New planet discovered in Earth's backyard

Updated October 18, 2012 15:16:26





"It's a landmark discovery because it's very low mass and it's our closest neighbour," Mr Udry said.


Commenting on the find, University of California astronomer Greg Laughlin said: "This is our backyard, so to find out that planet formation occurred there is just extraordinary."


Getting there is extremely unlikely in the foreseeable future.



The device is able to pick up tiny changes in the colour of the light coming from a host star as it wobbles under the gravitational influence of orbiting planets.

Minute shifts

The gravitational effect in this case is minute, causing it to move back and forth by no more than 51 centimetres per second.


The planet orbits Alpha Centauri B.

Astronomers have speculated about planets orbiting these suns since the 19th century, but small planets like this are hard to find and instruments have only recently become sensitive enough to detect them.

"Our observations extended over more than four years using the HARPS instrument," Mr Dumusque said.

The researchers said they will make their data available to other astronomers to test their findings, but in the meantime some remain sceptical.

"Actually, I still have my doubts," German astronomer Artie Hatzes said.



"It could well be that someone else analysing the same data may come up with a different conclusion.

"That is why I am not 100 per cent certain."

But Mr Dumusque is confident.

"We have considered in this analysis all the known possible explanations, including instrumental noise and stellar origin," he said.

"In the end, the planetary solution is the most likely one."


Topics: planets-and-asteroids, space-exploration, astronomy-space, science-and-technology, switzerland

First posted October 18, 2012 07:48:31