There are 60 new planets, including a 'super Earth' and we had no idea!

Scientists have just found 60 new extrasolar planets orbiting close to Earth’s Solar system, some of which could probably even support life.  

The team also found further evidence of an additional 54 planets, bringing the potential discovery of new worlds to 114. The team say the planets are in our ‘immediate solar neighbourhood’ and one in particular, Gliese 411b, is of particular interest.

The super Earth, called the Gliese 411b, sports a rocky surface and is located in the fourth nearest star system to the Sun. This makes it the third nearest planetary system to the Sun. It is also known as GJ 411b or Lalande 21185) which orbits the star Gliese 411 (or GJ 411).

The results are based on observations taken over a 20 year period by US astronomers using the Keck-I telescope in Hawaii as part of the Lick-Carnegie Exoplanet Survey. During that time the team obtained almost 61,000 individual observations of 1,600 stars.

Dr Tuomi, the only European-based researcher working on the project, led the group's data analysis efforts that revealed the existence of the newly reported planets. He said, “It is fascinating to think that when we look at the nearest stars, all of them appear to have planets orbiting them. This is something astronomers were not convinced about, even as little as five years ago. These new planets also help us better understand the formation processes of planetary systems and provide interesting targets for future efforts to image the planets directly.”