Most earthlike exoplanet yet, says ESO team

[Marshall]

this is the ESO exoplanet team that just announced, however this is an OLD discovery (I dont have a link to their latest)

http://arxiv.org/abs/0704.0270
The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets. X. A m sin i = 11 Mearth planet around the nearby spotted M dwarf GJ 674
Authors: X. Bonfils, M. Mayor, X. Delfosse, T. Forveille, M. Gillon, C. Perrier, S. Udry, F. Bouchy, C. Lovis, F. Pepe, D. Queloz, N. C. Santos, J.-L. Bertaux
(Submitted on 2 Apr 2007)

Abstract: Context: How planet properties depend on stellar mass is a key diagnostic of planetary formation mechanisms. Aims: This motivates planet searches around stars which are significantly more massive or less massive than the Sun, and in particular our radial velocity search for planets around very-low mass stars. Methods: As part of that program, we obtained measurements of GJ 674, an M2.5 dwarf at d=4.5 pc, which have a dispersion much in excess of their internal errors. An intensive observing campaign demonstrates that the excess dispersion is due to two superimposed coherent signals, with periods of 4.69 and 35 days. Results: These data are well described by a 2-planet Keplerian model where each planet has a ~11 Mearth minimum mass. A careful analysis of the (low level) magnetic activity of GJ 674 however demonstrates that the 35-day period coincides with the stellar rotation period. This signal therefore originates in a spot inhomogeneity modulated by stellar rotation. The 4.69-day signal on the other hand is caused by a bona-fide planet, GJ 674b. Conclusion: Its detection adds to the growing number of Neptune-mass planets around M-dwarfs, and reinforces the emerging conclusion that this mass domain is much more populated than the jovian mass range. We discuss the metallicity distributions of M dwarf with and without planets and find a low 11% probability that they are drawn from the same parent distribution. Moreover, we find tentative evidence that the host star metallicity correlates with the total mass of their planetary system.

Notice Xavier Bonfils, Xavier Delfosse, and Stephane Udry

these are the people that the Malaysia Sun reporter QUOTES in this newspaper article
http://story.malaysiasun.com/index.php/ ... 3780/cs/1/

[Marshall]

Here is the relevant exerpt from the Malaysia Sun:
==quote==
Munich, Apr 23 : An international team of astronomers from Switzerland, France and Portugal have discovered the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date.

The planet has a radius only 50 percent larger than Earth and is very likely to contain liquid water on its surface.

The research team used the European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) 3.6-m telescope to discover the super-Earth, which has a mass about five times that of the Earth and orbits a red dwarf already known to harbour a Neptune-mass planet.

Astronomers believe there is a strong possibility in the presence of a third planet with a mass about eight times that of the Earth in the system.

However, unlike our Earth, this planet takes only 13 days to complete one orbit round its star. It is also 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is from the Sun.

However, since its host star, the red dwarf Gliese 581, is smaller and colder than the Sun - and thus less luminous - the planet lies in the habitable zone, the region around a star where water could be liquid!

"We have estimated that the mean temperature of this super-Earth lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be liquid," said Stephane Udry from the Geneva Observatory, Switzerland and lead-author of the paper in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

"Moreover, its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth's radius, and models predict that the planet should be either rocky - like our Earth - or covered with oceans," he said.

"Liquid water is critical to life as we know it and because of its temperature and relative proximity, this planet will most probably be a very important target of the future space missions dedicated to the search for extra-terrestrial life. On the treasure map of the Universe, one would be tempted to mark this planet with an X," added Xavier Delfosse, a member of the team from Grenoble University, France.

According to the research team, the host star, Gliese 581, is among the 100 closest stars to us, located only 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra ("the Scales").

The star has a mass only one third that of the Sun. Such red dwarfs are at least 50 times intrinsically fainter than the Sun and are the most common stars in our Galaxy. Among the 100 closest stars to the Sun, 80 belong to this class.

"Red dwarfs are ideal targets for the search for such planets because they emit less light, and the habitable zone is thus much closer to them than it is around the Sun. Any planets that lie in this zone are more easily detected with the radial-velocity method, the most successful in detecting exoplanets," said Xavier Bonfils, a co-worker from Lisbon University.

==endquote==

[Marshall]

I'd kind of like to check out the general location in the sky where it is

Right Ascension 15 hours, Declination -15 degrees.

Minus 15 degrees means it's only a bit south of the celestial equator, so easy for us in North Hemisphere to see

RA 15 hours means that you can see it NOW in the dark hours of the night.
On 21 March it would have been on the meridian (northsouth centerline of sky) around 3 AM
so it would have been rising in the Southeast around 9 PM.
And things rise earlier as time goes on---by about 2 hours a month.

So nowadays it is rising around 7 PM local non-daylightsaving time.

Darren or some other savvy person correct any mistakes you see please!

EDIT turns out no serious error---I checked with skymap
http://www.sky-map.org/
Great site.

what I'm saying is that the Libra block of sky where this thing is, is sort of on the northsouth centerline at 1 AM
and for the whole evening it is visible in the Southeast.

AND ITS REAL EASY TO FIND IF YOU CAN SPOT SCORPIO because it is right by scorpio's head where his antennas would be pointing.

Scorpio is an easy thing to spot because it has this question mark fishhook of a tail. And the head is 4 stars with three stars kind of fanning out from the fourth. Like a 3-finger boyscout salute. This three-prong or "trident" head points directly at the Libra patch of sky.

which is where GLIESE 581 resides, with its warm wet planet. Whose year is only thirteen of our days long.

===============
Looks like Malaysia Sun got the scoop on 23 April
but a FRENCH newspaper followed close on heels 24 April with this report:
http://www.france24.com/france24Public/ ... earth.html