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Small Star, Big Finding - A newly discovered super-Earth (illustrated in foreground) orbits a red dwarf star. The planet, GJ 1214b, offers hope that habitable planets will be found, scientists say. Image: David A. Aguilar, CfA

A relatively small planet orbiting a star not far from Earth may be made mostly of water, new observations show.

“This planet is the most Earthlike planet yet discovered,” comments Geoffrey Marcy of the University of California, Berkeley. The observations are reported in the Dec. 17 Nature.

“We’re on the eve of a new phase of exoplanets studies," adds Sara Seager of MIT. "This planet is a harbinger of what’s to come. It’s not just that we can study this one object in more detail. It’s the torch, telling us about this new thing that’s going to happen.”

The planet, called GJ 1214b, is the second super-Earth — a planet with a mass roughly between five and 10 times Earth’s — detected as it crossed in front of its star and the first that is close enough for astronomers to study its atmosphere. It is 6.5 times more massive than Earth and 2.7 times wider.

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This is an amazing discovery. NASA's Kepler telescope is busy finding extrasolar planets orbiting other stars. It is just a matter of time before we find a planet with intelligent life. As of July 3, there are 464 extrasolar planets identified according to The Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia.

The rest of the story can be found at Science News.