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Thought Experiment: What If Earth Were Supersized?

Super Earth - Yay Images

For nearly four years, NASA’s Kepler spacecraft whisked through space, surveying our corner of the galaxy. It monitored more than 150,000 stars, looking for planets about the size of Earth that belonged to other solar systems. The mission didn’t disappoint; Kepler found countless examples of a type of planet known as a super-Earth. These faraway planets might remind you of home — they’re rocky, smaller than gas giants, located near their star and sport a relatively thin atmosphere. But they’re way larger than the blue marble: These super-Earths are a honking two to 10 times bigger in mass than our … Read more

SPACE: Another Super Earth Found

Super Earth

It seems like only yesterday when scientists announced the discovery of yet another “super-Earth.” Last year, a half-lava, half-rock world, dubbed 55 Cancri e, was found around 40 light-years from Earth and was determined to be twice the size of our home planet. And now it has happened again. Researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) have announced the discovery of a new super-Earth, designated LHS 1140b, orbiting the habitable zone of a small red dwarf star, LHS 1140, about 39 light-years away. (It’s 4.2 light-years from our sun to the nearest star, Proxima Centauri.) By Lee Speigel – … Read more