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Earth like planet detected?

The discovery of a planet 5.5 times as massive as our own sparks excitement about the future of astronomy.

Written byRazib Khan
| 1 min read
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Since Chad Orzel hasn't posted on it, I figured I'd link to this story about a Natureletter which announces the discovery of a planet 5.5 times as massive as our own! This is pretty cool, I was a big fan of astronomy when I was a kid, and it certainly is the science with tickles my "shock & awe"-o-meter. But combined with the possibility of sub-thousand dollar genomes in the next 5 years, it really does make me feel like we are at the End of Times and soon we shall be as gods. OK, that was a hyperbole, but I can dimly grok the difficulty of a extrasolar detection feat like this.... Update:Chad comments copiously now.

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