New Hope for a Planet like Earth, 36 Light-Years away

European astronomers annoyed that they had found a lump of about 3.6 times as massive as the Earth, that is circling its star at the right distance for liquid water to exist on its surface. The planet, known as HD 85512b, is about 36 light-years from here, in the constellation Vela.

The planet was discovered by the scientists at University of Geneva, Switzerland, and led by the Swiss astronomer Stéphane Udry of the GTO program of High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS).