Venus Exoplanet Twin Found in Nearby Star System

Venus Exoplanet Twin Found in Nearby Star System

~!!!~**We have long imagined how rocky planets around other stars ~~ particularly small stars ~~ maybe be similar or distinct from the planets in the solar system,** Massachusetts Institute of Technology astronomer Zachory Berta~Thompson wrote in an email to Discovery News// **With this planet, we will finally be able to observe one! ** Viewing conditions should be ideal// The planet, known as GJ 1132b, is slightly bigger than Earth and is in an orbit that is nearly edge~on to an Earth~based observer*s line of sight//

~!!!~The trump card is that the system is only 39 light~years away, a stone*s throw by cosmic yardsticks and three times closer than any previously discovered Earth~sized planet// It was discovered in May with an eight~telescope array located at the Cerro Tololo Inter~American Observatory in Chile// As GJ 1132b passes in front of its star, telescopes will be able to measure the small fraction of starlight that passes through the planet*s atmosphere// Scientists can then analyze the light for telltale chemical fingerprints of atmospheric gases and conditions// Ultimately, scientists want to be able to scan distant planets* atmospheres for chemical signatures of life//