Astronomers: Earth's 'bigger cousin' detected

CNN : Astronomers: Earth's 'bigger cousin' detected
By Michael SchirberSPACE.com
Monday, June 13, 2005 Posted: 3:17 PM EDT (1917 GMT)

National Science Foundation (NSF)
Astronomy
University of California Santa Cruz
Carnegie Institution of Washington

(SPACE.com) -- Astronomers announced Monday the discovery of the smallest planet so far found outside of our solar system.
About seven-and-a-half times as massive as Earth, and about twice as wide, this new extrasolar planet may be the first rocky world ever found orbiting a star similar to our own.
"This is the smallest extrasolar planet yet detected and the first of a new class of rocky terrestrial planets," said team member Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington. "It's like Earth's bigger cousin."
Currently around 150 extrasolar planets are known, and the number continues to grow. But most of these far-off worlds are large gas giants ...

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