Super-planetary discovery

Astronomers have discovered a new planet very similar to our Earth but much larger and can be covered by water more than half.

The information is published today, in the journal Nature. The study was carried out by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

The planet, named GJ 1214b, or "super-Earth", is located about 42 light-years away, in another solar system and has a radius of nearly 2.7 times their Earth's radius. me.

In a review in Nature magazine, Geoffrey Marcy, of the University of California, judged, the discovery of the planet GJ 1214b created a "big step" in the search for other worlds similar to Earth. our.

However, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics said, 'the new world is found too hot for humans. The planet is composed of 2/3 of water and ice, while đó is rock. There are also signs that the planet has a gaseous atmosphere '.

According to scientists, the temperature of the newly discovered planet is estimated to be between 280 and 120 degrees Celsius, with its 'master' star being one-fifth of the Sun in our Earth's Solar System. In addition, GJ 1214b orbits the host star 38 hours a round.

'Despite the heat, but this seems to be a water world,' said Zachory Berta, a graduate student, who first discovered signs of the existence of the 'super-Earth' planet.

"The planet is smaller, less hot and more Earth-like than any other planet we know ," Berta said. 'Alien planet' is a planet outside our solar system.

According to Berta, some of the water on the planet appears to be crystalline, remaining at pressures about 20,000 times greater than the Earth.

The temperature of GJ 1214b is still much lower than that of another Earth-like planet, CoRoT-7b, discovered earlier.