Another potentially habitable extrasolar planet discovered
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, scientists could only postulate at the existence of planets orbiting other suns. Today, the race is on to find the first with signs of life, and it's hot. With so many planets out there, the observational exoplanetary-science community is fiercely focused on identifying the most promising candidates for the next phase of their search, for the select few that will be first in line to command time on advanced new spaceborne and larger ground-based telescopes, scheduled to come online in the next few years. Scientists hope by observing the atmospheres of these planets they will be able to detect biochemical signatures of life. Now, as reported in the April 20 issue of Nature, a new, "super Earth" candidate orbiting in the habitable zone of a nearby small star has been identified. This latest planet joins Proxima Centauri b and the TRAPPIST planetary candidates reported in February, at...