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Space

First Earth-Sized Exoplanet May Have Been Found 222

Posted by kdawson from the but-not-as-we-know-it dept.
Adam Korbitz writes "New Scientist is reporting the extrasolar planet MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb — whose discovery was announced just last summer — may actually be the first truly Earth-sized exoplanet to be identified. A new analysis suggests the planet weighs less than half the original estimate of 3.3 Earth masses; the new estimate pegs the planet's size at 1.4 Earth masses. The planet orbits a small red dwarf star, some 3,000 light-years from here, at an orbital distance of 0.62 astronomical units, about the same distance as Venus from our sun. One significance of the planet's discovery is that it points to the probable ubiquity of smaller terrestrial planets in somewhat Earth-like orbits around red dwarf stars, the oldest and most numerous stars in the galaxy. Here is a video report from the discoverers."

Comment Bored. (Score 1) 307

by Zenne (#26340141) Attached to: A Look Back At Kurzweil's Predictions For 2009
That was a boring read. It feels like - mind, I don't really know anything about the author - he picked a lot of different subjects, magnified them all, and happened to be right on a few things because they followed through to their natural conclusion. It was reminiscent of flipping through college textbooks from the 80s - silly predictions mixed in with ones that happened. I'm so surprised.

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