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Thursday 12 Nov 2015 - 18:59 Makkah mean time-30-1-1437
Newly discovered exoplanet (Google image)
Washington (IINA) – Scientists have spotted a new planet that is both a dead ringer for our own and resides just around the cosmic corner from our part of the galaxy.
The exoplanet, dubbed GJ 1132b, is about the size of Earth and lives in a solar system roughly 39 light-years (230 trillion miles) away from Earth, a team of scientists reported in the November 12 issue of the journal Nature.
Furthermore, the exoplanet is the closest rocky Earth-sized exoplanet ever discovered, by far. The next closest is about three times farther away.
GJ 1132b's size and distance are what have astronomers like Drake Deming at the University of Maryland – who was not part of the study – saying that this planet is "arguably the most important planet ever found outside the solar system," he told The Guardian.
The reason is because GJ 1132b is close enough for astronomers to point their telescopes at it and sniff out any traces of an atmosphere.
Studying the atmospheres of exoplanets for signs of life is the next big step in the search for extraterrestrial life beyond our solar system.
AB/IINA
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