Extrasolar planets: Water world larger than Earth
A new method of finding Earth like planets seems to be working.
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The hunt for Earth-like worlds has taken a major step forward with the discovery of a planet only 2.7 times larger than Earth. Its mass and size are just as theorists would expect for a water-rich super-Earth.
A tantalizing case for such a breakthrough is presented by Charbonneau et al.1 on page 891 of this issue. They provide the most watertight evidence so far for a planet that is something like our own Earth, outside our Solar System.
Figure 1: A water-rich super-Earth?
The newly discovered1 extrasolar planet, GJ 1214b, probably contains a huge amount of water, surrounding an inner core of iron and nickel, and an outer mantle of silicate rock, and may have a small atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. Only 2.7 times larger than Earth, and just 13 parsecs away, this super-Earth brings astronomers closer to discovering Earth-like planets.
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a promising future for the discovery of Earth-like worlds.Read more at www.nature.com
