Joel Kontiinen
Scientists suspect they have found a new alien planet by gravitational microlensing.
Gravitational microlensing relies on the fact that massive objects warp the space around them. When a telescope, a massive object and a target line up in just the right way, the massive object warps the light emitted by the target, magnifying it
The planet's star is a dim dwarf star, perhaps even a brown dwarf, or "failed star." The planet's year lasts about 617 Earth days, even though its orbit falls somewhere between those of Earth and Venus around our sun.
This exoplanet is four times the mass of Earth — making it a super-Earth or a sub-Neptune — that circles its star between the orbital distances of Venus and Earth – which means no little green men on it.
The research is described in a paper published May 7 in The Astronomical Journal.
Source:
Bartels, Meghan, 2020. Scientists spot super-Earth planet in Earth-like orbit. Space.Com 12 May.
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