‎Kepler10b Discovered

NASA has discovered the smallest planet existing beyond our solar system that appeared, ‎like our earth. The planet, named Kepler 10b, is about 40 percent larger than our earth but ‎‎4.6 times as massive, a dense planet like Mercury.

The lethally hot planet, takes 20 hours ‎to circle around its star in the central position, at a distance only one-twentieth of that of ‎Mercury from the Sun in comparison. ‎

This is one among the 700 odd exoplanets, detected over the last 15 years. Many of them ‎are Jupiter-size giants, but with improved techniques, astronomers have detected smaller ‎and smaller planets. The new planet is a “planetary missing link” between those hot ‎giants and the Earth-size habitable planets. Astronomers hope to discover many other ‎habitable planets. Availability of liquid on the planet’s surface is an indication that it is ‎habitable. ‎Kepler 10b’s star is almost 560 light-years away and about eight billion years old.‎