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POPSTrio Of Super-Earths: Harvest Of Low-mass Exoplanets Discovered With HARPS "Clearly these planets are only the tip of the iceberg," says Mayor. "The analysis of all the stars studied with HARPS shows that about one third of all solar-like stars have either super-Earth or Neptune-like planets with orbital periods shorter than 50 days." A planet in a tight, short-period orbit is indeed easier to find than one in a wide, long-period orbit. "It is most probable that there are many other planets present: not only super-Earth and Neptune-like planets with longer periods, but also Earth-like planets that we cannot detect yet. Add to it the Jupiter-like planets already known, and you may well arrive at the conclusion that planets are ubiquitous," concludes Udry.
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POPSThe first planet that could support life as we know it! The newly found "super-Earth," about five times more massive than our planet, is 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is from the sun. As a result, its year lasts only 13 Earth days. It has been named , named 581 c. Astronomers estimate that the world's surface temperature would therefore be between 0 and 40 degrees. Water would thus be liquid...
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