Smallest earth-like planet found

[star_sirius]

Has this article been posted yet? If so, please remove it, it's 2 days old, where have you been?<br /><br />Kiwis help discover coolest and smallest known extrasolar planet. <br /><br />It's over 5 times bigger than earth and has a diameter a bit more than 22,000 km. It's discovered about 20,000 light years away in constellation Sagittarius, the centre of our milky way galaxy. The complex method called gravitational microlensing was used. <br /><br /><font color="yellow">NZ pair help find Earth's distant cousin<br /> <br />26.01.06<br />By Jarrod Booker<br /><br />A New Zealand couple have become space pioneers in a ground-breaking discovery of a new planet more like Earth than any other.<br /><br />The internationally celebrated find, in which Canterbury University husband-and-wife astronomers Dr Michael Albrow and Dr Karen Pollard played key roles, marks a major step towards finding a planet capable of supporting human life.<br /><br />Buoyed by this "exhilarating" discovery after 10 years' trying, the couple now hope to help uncover a planet that is a "twin Earth". </font><br /><br />more.....<br /><br />http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10365416 <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="0" color="#10bdee"><strong>A dazzling bluish luminosity from A distant south pacific.</strong></font><p><br /><img id="cb51e87e-8221-424c-8ff2-78c95122196c" src="http://sitelife.livescience.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/11/15/cb51e87e-8221-424c-8ff2-78c95122196c.Large.jpg" alt="blog post photo" /></p> </div>

 

[SpaceKiwi]

'Fraid so mate, here. I posted a video link over there from One News, in case you didn't catch it first time 'round. Nice to see NZ is part of loop with this stuff though, eh? I didn't realise they had a telescope of any significance in Canterbury though. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em><font size="2" color="#ff0000">Who is this superhero?  Henry, the mild-mannered janitor ... could be!</font></em></p><p><em><font size="2">-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</font></em></p><p><font size="5">Bring Back The Black!</font></p> </div>

 

[star_sirius]

Good grief, no wonder Toymaker posted it! <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> The gravitational microlensing was first detected by a US/Polish group called OGLE in Chile, they shared the data, we got all the credits!!! <img src="/images/icons/tongue.gif" /> One bad side though, the planet is orbiting a red drawf only one-fifth the size of our sun, doubted it actually harbours any lifeforms? <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="0" color="#10bdee"><strong>A dazzling bluish luminosity from A distant south pacific.</strong></font><p><br /><img id="cb51e87e-8221-424c-8ff2-78c95122196c" src="http://sitelife.livescience.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/11/15/cb51e87e-8221-424c-8ff2-78c95122196c.Large.jpg" alt="blog post photo" /></p> </div>

 

[centsworth_II]

Do we really know if life starts on the surface of a planet and works its way down, or deep in the rocky crust and works its way up? If it's the later, a planet with a hot core and the necessary ingredients in the crust could develop life no matter what the surface conditions or the type of star. Of course I'm talking microscopic life here. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[mlorrey]

Actually, with a planet 5 times heavier than Earth, if it has a significant ice crust, could have an ocean many km thick between the rock and the ice, insulated by the ice and kept warm by geothermal activity that would also keep the water supplied with plenty of chemical building blocks.<br /><br />I'm of the opinion that, given what we know know about Archaea, that life began in the depths and worked its way out, at least here on Earth. What we learn on Mars, Europa, Ganymede, and other ice moons will eventually determine if it is a universal inevitability.