Monday, June 16, 2008

Look, It's a Super Earth!

Not just one, in fact, but three:

Astronomers have identified a trio of so-called "super-Earths" - rocky planets between two and 10 times the mass of Earth.

The three new planets were detected using the Harps instrument at the La Silla Observatory in central Chile.

The star they circle is slightly smaller than our Sun, and is located 42 light-years away near the southern Doradus and Pictor constellations.

As far as we can tell, none of these three earths was Third Earth. We're still safe from the Mumm-Ra menace.