‘Super Earth’: 50 New Planets Discovered, One May Support Life

Astronomers announced on Monday that they have discovered 50 alien planets outside our solar system, including 16 so-called super-Earths, one of which orbits the edge of the habitable zone of its star. The latest discovery is the largest number of such planets ever announced at one time. A super-Earth is an extra solar planet with a mass higher than Earth, but substantially below the mass of the Solar System’s gas giants. Scientists discovered the new planets with the help of High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher, also known as "The Planet Hunter," at the European Southern Observatory's located in Chile. The planet in question, named HD 85512b, is 3.6 times the mass of the Earth, and has caught the attention of Astrophysicists for having the potential to support life as it orbits a star about 36 light-years from Earth in the constellation Vela (VEE-lah). The astrophysicists used a method of reflectivity to find out how much energy a unit receives from its star. The more the star reflected… the more likely the planet is of having a cloudy atmosphere, which leads to a possibility that the planet may have water on its surface. Scientists believe there is a slim possibility that it occupies the so-called "Goldilocks zone," a term used to refer to planets that are neither too hot nor too cold to support liquid water. This is the second planet discovered outside the solar system that could potentially support terrestrial life. The first one was discovered in 2007.