June 25, 2013

Astronomers find three ‘super-Earths’ in nearby star’s habitable zone



An international team of astronomers has found that a nearby star previously thought to host two or three planets is in fact orbited by six or seven worlds, including an unprecedented three to five “super-Earths” in its habitable zone, where conditions could be right for life.

This is the first time that so many super-Earths — planets more massive than Earth but less than 10 times more massive — have been detected in the same system.