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UCL in the News: Smallest planet found outside solar system
10 April 2008
Roger Highfield, 'Daily Telegraph' Scientists have discovered the smallest planet outside the solar system raising hopes that Earth-like planets can be detected around alien stars.
Spanish and UCL astronomers have discovered it orbiting a red dwarf star in the constellation of Leo, at a distance thought too close to render it habitable. …
Dr Giovanna Tinetti [UCL Physics & Astronomy], who recently calculated the putative properties of this planet, says: "Calculations indicate that the temperature of the planet could be within 400-700 Kelvin [127-427 Celsius], but it could locally be as low as 350 K [77 deg C] at the poles, depending on the type of atmosphere."
Current models predict that the new planet is a rocky type and has a radius some 50 per cent larger than the Earth. …
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