One of the most Earth-like planets in the galaxy has been discovered 'a stone's throw away'

Gliese 832c is a super-Earth located in the 'Goldilocks zone' of a solar system 16 light years away

Astronomers have discovered an alien planet that could offer some of the most Earth-like conditions seen to date in the galaxy.






Gliese 832c is one of the most Earth-like planets yet discovered as ranked by the Earth Similarity Index. This measure incorporates a number of factors including surface temperature and planet density to rank extrasolar planets in a scale from 0 to 1. Gliese 832c was ranked 0.81 on the Index while the most Earth-like planet yet confirmed (Gliese 581g) ranks at 0.89.


Unfortunately this doesn't mean it's a given that Gliese 832c is similar to Earth on the surface, as the large mass of the planet means that it probably has a thicker atmosphere than ours that has led to a runaway greenhouse effect and boiling temperatures.

However, for astronomers the most exciting aspect of Gliese 832c is its relative proximity – 16 light years away in a galaxy that is 100,000 light years wide. Writing on, Mike Wall said: “it's just a stone's throw from Earth in the cosmic scheme of things.”