Sponsored by NASA and the National Science Foundation, the Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey harnesses the talents of planet hunters from a number of organizations, including the University of California (UC) Santa Cruz and the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C. During the course of the research, scientists obtained almost 61,000 observations of 1,600 stars, which are now available to the public. astronomers using the Keck-I telescope in Hawaii as part of the Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey. The discoveries are based on observations taken over 20 years by U.S. The 60 new planets are found orbiting stars that are mostly some 20 to 300 light years away, according to Tuomi. The gas molecules escape to space, leaving the planet or moon without an insulating blanket or a protective shield.
Small planets and moons have insufficient gravity to hold an atmosphere. “This is like mapping an archipelago so that we are familiar with it in the future when taking a closer look at what its islands actually look like.” What does a planet need to sustain life radiation, and provides chemicals needed for life, such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide. “In essence, we are now building an observational roadmap for future giant telescopes that can be used to image some or even most of these newly found worlds,” Tuomi added. We are now moving on from simply discovering these worlds.” “Our discovery of dozens of new nearby planets highlights this fact. This means that virtually every star has a planet, or several of them, orbiting it,” he explained, via email.
“Over the recent years it has been established as a scientific fact that there are more planets in the Universe than there are stars. Tuomi, who was also involved in the discovery of Proxima b, told Fox News that the latest batch of planets marks a significant discovery. A red dwarf is a relatively cool small star. A light year, which measures distance in space, equals 6 trillion miles.īy way of comparison, the recently-discovered Earth-like planet Proxima b, which orbits the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, is about 4 light years from Earth. Gliese 411 and Gliese 411b are located 8 light years from earth. Mikko Tuomi from University of Hertfordshire’s Centre for Astrophysics told Fox News that Gliese 411b is too hot for life to exist on its surface. Gliese 411b (also known as GJ 411b or Lalande 21185) orbits the star Gliese 411 (or GJ 411).ĭespite the “super Earth” label, Dr. Described as a “hot super Earth with a rocky surface,” Gliese 411b is located in the fourth-nearest star system to the Sun, making it the third-nearest planetary system to the Sun, according to the U.K.’s University of Hertfordshire, which participated in the research. One planet in particular, Gliese 411b, has been generating plenty of attention. The experts also found evidence of an additional 54 planets, bringing the potential discovery of new worlds to 114. An international team of astronomers has found 60 new planets orbiting stars close to Earth’s solar system, including a rocky “super Earth.”