Rocky Planet 14 Times Earth’s Size

According to this AFP report and this report from Universe Today, European astronomers have discovered one of the smallest extra-solar planets yet, just 14 times Earth’s size (about the same as Uranus). This one is located 50 light-years from us, orbiting close to a bright star called “mu Arae” (in the southern Altar constellation), every 9.5 days. While much larger than Earth, it is Earth-like in that most of the mass is rock, not atmosphere as for gas giants. This press release has more details, including the HARP telescope with the European Southern Observatory, that made the discovery.

The AFP report also mentions a new achievement in extra-solar planet discovery, use of an amateur-size telescope – by measuring star light levels, actually using a network of such telescopes, working together.