Almost 30 years after the first planet outside our solar system was discovered, more than 7,000 other exoplanets have been identified. Now, it’s time to add another to the list.
A team of researchers have confirmed an Earth-like planet named HD 20794 d, they report in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. The exoplanet is especially interesting to astronomers because at a mere 19.7 light-years away, it’s practically a neighbor.
HD 20794 d, the star around which the newly identified planet rotates “is not an ordinary star,’’ Xavier Dumusque, an astronomer at the University of Geneva and co-author of the study, said in a press release. ‘‘Its luminosity and proximity makes it an ideal candidate for future telescopes whose mission will be to observe the atmospheres of exoplanets directly.’’
