NASA has discovered the tiniest planet ever found anywhere. The planet was discovered by Tomas Barclay of the NASA Ames Research Center in Northern California using the Kepler telescope.
It has been named Kepler-37b and was found orbiting a star in the constellation Lyra, about 210 light years away. Two other planets are known to exist in that solar system.
"We uncovered a planet smaller than any in our solar system orbiting one of the few stars that is both bright and quiet, where the signal detection was possible," said Thomas Barclay, Kepler scientist at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute in Sonoma. "This discovery shows close-in planets can be smaller, as well as much larger, than planets orbiting the sun."
University of California Berkeley astronomer Geoff Marcy called the discovery "absolutely mind-boggling."
"This new discovery raises the specter that the universe is jampacked, like jelly beans in a jar, with planets even smaller than Earth," Marcy said.
The planet is roughly the size of our moon. It is, however, inhospitable to any kind of life. Its surface lacks an atmosphere or water, and its close proximity to its star makes for a surface temperature of approximately 700 degrees Farenheit.
The first planet to be found outside our solar system was discovered nearly 20 years ago. It was followed by a rapid growth in discoveries, particularly after the launch of the Kepler telescope in 2009. Kepler's purpose was to discover an Earth-like planet, and to this day 861 planets have been found. Planets roughly the size of Earth or smaller have been found just recently. An international team spent over one year before confirming that Kepler-37b was indeed a planet.
Kepler-37b may not be a habitable planet. However, it is a strong indicator for their existence. As Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington stated, "That does not detract from the fact that this is yet another mile marker along the way to habitable Earth-like planets."
