-7 hosts another ''exoplanet'' further away than COROT-7b.
Designated COROT-7c, it has a mass about eight times that of the Earth and orbits its parent star in three days and 17 hours.
The research was presented at the European Planetary Science Congress in Potsdam, Germany. It is also due to appear in a special issue of the Astronomy and Astrophysics journal next month.
Article from: Telegraph.co.uk
Alfred Webre - Exopolitics, NASA Bombing of the Moon, Outer Space Treaty & E.T.
Kathleen McErlain - Too Many Secrets, Humanity's Fight to Expose The Secret Underground Worlds
Mike Bara - Dark Mission, The Occult NASA Moon Mission
Ted Twietmeyer - What NASA isn't Telling you about Mars
Stewart Swerdlow - Montauk Project & Mind-Control
Stewart Swerdlow - The Illuminati & The Alien Agenda
Anthony Peake - Cheating The Ferryman & The Daemon
Sonia Barrett - The Holographic Canvas
Joseph P Farrell - Cosmic War, Interplanetary Warfare & Mesopotamian Mythology
Andrew Collins - The Cygnus Mystery
Marko Rodin - Vortex Based Mathematics
Freeman - Obama, Cloning & The Coming Space War
David Wilcock - Spiritual Transformation, Politics & Positive Future Outlook
Lynn Marzulli - Nephilim, Biblical Prophecy & The Supernatural
Marcus Allen - Crystal Skulls, Global Catastrophy, Collective Amnesia & Global Warming
Robert Bauval - Black Genesis & The Ancient People of Nabta Playa
Joseph P. Farrell - Reich of the Black Sun & the Nazi Bell
David Icke - 2012, The Reptilian & The Peru Experience
Edmund Marriage - Global Catastrophe, Restart of Civilization & The Anu-Nagi (The Shining Ones)
David Flynn - The Giant's Geoglyphs of Tiahuanaco
Freddy Silva - Ancient Sacred Sites, Invisible Temples, Giants & Our Ancestors
