Astronomers have sighted the smallest extrasolar planet yet orbiting a Soyuz rocket returning to Earth ...
Solar System's 'look-alike' found ... normal star - a distant world just three times the size of our own.
Discovering a planet with a similar mass to that of Earth is considered the "holy grail" of research into planets that lie outside our Solar System.
It is vital because researchers want to find other worlds that could host life.
The new planet orbits a star which is itself of such low mass that it may be a "failed star" known as a brown dwarf.
Astronomers found the new world using a technique called gravitational microlensing. This takes advantage of the fact that light is bent as the rays pass close to a massive object, like a star.
The planet, called MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb, is about 3.3 times the size of Earth. It establishes a new record for the lowest mass planet to orbit a normal star.
A smaller planet has been found orbiting a pulsar, a spinning neutron star which produces powerful beams of radiation.
(BBC)
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