A Rocky World, Far, Far Away
Email500 light-years away, in the constellation of Monoceros the Unicorn, European scientists say there is an unremarkable star called CoRoT-7.
Last year they deduced that there was at least one planet orbiting it. And today, they report, it is one of the most earth-like worlds they've yet spotted among the 300-plus so-called "exoplanets" they've counted circling other stars. It's probably rocky, like the Earth, instead of being a giant ball of gas like Jupiter or Saturn. It is the first confirmed rocky exoplanet; almost all the others spotted so far have appeared to be gas giants.
It may look something like this artist's conception — though it is much too distant to be seen by humans.
They've called the planet CoRoT-7b (CoRoT is the European satellite they used for their observations). What makes it stand out is its size — unusually small and dense, compared to other known exoplanets.It is probably less than twice the diameter of Earth — on the order of 14,000 miles, in other words. Its "year" is very short: it goes tearing around its host star in 20.4 hours. They've done the math and concluded it is only about 1.5 million miles from its sun (we're 93 million miles from ours), so it's probably a very, very hot, unpleasant place, perhaps covered with lava.
They're calculated its mass with help from a telescope in Chile. When it passes in front of CoRoT-7, it blocks 1/3,000th of the star's light. That's not much — but it's enough for instruments to detect, and it's confirmation of the planet's size. From there they can calculate how dense it is.
By dint of sheer distance, earthbound astronomers have been limited in their ability to spot distant planets that resemble the one we live on. Until a few years ago, one remarked, an astronomer on Alpha Centauri, looking at our Sun with our technology, would think it only had one planet — Jupiter. The others were too small to detect.
But technology has changed. "This is science at its thrilling and amazing best," says a statement from Didier Queloz, leader of the research team. (Image: Artist’s conception of CoRoT-7b. Courtesy European Southern Observatory.)
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Then how is it like earth if we are 93mil miles away from the sun and this is not even 2mil away.
covered in lava? very hot is an understatement. I was about to jump for joy if they found such a lush planet as earth… before we destroied most of it that is.
I think the only resemblance is the fact that it’s a hard mass and rotating around a star…. besides that nothing in common… sounds more like a Mercury or Venus.
Posted by: BlazeHoliday | September 16, 2009, 8:40 am 8:40 am
Well, that’s because our planet earth was born as a lava planet. So you can say there are two kinds of earth. The one today, and the one 4 billion years ago. But scientist did found other earth-like planets 2 and a half years ago.
Posted by: Melody | September 16, 2009, 9:06 am 9:06 am
An article that’s well written, clear, no misspellings or weird grammar and no conflicts between the title and the content? And a photo of the reporter instead of 3 faceless names? This can’t be ABC News! But more to the point– this could be an Earth in the making, and a pretty awesome discovery!
Posted by: briella | September 16, 2009, 9:40 am 9:40 am
Earthlike? You can’t even LAND on that planet. Mars and Venus are much more earthlike at least in temperature.
Posted by: gary | September 16, 2009, 9:43 am 9:43 am
I wish abcnews would let the authors of the articles write the headlines on the main page. Very misleading to call this an “Earth like” planet. It is indeed a well written article and an awesome discovery. No need to exaggerate it with a misleading headline.
Posted by: brian | September 16, 2009, 9:51 am 9:51 am
If this discovered planet is 500 light years away, then we are probably seeing it from 500 years ago because light years indicates the number of years light reaches us from another celestrial object. So if that is true, then we are seeing the planet from 500 years ago and the planet may have evolved a bit from the lava state. Nevertheless, its a planet we should let survive rather than trying to go there and destroy it like we did this one. Or is that their intent? To find another planet to destroy. Rather than looking for other planets, we should try to solve the problems we have here on earth and try to make it healthier to live here!
Posted by: Karen-Ann Levine | September 16, 2009, 9:54 am 9:54 am
If it is 500 light years away, then yes what we are seeing was 500 hundred years ago, but to say that it might have evolved a bit is not accurate. If earth was a lava planet 4 BILLION years ago, to say something will have changed noticeably in 500 hundred yeas is inaccurate at best.
Posted by: Jared | September 16, 2009, 10:38 am 10:38 am
Great! A world that we can send Obama to rule and create his new world order!
Posted by: Jon | September 16, 2009, 10:44 am 10:44 am
Wow, we have some really scientifically educated commentats on here. “So if that is true, then we are seeing the planet from 500 years ago and the planet may have evolved a bit from the lava state.” Really? Is that how long it took the Earth to evolve from a lava state? Try 5 million years or so, at the absolute least. Oh yah, and the Earth has always been 93 million miles from the sun. This planet will likely never leave it’s orbit of 2 million miles. Therefore, any concept of it containing life or supporting humans is beyond preposterous. And at least one comment was right, this planet is more like Venus or Mercury. I will still credit these astronomers for their amazing discovery. The universe is filled with many wonders, and we have an exciting future of exploration ahead of us.
Posted by: Rod | September 16, 2009, 11:35 am 11:35 am
I think it’s great that even with all of the financial issues plaguing our forays into outer space, the discovery of a planet, earth-like or not, still elicits some small measure of hope and wonder in humankind. Let go of the partisan politics and environmental agendas for just a minute, and just enjoy the fact that there’s still some mystery out there.
Posted by: Phill | September 16, 2009, 12:09 pm 12:09 pm
Oh! That is *very* “earth-like – covered with lava” with a year less than a day. Pack your bags!
Posted by: Daleri | September 16, 2009, 5:54 pm 5:54 pm
Note from Ned Potter–
Hello to all. I think some folks may interpret “earth-like” a bit more optimistically than did the researchers who reported today on CoRoT-7b. Their interest was in finding exoplanets close to the composition and mass of Earth. If they also happen to orbit in the “habitable zones” around their host stars where surface water could be in liquid form, that would be hitting the jackpot–but that’s not the case with the CoRoT-7 system.
Finding a small, rocky planet — in the same class as Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars — is almost as much a technological achievement as a scientific one, and for now, that’s what they’re calling “earth-like.” The vast majority of exoplanets detected thus far have been gas giants, generally much larger than Jupiter, and they’ve tended to orbit very close to their suns, or have highly elliptical orbits. There’s no saying whether our solar system is unusual in having small planets in nearly-circular orbits…or whether the exoplanets seen so far are just the ones we earthlings have been able to detect.
Researchers have taken special interest in Gliese 581, which may just have the right combination. I did a post on April 21; I can’t put a link in this comment, but look through the “archives” in the left margin.
Thanks for the comments.
Posted by: Ned Potter | September 16, 2009, 10:35 pm 10:35 pm
Sounds like an ideal place for a Congressional retreat, to allow them to contemplate the folly of their ways. Bring the marshmallows, boys and girls.
Posted by: andyr | September 17, 2009, 8:17 am 8:17 am
It seems like a lot of people do not understand what “earthlike” means. There are different types of planets. Namely Jovian planets, which are gaseous giants and Terrestrial planets, which are rocky. “Earthlike” means that a planet is rocky like the Earth. Mercury, Venus, and Mars are terrestrial planets meaning that they are similar to the Earth, in the sense of not being gaseous giant planets. Notice that scientists never claimed that the newly discovered planet is exactly like the Earth in every way. What is being said by “earthlike” is that the planet is a rocky globe. This bodes for good news, because it a sign that there are other earthlike planets everywhere. Eventually we will find other earthlike planets that are similar to the Earth that can harbor life.
Posted by: Richard | September 17, 2009, 10:50 pm 10:50 pm
HELL is now uncovered. I believe this planet is hell. Why long time this planet is not known to us till now that many are talking about Jesus’ return. the world needs to know that there’s a place like hell in the bible. Hell is REAL. and we need to return to GOD and believe in Jesus his son. God bless anyone who reads this note
Posted by: messanger | September 18, 2009, 5:23 am 5:23 am
Considering my neighbourhood, it’s a planet I could better stay on…
Ion
Posted by: Lino | September 23, 2009, 2:26 pm 2:26 pm
I want to move to Pandora.
Posted by: Jorgito's basement | January 10, 2010, 11:35 am 11:35 am