On September 12, 2011 European astronomers found an Earth-like planet in a far away constellation called Vela. The planet is known as "HD 88512b" and is 3.6 times bigger than earth. In fact from earth it would take 36 light years to get to that planet or 242 trillion miles. It circulates around its star at the distance of 1/4 of how long we circulate our star making a full year in this planet, 58 days. When the planet is near the star it is in the star's habitable zone. Since it has a habitable zone it is possible that this planet is rocky and has an atmosphere. However, with all this information, researchers still cannot confirm if there is any sign of life on the planet. Neither humans or their powered robots could find out any more about this planet. But yet astronomers were able to find a lot more about Vela. Vela is part of 50 new Exoplanets. Exoplanets are planets that revolve around a star like Earth. In addition, reseachers were able to conclude that more than 16 other exoplanet has a mass that is 10 times lower than ours. They were able to find out this by using a Harps( High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher). With this device people are able to find the speed a planet revolves around a star and the power of the atmosphere. There are still mysteries about "Hd 88512b" and Vela but astronomer and researchers are trying their best to solve there mysteries.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/pages/science/index.html
By: Whiteknight83
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