Analysis from data obtained by the European Southern Observatory and treated by a research team in the Carnegie Institute in the United States has led to the discovery of a new potentially habitable planet not too far away from the Earth -about 22 light-years. This planet orbites a dwarf star far less powerful than the Sun.
However, the studied planet -GJ 667C- orbits nearer than our planet does to the respectives stars so despite the smaller size of the other star, temperatures in the surface of that planet do not differ too much from ours. This discovery opens a door that leads to new lines of research because due to the internal composition of its star, which entailed fierce flares, lots of experts were reluctant to believe that a planet could orbit it. "This was expected to be a rather unlikely star to host planets. Yet there they are, around a very nearby, metal-poor example of the most common type of star in our galaxy," said co-author Steven Vogt, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at University of California Santa Cruz. "The detection of this planet, this nearby and this soon, implies that our galaxy must be teeming with billions of potentially habitable rocky planets."
Nevertheless, in words of the head of the research, the Spaniard Guillem Anglada-Escudi "This planet is the new best candidate to support liquid water and, perhaps, life as we know it".
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