Mars-sized planet only 33 light-years away!

[gryphonsegg]

A planet smaller than Earth has been detected only 33 light-years from our own solar system. Most of the known exoplanets are gas giants. In fact, the team that found this new planet did so while studying a Neptune-sized planet that orbits the same star. The Mars-sized planet is unfit for human habitation for a different reason-- it's too close to the star to be hospitable to life as we know it. But its existence is a good sign for those hoping that humans will someday walk on the surface of an extrasolar planet. In fact, there is some evidence that the same system that is home to the superhot Mars-sized planet and the Neptune-sized planet may contain more planets that are farther out from the star and intermediate in size.