Space
Astronomers Discover Three Super-Earths Orbiting Nearby Star Gliese 667C
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Jun 25, 2013 09:48 AM EDT
The search for life on other planets continues. Now, astronomers may be just a bit closer to accomplishing that goal. They've discovered a system with at least six planets--and a record-breaking three of these planets are super-Earths that lie in the zone around the star where liquid water could exist. This makes them possible candidates for the presence of life.
The star that hosts these planets is called Gliese 667C. A well-studied star, it possesses just over one third of the mass of the Sun. It's actually part of a triple star system known as Gliese 667, also known as GJ 667, located 22 light-years away from the constellation Scorpius.
Astronomers have seen three planets around Gliese 667C before. It's only now, though, that new observations have shown even more planets. Using HARPS data at ESO's 3.6-meter telescope in Chile, the astronomers have found that there are up to seven planets around the star.
"We knew that the star had three planets from previous studies, so we wanted to see whether there were any more," said Mikko Tuomi of the University of Hertfordshire in a news release. "By adding some new observations and revisiting existing data we were able to confirm these three and confidently reveal several more. Finding three low-mass planets in the star's habitable zone is very exciting!"
The three planets are what are known as super-Earths, which are planets that are more massive than Earth but less massive than planets like Uranus or Neptune. They're located within their star's habitable zone--a thin shell around a star in which water may be present in liquid form if conditions are right.
"The number of potentially habitable planets in our galaxy is much greater if we can expect to find several of them around each low-mass star-instead of looking at ten stars to look for a single potentially habitable planet, we now know we can look at just one star and find several of them," said Rory Barnes, co-author of the paper, in a news release.
The new findings show a little bit more about this star system, and also reveal the potential for finding life on these planets. Of course, far more research needs to be conducted before any conclusions are drawn, but the possibility of life is certainly out there.
The findings are published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
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First Posted: Jun 25, 2013 09:48 AM EDT
The search for life on other planets continues. Now, astronomers may be just a bit closer to accomplishing that goal. They've discovered a system with at least six planets--and a record-breaking three of these planets are super-Earths that lie in the zone around the star where liquid water could exist. This makes them possible candidates for the presence of life.
The star that hosts these planets is called Gliese 667C. A well-studied star, it possesses just over one third of the mass of the Sun. It's actually part of a triple star system known as Gliese 667, also known as GJ 667, located 22 light-years away from the constellation Scorpius.
Astronomers have seen three planets around Gliese 667C before. It's only now, though, that new observations have shown even more planets. Using HARPS data at ESO's 3.6-meter telescope in Chile, the astronomers have found that there are up to seven planets around the star.
"We knew that the star had three planets from previous studies, so we wanted to see whether there were any more," said Mikko Tuomi of the University of Hertfordshire in a news release. "By adding some new observations and revisiting existing data we were able to confirm these three and confidently reveal several more. Finding three low-mass planets in the star's habitable zone is very exciting!"
The three planets are what are known as super-Earths, which are planets that are more massive than Earth but less massive than planets like Uranus or Neptune. They're located within their star's habitable zone--a thin shell around a star in which water may be present in liquid form if conditions are right.
"The number of potentially habitable planets in our galaxy is much greater if we can expect to find several of them around each low-mass star-instead of looking at ten stars to look for a single potentially habitable planet, we now know we can look at just one star and find several of them," said Rory Barnes, co-author of the paper, in a news release.
The new findings show a little bit more about this star system, and also reveal the potential for finding life on these planets. Of course, far more research needs to be conducted before any conclusions are drawn, but the possibility of life is certainly out there.
The findings are published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone