The call was discovered orbiting HD85512b an orange dwarf star in the constellation Vela. Astronomers found the planet using the High Accuracy Radial European Southern Observatory Velocity Planet Searcher or HARPS, an instrument in Chile.
The radial velocity is a planet-hunting technique that looks for certain flashes shaky in the light of a star, which may indicate the gravitational tug of orbiting worlds.
HARPS data show that the planet is 3.6 times the mass of Earth, and the new world revolves around its parent star in just the right distance for water to be liquid on the surface of this planet for scientists is crucial for life as we know it.
"The distance is exactly the limit that must be for liquid water," said study leader, Lisa Kaltenegger of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.
"If scales within our system, is a bit farther away than Venus is our sun" At that distance, the planet probably received a little more solar energy to its star than the Earth from the Sun
However, Kaltenegger and colleagues estimate that a cloud cover of at least 50 percent reflect enough energy back to space to avoid overheating.
On average, the Earth is 60 percent cloud cover, the skies are partly cloudy in HD85512b.
Of course, the clouds of water vapor depends on the presence of an atmosphere similar to Earth, something that can not be detected on distant planets as current instruments.
Planet formation models predict that planets with more than ten times the mass of the Earth must have an atmosphere dominated by hydrogen and helium, said Kaltenegger. Including HD85512b are more likely to have Earth-like atmosphere, composed mainly of nitrogen and oxygen.
New World, "a strong candidate" for habitability
So far, the newly detected planet is only the second rocky planet outside our solar system was confirmed in the area, the region around a star that is not too hot nor too cold for liquid water.
The other contender, the planet Gliese 581d, discovered before using the HARPS instrument. This world is cold right at the edge of the habitable zone of its star.
Another promising planet, Gliese 581g, was discovered in 2010 and known as the planet most like Earth yet. But the controversy over the claim, and some experts claim that the whole planet is actually a data failure.
Manfred Cuntz, director of astronomy at the University of Texas, Arlington, said that more information is needed before anyone can speculate whether aliens are walking around the newly discovered planet.
"It's not their fault there is no additional information at this time," Cuntz said the research team. "It seems that this is a strong candidate, in principle."
Besides the size and location, HD85512b has two other points in its favor to potentially harbor life, Cuntz said.
The planet's orbit is nearly circular, which provides a stable, and its star, HD85512, is older-and therefore less active than our Sun, which would reduce the likelihood of harmful electromagnetic storms on the planet's atmosphere.
Not only that, but, in principle, the age of the system, 5.6 million years, "gives an opportunity to create life and develop," he said. By contrast, our own solar system is thought to be about 4.6 million years.
The new planet a great place for Yoga?
Given the current limits of space travel, it is unlikely for the moment that human beings have the opportunity to visit HD85512b.
But if we could get there, the newly discovered planet may seem a rather strange world: wet, hot, and with a density of 1.4 times that of Earth, said study leader Kaltenegger.
On the positive side, "Hot yoga can be one of the things you do not have to pay to be here," he joked. ADS HERE
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