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'Super-Earth,' 1 of 50 Newfound Alien Planets, Could Potentially Support Life
by Denise Chow, SPACE.com Staff Writer
Date: 12 September 2011 Time: 12:01 PM ET
![[image loading]](http://i.space.com/images/i/12043/original/super-earth-hd-85512-alien-planet-2.jpg?1315839262)
This artist’s impression shows the alien planet HD 85512b orbiting the Sun-like star HD 85512 in the southern constellation of Vela (The Sail). It orbits a star 35 light-years from Earth and weighs the equivalent of 3.6 Earth masses and may be in the habitable zone.
CREDIT: ESO/M. Kornmesser
This story was updated at 12:51 p.m. EDT.
More than 50 new alien planets — including one so-called super-Earth that could potentially support life — have been discovered by an exoplanet-hunting telescope from the European Southern Observatory (ESO).
The newfound haul of alien planets includes 16 super-Earths, which are potentially rocky worlds that are more massive than our planet. One in particular - called HD 85512 b - has captured astronomers' attention because it orbits at the edge of its star's habitable zone, suggesting conditions could be ripe to support life.
The exoplanet findings came from observations from the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher instrument, or HARPS. The HARPS spectrograph is part of ESO's 11.8-foot (3.6-meter) telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile. [llustration and video of alien planet HD 85512 b]
“The harvest of discoveries from HARPS has exceeded all expectations and includes an exceptionally rich population of super-Earths and Neptune-type planets hosted by stars very similar to our sun," HARPS team leader Michel Mayor of the University of Geneva in Switzerland said in a statement. "And even better — the new results show that the pace of discovery is accelerating."
![[image loading]](http://i.space.com/images/i/12044/original/super-earth-hd-85512-alien-planet-3.jpg?1315839437)
This artist’s impression shows the planet HD 85512b orbiting the Sun-like star HD 85512 about 35 light-years from Earth. This planet is about 3.6 times as massive as the Earth is at the edge of the habitable zone around the star, where liquid water, and perhaps even life, could potentially exist.
CREDIT: ESO/M. Kornmesser
The potentially habitable super-Earth, officially called HD 85512 b, is estimated to be only 3.6 times more massive than Earth, and its parent star is located about 35 light-years away, making it relatively nearby. HD 85512 b was found to orbit at the edge of its star's habitable zone, which is a narrow region in which the distance is just right that liquid water could exist given the right conditions. [Gallery: The Strangest Alien Planets]
"This is the lowest-mass confirmed planet discovered by the radial velocity method that potentially lies in the habitable zone of its star, and the second low-mass planet discovered by HARPS inside the habitable zone,” said exoplanet habitability expert Lisa Kaltenegger, of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany and Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Boston.
Further analysis of HD 85512 b and the other newfound exoplanets will be able to determine more about the potential existence of water on the surface.
"I think we're in for an incredibly exciting time," Kaltenegger told reporters in a briefing today (Sept. 12). "We're not just going out there to discover new continents — we're actually going out there to discover brand new worlds." [Infographic: Alien Planet HD 85512 b Holds Possibility of Life]
Video: http://www.space.com/12917-16-super-earth-discovered.html
The HARPS spectrograph is designed to detect tiny radial velocity signals induced by planets as small as Earth if they orbit close to their star.
Astronomers used HARPS to observe 376 sunlike stars. By studying the properties of all the alien planets detected by HARPS so far, researchers found that approximately 40 percent of stars similar to the sun is host to at least one planet that is less massive than the gas giant Saturn.
In other words, approximately 40 percent of sunlike stars have at least one low-mass planet orbiting around it. On the other hand, the majority of alien planets with a mass similar to Neptune appear to be in systems with multiple planets, researchers said.
Astronomers have previously discovered 564 confirmed alien planets, with roughly 1,200 additional candidate worlds under investigation based on data from the Kepler space observatory, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
You can follow SPACE.com staff writer Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. SPACE.com senior writer Clara Moskowitz (@ClaraMoskowitz) contributed to this report. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
Source: http://www.space.com/12915-habitable-alien-planet-hd-85512b-super-earth.html
All very fascinating to say the least.
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This is amazing! thank you!
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wow... so cool, great post
we are SO SMALL
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i always knew there were thousand if not millions of planets like earth out there like over 10 years ago. i thought it was quite close minded for many people to assume earth is exceptionally rare and maybe the only one etc.
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woah, this is awesome news
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I find it all amazing and awesome, the universe and it's size. But discoveries like this are just a matter of time, in my opinion, given the probability. And they don't really mean anything unless we start investing and working on space traveling technologies. 35 light years sounds so little when we compare it to all the several thousand light years distance to other places, but it is actually impossible for us (today) to travel at this speed. And I don't even think we'll have the technology needed to travel to a planet like this before we end up our resources or kill ourselves, unhappily...
My expectations are that we'll be able, at some point, to master some technology (maybe nuclear fusion power?) that can be virtually ilimited, and that it would allow us to travel during many thousand years to finally reach a place like that. Either this or some kind of worm-hole =P
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On September 13 2011 05:39 zimz wrote:
i always knew there were thousand if not millions of planets like earth out there like over 10 years ago. i thought it was quite close minded for many people to assume earth is exceptionally rare and maybe the only one etc.
Yes, of course, but did you know their locations?
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While this is obviously an interesting discovery, I think I've seen news like this easily 5+ times in tv during the last 10 years.
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On September 13 2011 05:39 zimz wrote:
i always knew there were thousand if not millions of planets like earth out there like over 10 years ago. i thought it was quite close minded for many people to assume earth is exceptionally rare and maybe the only one etc.
A lot of people know that, but it's the fact that we actually found it.
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On September 13 2011 05:39 zimz wrote:
i always knew there were thousand if not millions of planets like earth out there like over 10 years ago. i thought it was quite close minded for many people to assume earth is exceptionally rare and maybe the only one etc.
Definitely agree considering how big the universe appears to be.. even if it's a 1 in a billion shot (and even that is arguable depending on who you ask) I'm sure there are billions and billions of planets so it can't be too rough :D
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Amazing--I hope they actually find some life on that one!
But no Zerg, please, thx!
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That's cool and all but we can't even get along on our own damn planet what makes anybody think we'll be able to cooperate, pool our resources, knowledge and discoveries to make it to another planet?
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fascinating. interesting to think about what kind of life may already exist on those alien worlds, and whether they are sentient, or intelligent, or even interstellar! if that's the case they are almost certainly aware of us. its interesting to imagine what kind of life a planet with completely different geological and evolutionary history would produce.
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On September 13 2011 05:45 wongfeihung wrote:Show nested quote +On September 13 2011 05:39 zimz wrote:
i always knew there were thousand if not millions of planets like earth out there like over 10 years ago. i thought it was quite close minded for many people to assume earth is exceptionally rare and maybe the only one etc. Yes, of course, but did you know their locations?
of course not. no doubt this proof is amazing.
i never said i knew their locations, nor did i ever say this find wasn't amazing.
i still don't understand why there is so many combative and defensive people like you on TL.
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Now, all we have to do is find a way to travel 35 light years, or develop a method to actually gather images of these planets, or ....
2 ez
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On September 13 2011 05:45 xVoiid wrote:Show nested quote +On September 13 2011 05:39 zimz wrote:
i always knew there were thousand if not millions of planets like earth out there like over 10 years ago. i thought it was quite close minded for many people to assume earth is exceptionally rare and maybe the only one etc. A lot of people know that, but it's the fact that we actually found it.
this is an amazing find, whats with the attitude? im just saying this is great proof against those extremely close minded individuals.
whats with the many people on TL extremely combative and defensive.
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If anyone's wondering why we keep finding planets BIGGER than Earth and not equally sized / smaller ones, its for the simple reason that big things are easier to find than small things. Planets are often detected by their gravitation and mass, and the corresponding effects that they have.
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On September 13 2011 05:53 susySquark wrote:
If anyone's wondering why we keep finding planets BIGGER than Earth and not equally sized / smaller ones, its for the simple reason that big things are easier to find than small things. Planets are often detected by their gravitation and mass, and the corresponding effects that they have.
Yep, because things like a direct transit across the face of its star in view of us is pretty damn rare.
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now how can we get there
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Now let's get to work on that faster-than light travel? Looks sweet. But why is it called SUPER EARTH?
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EPT
