Second smallest exoplanet spotted: Discovery highlights new potential for eventually finding Earth-mass planets
Thursday, January 14, 2010 - 00:28
in Astronomy & Space
Astronomers using the highly sensitive 10-meter Keck I telescope atop Hawaii's Mauna Kea have detected an extrasolar planet with a mass just four times that of Earth. The planet, which orbits its parent star HD156668 about once every four days, is the second-smallest world among the more than 400 exoplanets (planets located outside our solar system) that have been found to date.