Scientists find most Earth-like planet ever

　　天文学家在寻找类似地球行星过程中发现与地球特别像的系外行星，一颗接近于地球大小，一颗处于“适宜居住区”。

　　瑞士日内瓦大学的迈克·马约尔等人21日在英国赫特福德郡大学举行的新闻发布会公布新发现。

　　天文学家先前发现的太阳系外行星大约有350颗，体积大都是地球的1000多倍。据马约尔等人介绍，通过欧洲南方天文台安装在智利的望远镜，天文学家发现了被称为Gliese581e的系外行星。它的体积仅为地球的约1.9倍，离地球大约20.5光年，位于天秤星座内。

　　它离所围绕的恒星不远，使得它太热，不适于地球上的生物生存。但天文学家们称这一发现证明“天文学家们在寻找类地行星过程中正取得进展”。

　　美国加利福尼亚大学天文学家杰夫·马西是马约尔寻找类地行星的主要竞争对手。他在发给美联社的电子邮件中称新发现“绝对非凡”，是寻找类地行星过程中迈出的重要一步，这一发现显示这类体积的行星能自然形成。可能存在大量这种系外行星。

　　Astronomers found on Tuesday two planets that look very familiar to the Earth. One is close to the right size. The other is in the right place.

　　European researchers said they not only found the smallest exoplanet ever, called Gliese 581 e, but realized that a neighboring planet discovered earlier, Gliese 581 d, was in the prime habitable zone for potential life.

　　"The Holy Grail of current exoplanet research is the detection of a rocky, Earth-like planet in the 'habitable zone,'" said Michel Mayor, an astrophysicist at Geneva University in Switzerland.

　　An American expert called the discovery of the tiny planet "extraordinary."

　　Gliese 581 e is only 1.9 times the size of Earth -- while previous planets found outside our solar system are closer to the size of massive Jupiter, which NASA says could swallow more than 1,000 Earths.

　　Gliese 581 e sits close to the nearest star, making it too hot to support life. Still, Mayor said its discovery in a solar system 20 1/2 light years away from Earth is a "good example that we are progressing in the detection of Earth-like planets."

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