Tuesday, September 13, 2011

16 "Super-Earths" Have Been Found!

Scientists have found a bunch of new planets outside our solar system, including 16 so-called "super-Earth" planets with masses as much as 10 times that of our own super-Earth. One of the newly discovered planets could, according to the science geeks, possibly sustain life.

The European Southern Observatory announced that they've found over 50 new extrasolar bodies. The most exciting is called "HD 85512 b" and it's nearly 4 times the size of Earth. It's just close enough to its own sun that it could potentially have liquid water... and even support some form of life!

Don't worry though, HD 85512 b is 35 light years away from our planet (a VERY far distance) so we probably won't be visited by aliens anytime soon. The discovery was made using some pretty powerful technology called the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) located at La Silla Observatory in Chile.

We say: This is great news! Now we just have to figure out a way to visit HD 85512 b because, who knows, they might have a roaring economy and some actual JOBS over there!!

Learn some mo': 16 'super-Earths' found outside solar system

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