New discovery by Swiss astronomy team
Aug. 30th, 2011 04:19 pmWhat's only 3.6 times as heavy as Earth and 36 light-years away AND in the Goldilocks zone of the star it orbits? HD 85512b , that's what! Note that it's NOT a gas giant like the first exoplanets to be observed from Earth. 3.6g might seem like a mighty strong gravitational pull, but that's quite non-crushing compared to other recent exoplanet discoveries. Now that our technology can detect a planet that small, it might not be long before we find one whose gravity is, along with its temperature, just right.
Via Shakesville
Via Shakesville