Discovering a planet relatively close to Earth increases the chance of finding more within a similar range
Astronomers have discovered a large planet - at least 1.9 times the size of Jupiter, and is only 15 light years away from Earth. Apparently it is a large ball of gas, whose mantle temperature is well below zero. Jeffrey Marcy, who heads a team of researchers from the University of San Francisco, working with a team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, announced the discovery this week. Two hours after the report, confirmation of the discovery was received, by another team, from an observatory in Switzerland.
The American team discovered the planet during an observation at the KECK I telescope in Hawaii. The enormous mass of the planet was located following fluctuations in the movement of a nearby star and not through a visual impression from a photograph.
There is no evidence of the existence of solid earth on the planet, where creatures similar to those living on Earth could have developed. According to scientists, this star consists mostly of hydrogen and helium and the temperature of its mantle is about 80 degrees below zero. This is the first planet discovered while orbiting a small star, called Gleize 876, which is three times smaller than the Sun. Gleize is the closest star to Earth, apart from our Sun of course, around which a planet was discovered.
The planet considered so far the closest to the sun, orbited a star 35 light years away. "It's not exactly spitting distance, but it may be a normal flight distance for future generations," Marcy said.
Marcy added that the discovery of the planet around Gleize 876 dramatically increases the chances that many more planets will be found relatively close to our solar system. "The main thing is that so far this is the star with the smallest mass, ever discovered, that has a planet around it." Twelve such planets have been discovered by astronomers, including seven discovered in the last three years by Marcy and his colleagues.
